Evening star., 1895-09-14

locate the proper spane and ventilation
and light for this pearl of kitchens, my
friend would furnishit according to re-
qufrementS.
Really l didn't know that We were SO
welded to show and front door display
till I had been the rounds with lot Of
real estate agents, who took me into Gel
lars and Easements and English Easements
and subcellars. OF course when a house Is
for sale, the agent takes a lot of liberties
about exposing its interior department, and
OF twelve houses that I visited in one
morning, all of them in tine higc-priced
section Of the CITY, there was not kit
chen that was fit for a dog to live in! That
Is rather a sweeping assertion, but It Is
true. u
Some Pretty Poor Kitchens.
Five of them were so dismally dark that
en- a bEstering day the gas was burning!
Think of that in this enlightened day! Four
of the kitchens were SO small that you
could sit down in the middle and touch the
wall on any side. Only two were above
ground. and when I asked the why of the
warped floor, was jauntily informed that
water stood close to the top of the ground
and that made the boards curl! In five of
thcm the dining room was at one end OIL
the house and the kitchen at the other,
land the store closets, coal bins and fur
nace room were in between, SO that serv-
ant would travel about a hundred extra
miles day in doing the table work, as
all the water was in the far end of the
house, and the dishes had to be "toted''
back. or the water fetched into the dining
room, and as the china closets were in the
dining room, all the dishes for food had to
be carried back and warmed. A girl ought
to get double wages for work in such
house, but she doesn't. The people who
rent 1T will have to pay so much for front
infinitesinlal terrace, and location" that
they won't have anything left for servants
or much of anything to serve.
Now. why in the name Of common sense
can't kitchen be constructed for conVe-
nience, exactly as bed room or a library?
1t is in the kitchen that the housewife who
cannot have a retinue of servants spends
half her life. 1t is in the kitchen that that
which sustains life is prepared. by good
rights the two rooms in the whole house
which should be the lghtest, brightest.
cheeriest and most scientifically correct in
designing are the sleeping rooms and the
kitchen. Half of ones life Is spent in sleep
and a good deal of the other half is spent
in eating. Yet the reception" room, the
dining room, and the alleged library ge.
all the thought and adorning, and what
is left after they are satisfactorily adjusted
is Jumped for expenditure in the kitchen
and bed rooms.
Microbes Hate Clean Places.
The kitchen should be light. large. con-
veniently arranged and healthfully locat-
ed, for the we'll being Of the family If one
had no consideration for the health of the
servants, or the poor wife or mother who
has to slave there day in and day out.
Microbes of disease hunt all dark close
places and feed the dust and mold
which is bound to find lodgment when the
place is dark, for 1t is by sight that a house
keeper has to judge of cleanliness, and gas
is not as good a search light as the sun.
No room can be healthy that has no sun
light, bright and strong every day. The
germs of scarlet fever. typhoid fever, yell
low fever. diphtheria and kindred diseases
all of which feed on filth, are always lurk-
ing in dark corners, and after they have
fed and fattened, they are sometimes hirt-
ed out by a busting brush and broom for
some member of the family to swallow
just when the system is ripe for the prop
Providence" often come about in that way.
and "sad bereavements'' are closely related
to dark kitchens and IinSanitary plumbing
A solution Of the Servant Question.
There is pretty good reason for the be-
lief that the servant question might be
sooner solved, too. did the servants mis-
tress have enough regard for her to make
the place where heLmust spend the most
of her life habitable and healthy. A serv-
ant. be she black, brown white, has a
soul, and is often ambitious. If she is
reasonably well treated. given opportunity to
Invite her SOUL through having CHEEKY
surroundings, there Will grow up In her heart
a pride in her bright, handy kitchen, and
she will eXpend much energy in polish
ing her kitchen table as her mistress does
the piano. She will hate to see strings and
bits of paper on the nice hardwood floor,
and will distinctly resent any clutter
heaps" in the corners Of her model kitchen
or finger-prints on her dresser doors. To
be in keeping with her tidy kitchen, she
will feel that she must be tidy in her at
tire. Cleanliness and order bring their own
reward for the mind that Is at ease has
space In which to think, and to the serv-
ant who caters to that seat of the soul,
the appetite, what so fascinating to think
about as dainty dishes to please those who
have labored to please her: l know lots of
girls who look at it exactly as 1 do The
girl who cannot he elevated and improved
by pleasant and commodious surroundings
should not be in service. and when the
mistress has given her every opportunity
to make herself acceptable, and she then
refuses. you may be sure that she is incor-
rigible. But you can't judge until you have
given the proper test.
! think l shall have to write my friend
that her paragon will have to find the 10
cation" and then build on it. She will
never get her jewel Of kitchen otherwise
But 1 have learned whole lot about the
wrong kind. and am fully primed for the
builder who tries to foist one of the abom:-
nations on me, under the guise of "kitch-
en-" when the name of coal hole would
suit it better. SENORA SARA.