The age-herald., 1900-01-24
Is Light Housekeeping All
 That It Claims To Be !?

That It Claims To Be ? Ti:e passing of winter aas not brought peace of mind to every woman in Birming- ham. There are numbers of them vino are still hurJsing around for rooms in wtlich they may do Tight housekeeping" It Is dGie women in dhe family upon whom the burden of selecting rooms generally falls or she may prefer to take thas step to- wards housekeeping un[nampered, for she generally makes the first inquiries alone Fiat-raunt.sg, of which ond hears as much in New York as of alle want of bathing 6ec.lities in Paris, has been going on in Birmingham all the winter. Light Housekeeping" Is all crle rage, and one iFears more of this nowadays than of the servant question. Tue former may be solv- Ing this latter day domestic problem The letting of rooms paved Nhe way to the light Housekeeping fad It was more convenient than taking ones meals in the next. The purchase of gas s'eove, some cooking utensils, to be at once screened of drom public view, was so easily accom- ptshed that the subsequent preparing of a breakfast was a small matter. Then there followed Ile deaigt,es of marketing. The lhttle chats with the meat man. the butter man, the vegetable man. The coal must be brought up, and three, or at least two menus a day thought of and prepared. There was some comfort at least to know that the seryarEs were not wasting Shings One could buy five pennies worth of but ter beans, without being laughed at by the cook. Three five-cent vegetables made an elaborate dinner for two persons, but where rhere were servants it required three times as much.
 l have talked with a number of women upon the aight-housekeeping subject.
 A bright woman. who fin years past breakfasted rather late, declares that since she has taken up light housekeeping, she prepares her breakfast by z o'clock every morning, and is quite charmed at the idea
 "I Trepare everything the proceeding night she said, just as I would direct my servant to do. The toast the biscuits, the tea or coffee, or browning an omelet is of course no trouble when one learns the im- portance of having things conveniently ar ranged. The meats for breakfast are put in my refrigerator every night, and in the morning when I light my gas stove, 1t Is as absolute delight to broil a tenderloin or cook the mutton chops. always tell my vegetable man to bring me fresh parsely every day or two because little sprigs of green add so much to the attractiveness of the dishes.
 1T really enjoy ight-housekeeping, and of course 1t is more economical than keep ing a large house."
 She went on to tell me of the reduction in household expenses, but other women with whom talked of the practicabity of iiv- ing in two or three rooms, said that ex- penses were not reduced very much ex- cept in the matter of rent.
 The apartments in private houses are let according to location and other advantages, and a suite of rooms including two bed rooms, a dining room and a bath room, is usually let from s15 to $25 a month, accord ing to size and location.
 The rent of a one-story cottage would not exceed this, but efe demand for cot tages has been so great that one no longer expects the demand to be supplied The Increasing number of persons who want a small house and are unable to find it are gradually creating little home life in a suite of apartments that have been let to them by the owners of the house. with a half-dozen unnecessary rooms.
 The letting of rooms by private families as something that floated in on the tide of prosperity. If 1t has any drawbacks they have not been discussed Light house. keeping has not yet drought forth columns of 'Nwanted'' in the newspapers Ii elas happened in a casual, incidental way, as If really oGpe had never thouerIt of it be- fore. It is not taken quite seriously vet, although one hears a great deal of the practical side.
 have wondered if light housekeepine was really Tight" It has always sounded so vague, and yet so irresponsible It seem ed perilously near the coast of Bohemia But whether 1t has been taken seriously or not. 1t at least requires two menus a day. the spats with the milk man, the vegetable man, routine established long before one ever heard of Tight housekeeping
 The drudgery, to some extent may be done away with, but the fundamental prin- cfples of housekeeping, light or otherwise remain the same. The advantages other than those economical, which appeal to the average woman would be the lessening of household drudgery, the absence of the re- sponsibility of house, the worry of the servants and the daily cares that only a wo- man knows in the management of large house. Light housekeeping is really living in a small house and discharging the cook The woman who, with her wonderful ca pacfty for making home" out of any sur roundings. is able to be supremely happy with the light housekeeping idea, and she will really convert you into believing that ic for n u,l,a cI,a He housekeeping"
 After all, the most vital difference be- tween Tight" and regular is that in regular it is Martha in her picturesque bandanna who beats the biscuits for sup per.
 In Society.
 Mrs. II IL Sinnege has returned from