THE FRIEND OF ALL

IN AND AROUND THE HOUSE AND FARM.

Home of Emerson, Concord, Mass.

THE DWELLING.

Architect, The.......................    10

Attic, The...........................    12

Blinds...............................    12

Ceilings and Walls...................    13

Cellar................................    11

Chimney.............................    11

Closets...............................    12

Colors, outside.......................    14

Doors................................    12

Exposure............................    10

Framing.............................    11

Furniture............................    14

Hall.................................    12

Heating...............................    12

Pictures..............................    14

Roofs... ............................    11

Site and Drainage...................    10

Stairway.............................    12

Tiles.................................    13

Water................................    10

Windows.............................    11

The desire to own one‘s home seems well-
nigh universal; and in America an unusually
large proportion of families are able to gratify
that desire. Great as is the absolute number
of those who dwell in cities and towns, much
greater is their number who do not. And even
of those who do business in cities and large
towns, many prefer to reside, to “ live,” in the
country. Steam and electricity have so lubri­
cated the channels of communication, that a
New York business man may reach his family at
a home in New Jersey or on Long Island, or a
Boston man may reach his in the country in al­
most any direction, in about the same number of
minutes as he would need to take him from one
part of the city to another. With the telegraph
and the telephone, the goodman may promptly

and seasonably even notify the good-woman of
an unexpected guest. And a home with ground
for garden and lawn can be bought for the price
of a small tenement on a city lot or less. A
little way from the village or the railway station,
a few acres of ground on which a horse and cow
may be kept, and where the proceeds of the land
may be made to go far toward the payment of
the necessary hired help, are quite within the
means of multitudes even of those who must do
business “in town.” And there is a perennial
fascination in planning and building one‘s own
dwelling and home. Not unfrequently this fas­
cination draws to new enterprises as fast as the
old are successfully achieved ; and the finished
home is sold that its projector may again feel
the delight of drawing, arranging and overseeing.

10

THE FRIEND OF ALL.

THE ARCHITECT.

There are many things that a beginner ought
to learn in a less expensive school than experi­
ence. One is, the employment of a good archi­
tect. How many ill-contrived, inconvenient, un­
healthy, ugly-looking houses does one see, the
result of the unassisted inexperience of the own­
er and the carpenter; where a competent archi­
tect could have achieved a result every way satis­
factory, with the same or even a smaller outlay.
Of course, there are architects and architects, and
a projector ought not blindly to trust to the first
name he sees with the word architect painted or
printed after it, the designing and Building his
home, any more than he would trust his own or
his family‘s health to an unknown physician, or
his pecuniary interests to the first chance lawyer.
But there have been such late improvements in
architecture and building, and the subject has
attracted so large a mass of really superior talent
and education, that an approximately right man
can with no great difficulty be found. With such
a man the whole subject should be discussed at
the outset, if possible even before the selection
of the site, that the entire enterprise may be
harmoniously wrought out, on a well-matured
plan, and in a thorough, conscientious and every
way workman­like manner.

SITE AND DRAINAGE.

Other things being satisfactory, high ground,
from which the water runs in every direction,
should have the preference. Avoid clay forma­
tions, which leave basins underground, and pre­
vent the escape of surplus water. Next best is a
side hill, the ground above being so graded as to
throw off the water which otherwise might de­
scend upon you. In any case, the greatest pains
should be taken to secure perfect drainage.
Many a husband and father, many a wife and
mother, have fallen victims to ignorance, neg­
lect or mistake of some kind in this paramount
matter. Every part of the house and its areas
should be thoroughly drained, and in such a
manner that the waste matter may not settle
and fester anywhere on its road. Where a small
river or stream receives the ground drainage, a
drain must be laid for the sewage, and this should
be received in a cesspool or vault under ground,
as otherwise the water may become poisoned.
The pipes should be laid three to four feet below
the surface, where they will not be affected by
frost. Too large pipes are liable to retain the
flow of water and become clogged. In the coun­
try, where there is no sewerage system, the sew­
age must be confined to the estate, and the use
of earth-closets for solid matter is to be recom­
mended. Fluids must be carried away from the

house to a tank water-tight, underneath the
ground, and may be used in irrigation.

All cesspools and sewers should be ventilated,
as the gases there formed will force their way
back into the house unless some outlet be given
them. All traps should be ventilated. This is
now usually accomplished by a pipe leading up
to the roof, and protected by a cap from down-
; ward draught. There must always be an inlet of
I pure fresh air to supply the place of that rising
off. Areas need draining. Wash-sinks and
closets should never be put in the basement un­
less the cesspool into which they drain be much
lower, so that there shall be a decided fall. Oth­
erwise the drainage is liable to stagnate, and the
gases to back up and force their way in. Soil-
pipes should be most carefully laid on a solid
bottom, so that no settling can affect the join­
ings. Vitrified stone­ware pipes are considered
the best. Iron pipes are difficult to repair. The
cement pipe, though it joins well, has a rough
surface upon the inside, and to this matter will
adhere.

EXPOSURE.

The direction in which the house faces has
much to do with the comfort of its inmates.
Two things are to be considered : the prevailing
wind, and the sun. Houses are often set so that
they exclude the cool breezes in summer, and
have the full force of the cold winds in winter.

WATER.

The water-supply is a matter of the first im­
portance. Generally, a country-house has to
be supplied from a tank in the roof, and the
water from this tank should pass through an effi­
cient filter as it is used. Where pure soft water
can be led into this tank from a neighboring hill
or other sufficient height, that is by all means
the best way. Where water cannot be thus pro­
cured, often a hydraulic ram placed in a running
stream near by may be made to feed the tank.
Perhaps the water must be raised from a well, or
from a cistern which receives the rain-water. A
force-pump easily does the work, and where no
other power is at hand, a wind­mill may be em­
ployed. But a wind­mill in sight, at rest or in
motion, is hardly an æsthetic addition to the
landscape. If the tank is large enough, and on
sufficient foundations, the rain-water may be re­
ceived directly into it and the labor of raising it
economized. Don‘t use impure or “ hard " wa­
ter if you can help it, even if it is to be filtered.

In the matter of drainage and of water, resi­
dents of cities, where the sewerage is well con­
structed, have a decided advantage. The sewers
being below the houses, and generally an abun­
dance of pure water “ on tap” day and night, in
a modern well-built city home, ventilated by

THE DWELLING.                                                            11

pipes from subcellar to roof, the tendency of I
any malaria is towards, and not from, the ventila­
ting pipes. The forty-five­ mile layer of air, in
the bottom scale of which we live, constantly re­
ceives the exhaled waste, and as constantly di­
vine chemistry reconverts this waste into health­
ful forms, ready for vitality again to assimilate.

CELLAR.

A side hill is of advantage when the slope is I
sufficient to have one side of the cellar above
ground. If a cellar built in this way is to be
used as kitchen or laundry, it is always best to
have a subcellar.

No living-room should have its floor set di­
rectly upon the ground, but there should always
be a circulation of air between the ground and I
the floor, even if the ground be dry.

The cellar is not unfrequently an expensive
part of house­building, but it is certainly a very
important part, as are all foundations. Dressed
stone is the best for the underpinning. The
squares of stone need not be of uniform size.
Rubble-work, an imitation of granite, is often
employed, and is less expensive. With a composi­
tion of cement and sand, colored with Venetian
red, Spanish brown and lamp-black, the rough
edges of the stone are pointed so that if the lines
are horizontal and plumb the result will be a
close imitation of the jointed masonry.

CHIMNEYS.

Chimneys may be made so as to add greatly to
the effect of the house. They should be large
enough to give the idea of strength and solidity.
The color should be carefully chosen. Chim­
neys carried upon the outside admit of good
treatment. Those so built should have an air-
chamber or space between the flues and outer
walls which will prevent their becoming chilled,
and there will be no trouble about the draught.
No timbers should be extended into flues.

The foundations of chimneys should be care­
fully laid, as they are liable to settle owing to
their weight.

FRAMING.

Sound and well-seasoned timber should be se­
lected. Avoid resting the frame on girders or
interties. The sill should be laid flat, which re­
duces the shrinkage. This method distributes
the weight over the foundation. Then the posts
and studs are run continuously up to the roof;
Instead of having thirty or forty inches of timber
across the grain, there are only the sill and plate
which are laid flat, and there is little chance for
shrinking. Timber shrinks across the grain, not
lengthwise. Lathing should not be laid immedi­
ately on the under side of floor-beams, which are
apt to shrink.

roofs.

The roofing should be carefully done, and the
covering for the framework closely joined, leav­
ing no chance for rain and sun to penetrate. It
is a good plan to inclose the walls before roofing.
Where the roof is flat, or nearly so, tin roofs are
generally used. The plates must be laid with
great care, and well soldered, or there will be
small leaks, troublesome to find and troublesome
to stop. The tin plates must be thoroughly
painted, freely using what are called “paint-
skins,” and the work carefully examined when
first tested with heavy rain, or melting snow.
And great care should be taken about stepping
on a tin roof, as a little carelessness with heavy
nailed boots may cause a deal of trouble.
Cheaper substitutes for tin are much used, how­
ever, on flat or nearly flat roofs. These are
made of some kind of cement or roofing spread
over while hot, and covered before drying with
large gravel or small pebbles. Some of these do
exceedingly good service, and do not cost nearly
as much as a good tin roof.

But it is better, where the surroundings admit,
that a roof should have pitch enough to admit of
a shingle or a slate roof. Especially where
heavy snows are to be expected, is such a roof to
be preferred, as the melting snow passes easily
off, and the necessity for shoveling, so often
needed with a flat roof, is obviated. Good slates
are to be had from Vermont, Pennsylvania and
Virginia, and properly laid on form a fine and
durable roof, though of course one more expen­
sive than shingles. The slates absorb no damp­
ness, and need no slats, and laid with felting be­
tween the sheathing and them, form a firm bar­
rier against cold and heat, and especially snow.
If shingles are used, the split ones are better than
the sawn, though dearer, the grain running the
length of the shingle. And if the beautiful neu­
tral tint which a shingle roof soon takes on with
exposure to the weather is not good enough,
pray do not paint your roof some glaring, offen­
sive color that shall vex the onlooking eye, but
use a stain or dye that shall harmonize with its
surroundings.

windows.

With the Queen Anne style of building, the
small windows and little panes have come into
considerable favor. Small panes are not suitable
for rooms in general use. Fine plate glass is im­
mensely superior to the glass of the Queen Anne
time, and it seems absurd to obstruct a beautiful
view by the sash-ribs which in those days were a
necessity. Broad low windows are a delight to
the inmates of a house, and should be placed in
the living-rooms. The introduction of stained
I glass is very acceptable in places where it may

12

THE FRIEND OF ALL.

be used appropriately. A staircase may be very I
well lighted with a high stained-glass window.
Leaded panes of glass in the hall-door are pleas­
ant, and in the fan­lights. The glass generally
used for these purposes is known as cathedral-
roll, which has an uneven surface and brilliant
effect.

BLINDS.

Outside blinds to a frame house are convenient
in some respects, and in others quite the reverse.
For stone and brick houses inside shutters are
usually made, as the thick walls offer the required
depth to fold the shutters back against. Where
there are bay-windows or a group of windows,
either inside or outside blinds interfere. An
architect has contrived a way of letting the shut­
ter slide down out of sight, something after the
manner of a car-blind. This certainly is an im­
provement, as the hangings or shades are not in­
terfered with, and the rather unsightly shutter is
well out of the way during a great part of the
time. Venetian shades or rolling blinds are not
much used, as they are expensive and are a pro­
tection only against sun and light. Hoods are a
great protection and ornament over doors and
windows. Where a porch is made, or balcony, a
hood ­covering, with sides which come to the
steps or front, is very effective.             

DOORS.

Entrance-doors should be wide, and preferably
in two leaves. Large pieces of furniture, trunks,
etc., usually have to go in at the front door. If
possible, have inner or vestibule doors. The outer
doors should have small glass windows to light
the vestibule. The vestibule door should be
partly of glass. In the city, within two years,
there has been a sort of front­door “revival.”
Many houses have had the old doors taken down
to make way for those of improved design, with
more carving in the solid wood and less cheap
ornament applied, and fewer veneered panels im­
itating fine wood. In country building the front
door is happily not such an all-important feature,
and with improved cottage-building comes the
suitable doorway and door.

HALL.

A long narrow hall does not impress one as
pleasantly as a broad or square entry. If the
entry be like a room, a settee or sofa may be
placed in it, perhaps several chairs. In some of
the Queen Anne cottages a fire-place is made in
the entry, and this is certainly very appropriate,
and gives one a feeling of comfort immediately
upon entering. Never have the entry dark. A
hat-tree is rather ugly and not very useful. An
umbrella-stand will hold the sticks and umbrellas
quite as well, and a hat-mirror with a few hooks

will take the place of the rack. A table placed
near the door is very convenient for hats, cards,
parcels, etc. There should be closets somewhere
in the entry where the people of the house can
bestow their coats and wraps. If a wood floor is
laid in the entry it can be very easily kept clean,
and if a rug be put down over the part used the
objection of noise will be overcome, besides add­
ing much to the home-look.

STAIRWAYS.

Stairs should be broad and low, and the stair­
case, if possible, broken with a landing where the
stairs turn. The general habit of building stair­
cases which resemble ladders ought to be done
away with as fast as possible. A back stairway
is a great advantage, too often left out of the
house-plan. No houses but those of tiny pro­
portions should be without a second stairway.

ATTIC.

In country houses there is usually an attic, so
that the trials of living without a trunk- and
store-room are not known. In the city many
houses of good style and well built are minus
such a luxury as a store-room, or at best have
one small dark closet dignified by the name.

CLOSETS.

One of the great advantages of the Queen
Anne cottages is the numberless places which
are left to be used as closets and cupboards.
Of these there can never be too many, and often
a little ingenuity will produce a small recess
where there was some clumsy bit of wall, and
this can be fitted up with shelves, drawers or
hooks. Builders are not as a rule careful about
these small but most important parts of house-
making. Never grudge ample room for dining-
room and kitchen pantries, for the most modest
establishment requires a good deal of room in
which to spread out. The pantry or room adjoin­
ing the kitchen should have plenty of shelves, the
lowest one broad, and under that there should
be a place for flour-barrels, with inclosed sides,
and a square place cut above and hinged so that
the flour can be quickly taken out. Cupboards
for sugar-buckets, etc., should also be made.
The broad shelf will be about the height of a
table, and make an excellent place for preparing
food, rolling pastry, etc. The dining-room or
butler‘s pantry should have a sink and water-
faucets, hot and cold if there is a range with hot-
water boiler.

HEATING HOUSES.

Furnace-heat is a great convenience, though

even with the best furnaces, carefully managed,

[ the air is apt to be dry. Steam is pleasanter,

THE DWELLING.

13

but expensive. Stoves are ugly and trouble­
some, but will probably be used for a long time
to come, as they are cheap and give a good deal
of heat for the fuel. The Baltimore heaters are
good where there is a chimney in which one can
be set. They are not very expensive, are econo­
mical of fuel, easily managed, and will heat two
or three rooms by the pipes which run up in the
chimney to the floors above, where registers are
placed. These heaters with the improvements
are much used. But all who can should have an
open wood-fire in the living-room if in no other
place. The heat from such a fire does not parch
the skin and make the head ache. It is health­
ful, and an open fire is one of the most cheering
things in the world. A good furnace kept so
that the entries and halls will be comfortably
heated, and open fires either of wood or soft
coal in the living-rooms, are the most satisfac­
tory ways of heating either city or country
houses.

People are slow to realize how perfect a venti­
lator an open fire-place is, and in sleeping-rooms
though bringing no draughts of air to inmates,
it gives free escape for impure air. An open fire
in sickness is of great use. Whether furnaces
or stoves are used, water should be kept con­
stantly evaporating. Carelessness in this respect,
especially with the usual furnace, is likely to
cause distressing headaches.

Wooden mantel­pieces with shelves are now
much used in place of marbelized slate and mar­
ble.

TILES.

Do not overlook the pleasure which the use of
artistic and well-made tiles can afford to the
inmates of your house. When chimney and
hearth had to be thus ornamented entirely by
unassisted hand-labor, the expense was often
prohibitive. Now that machinery has been or­
ganized to do this so well and so cheaply, and so
much talent has been allured into the design and
the executing of tile-work, this ornamentation is
within the reach of all. There is at Chelsea,
Mass., the Art Tile Works of Messrs. J. & J. G.
Low, an examination of whose productions fills
one with an ever varied and always deepening
pleasure. Messrs. Low have succeeded in giving
an entirely new value to tiles, especially in regard
to color and what we may call texture. By their
processes tiles are not only modeled in relief,
but are most beautifully graded in color, a blush
of a certain tone seeming to spread and deepen
over the surface, and while a certain grade of
color is adhered to in a number of tiles, no two
are alike in the distribution of values, and the
surface is apparently a thin glaze overlying a
mellow molten depth. To this description of
tiles has lately been added another still more

effective, in which various colors are used in the
same piece, and in which are seen curious crys­
talline formations of great brilliancy under the
transparent surface. The beauties and novelties
of these tiles are as impossible to convey in black-
and-white illustrations as are those of the opales­
cent glass now so deservedly admired, and
which has added a new charm and larger range
to the effect of our stained glass.

CEILINGS AND WALLS.

In the furnishing of rooms in country houses,
white and red pine well seasoned will be found
cheap and satisfactory as a trimming. This
wood is reliable if well selected, and endures
changes in temperature better than most other
wood. The pine should not be painted, as that
hides its grain. It should be treated with shel­
lac and copal varnish. The dining-room is ap­
propriately finished with a high wooden wain­
scot. The buffet can easily be made to form
part of it. A frieze of wood with wooden ceil­
ing is very pretty and in good keeping. Certain
combinations of color will have an enlivening ef­
fect ; others a depressing. In choosing the co­
lors for a room, reference should be had to the
size, light admitted and use. Blue produces the
effect of distance, and where the ceiling is too
low may be well used, as it will give an impres­
sion of height. Yellow seems to advance towards
the eye, so if used will make a moulding more
prominent, or the ceiling seem lower. Blue is
restful to the eye, but in a north room is a little
cool, especially for the winter season. Most art­
ists assert that with dark walls furniture and cos­
tumes show to better advantage, while pictures
look better upon a light background.

For gilt frames olive, gray and deep green are
appropriate. Engravings and etchings with sim­
ple frames look well against a dark maroon. If
the trimmings of a house or room are painted
darker than the body or main part, the effect of
strength is added. The framework of a door
should be darker than the panels. The same
may be said of cornices and windows: the frame
part should give the look of strength. A good
rule for color on the walls is to have the richer
colors low down, while the light colors should
be put near or on the ceiling. Papers are easi-
ily procured and are not costly, while fine deco­
rating is very expensive and not easy to be had.
Ceilings may be papered, but require care in se­
lection of suitable papers to harmonize with the
wall-paper. The extent of wall is often broken
up by the use of frieze and dado, with very good
results. The friezes are sometimes very elabo­
rate and beautiful, but large designs should be
avoided in small low-ceiled rooms.

14                                                      THE FRIEND OF ALL.

FURNITURE.

All the furniture should be honest, by which
we mean it should be well put together, the wood
properly dressed, and there should be no super­
fluous scrolls and ledges, which are tiresome to
the eye, out of place, and excellent traps for
dust.

Of cheap furniture there is enough to stock a
new world, so to speak, in our cities. It is
turned out in quantities from large factories,
half-seasoned wood being used, and the result is
a half-finished set of furniture of bad design—
bureau-drawers that soon shrink so that they
will not close, and tables that crack across the !
top. These, surely, are not good investments
even though they are cheap. Thoroughly made
furniture will pay in the end. For upholstered
furniture choose stuffs which are suitable to the
room in which the pieces are to be put, and also
keep in mind the colors of the walls and carpet.
The Wakefield Rattan furniture is much used
and liked now. Chairs of this material, with
cushioned seats, can be had very reasonably,
which in real comfort will far outdo the so-called
“ easy chairs” of the ordinary upholsterer. This
furniture is well suited to country houses.

OUTSIDE COLORS.

A frame house painted white, the shutters
painted green, and so dazzling in a July sun that
the traveler has to shield his eyes, has until quite
recently been the outside aspect of the country
home. Happily now a taste is forming for
pleasant neutral tints which are much more sat­
isfactory in all ways. The seaside houses have
made a great step towards improvement, but in­
land, away from watering-places and suburban
villas, white paint is still master of the situation.
The best time for painting the outside of build­
ings is in the late autumn. The paint then dries
slowly, and the surface becomes hard, not affect­
ed by weather.

PICTURES.

These make a great item in the means of edu­
cation, comfort and ornament in the home. As
the tastes and the means of people differ in a
practically endless variety, so representations on
paper or canvas, addressed to the eye, vary as
widely. Before the discovery of utilizing the
rays of the sun to reproduce desired objects, and
the modern improvements in engraving and print­
ing, most men had to be content with few or no
pictorial representations on their walls. Michel­
angelo Buonarroti and his fellows busied them­
selves greatly with frescoes, and visits to various
places were necessary to an appreciation of their
wonderful work. A copy even of a celebrated
painting was very costly, and fell short of the

model, as the copyer fell short of the original
painter. The works of Michelangelo, Rubens, Ra­
phael, Leonardo da Vinci, Domenichino, Cara-
vaggio, Guido, Poussin, Claude Lorraine, Mu-
rillo, Velasquez, Van Dyck, Teniers, Rembrandt,
and an almost countless host of brother-artists,
were a sealed book to the great majority. But
the best of them were early produced in engrav­
ings, approximately like the originals, whose
price soon began to popularize the masterpieces.
These, however, necessarily shared in the imper­
fection of the engravers who wrought them, and
in the transfer often a part, sometimes a large
part, of their characteristic peculiarities disap­
peared.

But the invention of Niepce and Daguerre,
which the latter alone, after the death of the
former, made a success in 1839, and the further
improvements for which that opened the way,
have put a new face on the matter. Now sun-
pictures, of one name and another, absolutely
accurate in all except color, reproduce the work
of the great masters at a price which brings them
within the reach of thousands, where tens only
could before be gratified. At less than the cost of a
trip to their habitats, one can buy photographs and
heliotypes of almost every painting of reputation
in the world. A man or woman, who has never
stirred from his or her native country in Ameri­
ca, can thus form and mature an acquaintance
with great artists and their works, otherwise im­
possible during the travel of a lifetime. Even
the frescoes of great masters can be laid side by
side, and studied, in their “ counterfeit present­
ments,” as the originals cannot.

Another popularizer of works of art is the
chromo, that wonderful development, by which
pictures can be reproduced, of a size to hang upon
the wall, and with practically unlimited resources
of color. These, of varying degrees of excellence
or vileness, are purchasable at all times, at an
insignificant price. In how many homes have
not Tait‘s Chickens come, to moult and mature
into other and larger forms of grace ! No one,
hardly the navvy, need live with bare walls.
The great paintings themselves will never come
within the reach of short purses. For a sight
of these, most of us must be content with an oc­
casional visit to some private or public gallery,
or an evening at a loan exhibition. Happily,
their possessors are generally more than willing
that the public should share in their enjoyment.
Put pictures on your walls : the best you can
select and afford. Get them one or two at a
time, as they make a special appeal to your indi­
viduality. Don‘t buy because somebody else
says you ought to like a picture; and don‘t be
bluffed out of what you are sure you do want
] because somebody else tells you you should not.

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