Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-12-28
AMERICAN FAMILY LIFE CON-
TRAsTED WITH THE ENGLISH.
"YOUNG FOLKS DOMINATE
our Houses Planned, Furnished, Run,
by the American Daughter--Pater
FamiEas Has Constantly to Be Re-
modelling His House or Buying
New One.

An American Girl In the London
Telegraph. Perhaps the most aston
ishIng thing about the English home
to visiting American Is the limited
power of the young folks" In the
United States papa" and mamma
are inconspicuous figures in the house
hold. They keep the machinery run
ming, and frequently make a brave
show Of authority; but the tastes AMI
oaprices of the boys and girls"
especially the girls, are the real dom
mating influences
There is, therefore, about the Amer
lean home always an element Of ltycli-
ness, Of shifting conditions, and some
times OF turbulence. Americans OF AZ
ages abhor dulness, Dread OF 1t leads
youth into excesses and age Into tot
Grafton of, IL not into active support
Of, efforts to ward off monotony, An
English home is lacking in brightness
IN comparison with the American, but
there Is a tranquility about 1t and u
stability that are rare In the average
American home. or course, when one
has lived for generations In one house,
when one set OF children after another
has grown up in II, The permanent con
dtions of the house Itself and It's al
herring traditions cannot help affecting
the manner OF life Within IT, Even
when there IL no such continuous
cycle, the Engllshmau plans his home
with his eye definitely fixed upon per
manency as an essential quality. The
American II he escapes from the
boarding house or the fiat, hires o
house by the year or month, or builds
temporary abode, with the Restraining
conviction that In Il few years he Will
get rid OF II and buy a larger and a
finer one, He is forever mere ten.
ant, even II he holds legal title to the
property. We're he disposed to show
another spirit, he would not dare 20
maintain 1t In the face of family oppo,
sition, Here Is where the influence oil
tho girls" comes in strongly, They
do not like their street papa must buy
house In another one, They want n
large porch, with bump at the
corner, or a portccochere put on the
cottage. II may be out OF all proper
tlon to the size of the cottage, or to
the family purse, but papas resistance
Ia short, and tho change Is made, II
mere sop against the time when the
girls will demand bay windows and
turrets, If not complete abandon
ment OF the house, Many OF the archi.
tectural offences In American dwell.
lngs may be traced to whims of Amer
lean daughters.
The frame" house nourishes In
America, not merely because wood IL
plentiful there and cheaper than brick
or stone, but becvause 1t Is capable OF
greater variations and notifications
than IL possible With more rigid ma.
terials. II the result Is frequently IN
substantial and fantastic, II Is likely To
abound IN tancitul windows ana
porches, and In what Americans term
modern eonvenionces, or Improve
ments" To live In 4 house without
these Is a humiliation that no Amer
lean woman of any spirit or ambition
can contemplate With anything bul
horror. "llas the house Il bathroom
with sanitary plumbing2" demands u
prospective tenant II not, the negotl
ations need 30 no further, not beoattse
she necessarily cares much about tn,
kind Of plumbing, but the open, sani
tary brand In a quality mark whlcf
she insists upon. That houses with
out these improvements, can bt
rented or sold TO really nice people II
England who lose no caste by living II
them Is vastly porplexing to tho exact
ing American woman. To her mind
the switch, the button, tho faucet o
tho latest patent are symbols II not .
social station, OF the setting which 81
cial station demands.
In the furnishing OF the homo the IN
fluence OF the daughters of the tamll.
Is even more compelling than in IA,
location and building Of the house
When they return from hoardtn!
school or from visits to their friend
the girls bring with them ideas at var
lance With those that have preVatlet
in their homes during their childhood
and small revolution follows Blu
that does not mean settlement o
long duration, There Is Il constan
renewal of carpets. curtains. draperics
and furniture of all sorts, Not onl
does the American woman refuse 4
use what her mother owned. but tn
things Of the season before last NJ
already tiresome In her sight. Object
are hanished not because they ar
shabby or old. but because she want
change. The rage for antiques, noN
widespread over the United State!
may serve TO check this tendency some
what among Americans, for when
woman has set Up her grandfather
clock, or has acquired an ancestral nj
hogany writing-desk, she cannot cas-
1t forth as she would 4 piece Of ord
NARY modern furniture