Evening star., 1898-11-12
4 WOMAN'S WALL
Modern Architecture and Its Relation
to the Housewife.
WHAT PAULINE PRY LEARNED
Display Of Money the Dominant
Characteristic in Building.
RICH MAN AND HIS CHATEAU

going about d long while with a lighted
lantern looking for, not a man, but a house
in which an honest woman can make a
home. Protracted experience in housekeep-
ing has borne in upon my suffering soul
the truth that the first problem of a wo-
mans eternal salvation is an architectural
problem. Weary, weary years did 1 strug-
gle with every other problem-"How to be
happy though married. What shall We
10 with .ur boys? What shall our hired
girls do with us?'-when finally discovered
that the prime cause of all my difficulties
in life lay in the shape, size, substance
situation, of the walls about me, the floors
under my feet. the roof over my head-in a
word that it is absolutely Impossible for a
woman to do her duty as wife mother. eco
nomc cfpher-yea, as a Christian-until the
mousse where she dwells foreshadows. dimIv
at least, the architecture of her home in
heaven.
greatest Show on the Smallest Lot
10 De sure, l have had to do only with
houses meant for homes in washington.
the paradise of parasites and parvenues.
aDo my experience may be as anomalous
as Is the character of everything deter
n 1ned by the conditions of life at the ma
uonal capital. Still. anomalous as facts
and features of Washington appear cnm
pared with particulars of any one city.
Whatever exists at the capital of the ma
ton Is certain abstract of the whole rife
OF the Anerican people, and is after all
slhsulariy representative. NV experience
therefore. Is warrant for declaring Amer
lean architecture for domestic purposes is
designed hy idiots for the glory of spobs
Where money Is limited the whole architec-
turat problem of a home seems to be how
TO get the greatest amount of show out of
the least amount of grOund-to build a
front presumptuous as the tower of Babel
at The expense of a back calculated to of
fend the reason and good taste of an alley
cat.
Expense of Cheap limitations
1t at first seems simply ridiculous some
thing to laugh at merely, when you fird
small, cheap houses in poor nefghborhoods
houses clearly intended for the occupancy
of plain working people, making a boast of
reception" hail. "butler's" pantry, cleo
trio buttons and tiled bath room What
Mrs. O'Reilly wants with three or four
electric buttons, buffers pantry or re-
ception hall when she does her own house
work. and does most of her receiving
while sweeping off the front walk of morn
ings. Is the matter of a great joke until
you measure the economic and ethical
value of all this. For cne thing. cheap ini-
tatlons of the Vanities and luXurieS of the
rich incorporated in a poor mans dwelling
are constant temptation to live Beyond
ones means. Mrs. O'Reily has always in
I-tl HlluSt lHe suggestion tnat She neeSS
servants to complete the system of her
electric buttons; her reception hall is al
ways on her conscience, urging her to
establish a day at home and adopt .he
vices of . o'clock tea. and her tiled bath
room, after the first glory of it's possession
has departed, is only a painful reminder
that to be consistent she should have a
porcelain tub and French maid to tub the
children.
Style vs.. Comfort.
ElIt iS he hot
imposes upon Mrs. O'Reilly.
1t might be urged that there is nothing in
a name; that a reception hall is still de-
sirable room for the O'Reillys; their but
ler's pantry, still pantry. and the tiled
hath room a very sanitary measure. The
fact of the matter is, however, to provide
the hall there Is steep, tortuous stairway,
down which the OReilly children are for
ever tumbling, to the sorrow of their little
bodies: the pantry, with its butler" idea
excludes proper, necessary place for keep
ing the OReilly cold victuals, and sanitary
as is the tiling of the bath room, offset
the cost of all these fashionable touches
the O'Reillys have a back yard in which
little Mary has not space for so much as
drying her dolls washing, forcing Mrs.
o Reilly, therefore to the unsanitary prac-
tice OF drying the family wash around the
kitchen stove.
Typical of the Middle Class.
Instead of paying $50 month house rent,
as do the O'Reillys, pay $40, and my house,
fairly typical of the middle class, further
explains why the great mass of American
women are travelling a downward course
living in fats, boarding, practicing the doc
trines of Nautilus and finally appearing in
the divorce courts l have a beautiful,
bulging brick front that would make Mr..
OReilly green with envy, but our back
yards are Identical One economic conse-
quence of my back yard is l am compelled
to put out my washing whether l can af-
ford it or not. The whole moral cOnSe-
quence my children's future will reveal for
having not one foot of ground and but sew
eral square feet of concrete that they can
call their own the children are being
brought up in the street, none the less pitt
full for being respectable little vagabonds.
Fireplaces, Mantels and White Paint.
ton hall. and being able to pay twice as
much for it, have a stained glass window
in the bargain. Many of my friends
those who know a great deal about the
technique of art and call the old masters
by their first~names, who have even studied
architecture in Omaha and Chicago and
three days in Rome-these very cultured
friends of mine are good enough to declare
my house is positively too sweet for any
thing" They are guided to this decision
by strikingly done walls pretty window
seats in the hall and dining room, charming
leaQeQ grass emma closets Dullt IN tne Qln-
ing room, attractive fireplaces and mantels
and an inspiring spread of Virginia white
paint All the woodwork throughout the
house is white. This alone insures my
failure in dealing with the servant problem
and greatly complicates the question of
bringing up the children, who have been
architecturally modified until at times they
mean positively nothing to me but so many
awful black. small finger-marks on white
paint Estimating the greatest possible
grace of my creditors, can afford to keep
but two servants, one whose special duty
Is as nurse. The other is expected to cook
and do the housework. When 1 say that 1
keep two servants speak from a habit of
speech acquired from my grandmother. l
don't keep them. 1 can't-the architect of
my house settled all that. He made it q
physical impossibility for less than six per-
sons to properly do the work of my family
what naturally results when l seek to i'm
pose the burden on two?
Waste of WOman's Energy.
The entire kitchen provision is designed
with absolutely no reference to the econ
omy of woman's energy. There is no
space for refrigerator. which must be
kept in the cellar. The sink in the pantry
for washing dishes Is left-handed involv-
ing a waste of time and energy in the
handling of every dish. knife, fork, spoon
used by the family. Further contempt for