Color In the Home.

1895

The modern scientific decorator assures us that while yellows are all right for a hall or vestibule they should not be used in rooms where one reads or works. The reason assigned is that yellow does not absorb light, but is a strong reflector, and those reflected rays are trying to the eyes, but, more than that, are distinct brain disturbers. For the library or workroom the most soothing or satisfactory tint is coffee.

The influence of color upon temperament and physical condition being an accepted fact it follows in natural sequence that the treatment of living rooms is of real importance. Undoubtedly some natures respond quicker to these influences than others, but any one planning a change in furnishings will do well to give the matter some attention.


Teeth of Man and Animals.

A horse has 40 teeth, and a mare only 36, wanting the tusks, or so called "wolf teeth." The ox and sheep family have 32, each lacking the eight incisors of the upper jaw. The hog has 44 teeth, and the dog 42. Where the dental formula is perfect in all varieties of the human species it is found to show 32 teeth. — St. Louis Republic.

Mrs. Gilligan Indicted for Murder

1916

Hartford, Ct., Sept. 21. — Mrs. Amy E. Archer Gilligan, charged with poisoning five inmates of her home for elderly people at Windsor, was indicted for first degree murder on five counts by the grand jury late today.

Benedict M. Holden, counsel for Mrs. Gilligan, announced that he was not ready to proceed with the trial and Judge Shumway ordered the case continued to the December term of the superior court. Mrs. Gilligan pleaded not guilty and was remanded to the county jail without bonds.

Mrs. Gilligan was arrested on May 7 last, specially charged with the murder of Franklin R. Andrews, whose body had been secretly exhumed. Since that time four other bodies, including the second husband of the accused have been exhumed.

Most of the inmates were admitted to the home, the state claims, after contracts had been signed providing for life care upon payment of $1000.

Dwellings of Eskimos

1901

It is a mistake to suppose that the Eskimos of Greenland live in huts made of ice or snow, even though some of the writers of geographies do say so. The huts in which they pass the winter are rudely conical in shape, a little more than five feet high, made of stone, with the cracks and spaces filled with earth and the whole covered with turf or sod.

A passageway about six feet long and less than three feet square leads to the interior, and there is a small window in the hut directly over the passageway. The hut, which is called an igloo, contains only one room and has built around its sides a rude platform or bench of stone.

When summer arrives, the Eskimos abandon their igloos and dwell in skin tents, called tupics. Huts made of ice and stone are never used except temporarily, as, for example, when they are traveling long distances during the winter or when for some reason they do not return to their winter settlements.

When The Heat Is Greatest

1901

When the heat is greater out of doors than indoors, it is a mistake to think that open windows will cool a room. Instead, in the early morning, after the room is dusted and put in order, the windows should be shut and the shades drawn down and kept so until the sun has gone.

When the sun shines on the window most of the day, it should be protected by an awning of some sun resisting color that will keep out all stray sunbeams. An awning, even with the shades lifted, will keep a room comparatively dark and cool.

When it is necessary to keep a sickroom cool, an excellent plan is to open the door and almost shut it as fast as possible for about 20 or 30 times in succession; nothing changes the air in a room so quickly or so well. Then wet cloths should be hung before the open windows or anywhere where a draft of air may pass through them. Plenty of cracked ice is necessary in hot weather within reach of the patient, and in the room quite a good sized block of it in a deep pan will help keep the temperature down. — Helen Tripp in American Queen.

Wouldn't Sell the House

1901

The house in which Joan of Arc was born is still faithfully preserved in pious veneration at Domremy, where it is looked upon almost in the light of a shrine. Passersby invariably cross themselves and utter a prayer for protection as they go by.

The story goes that a rich and eccentric Englishman tried hard to buy the place in 1837. It was at that time the property of a farmer named Girardin. The Englishmen offered to let him name his own price, but the old man held firm. "No, no, no," he cried. "I would not sell it even to a Frenchman, much less to a foreigner and especially an Englishman. People here would call me a traitor and a coward were I to part with the house from which Joan of Arc set out to serve France."

The Englishman convinced himself that further bargaining was useless and went his way.

Soon after an officer from the king's household arrived in the village and asked to speak with Girardin. Before the whole village, assembled in the street, he said: "Girardin, the king has learned that you have refused to sell your house to an Englishman. He desires to reward you, but not in coin. He knows that you no more want the money of the French than of the English, therefore has he commanded me to present you with the cross of the Legion of Honor."

Had Forty Homes

1901

Vollon, the painter, was a unique personage even among the old characters of Paris. While he was essentially a Bohemian there were times when even his patience was taxed to the utmost, and to obviate the necessity of meeting unwelcome people he conceived the idea of multiplying his lodging places.

At the time of his death he owned no less than 40 homes, all in apartment houses, situated in all the out of the way corners of Paris, plainly furnished and with just enough accommodation for himself. He changed from one to the another all the time, in order to escape importunate acquaintances and to take refuge from his friends. It was in order to throw them all off the scent that he engaged rooms all over the city.

He finally died in the Rue de Dunkerque, where he had as many as three different apartments, all within a stone's throw of one another.

Lamps For The Library

1902

The newest lamps for the drawing room and library are of metal and naturally form a fitting foundation for those beautiful bent glass domes in leaded effects or other metallic settings. A number are in art nouveau effects; one of these is of oxidized brass. In shapes they range from graceful forms (not the very squat shapes) to tall monumental affairs of the banquet variety.

A clever thing of Grecian form with low, graceful supports is in mandarin bronze, and is very attractive. One charming oxidized bronze lamp is in the old Dutch style, a simple, sturdy loving cup as to shape and the column resting on three savage looking griffins.

Choosing a lamp is easier than choosing a shade, for a shade must look well when lit up, and it must be becoming. — New York American.

Porch Lamp is New Novelty

1915

Lights Interior as Well as Exterior of House

A novel porch lamp just announced illuminates both the hall or the front room and the porch. The lamp is mounted inside the house, adjacent to the porch. Part of the light is diffused thru the room, while a part of the horizontal rays is transmitted thru a one and a quarter inch tube to a globe outside the wall.


To Make Electric Controller

Evansville to Get Factory for Local Man's Patent

A $10,000 plant will be built in Evansville, Ind., next spring by a New York electrical concern which paid $40,000 for the patent on an electric controller invented by Michael Burns, of Evansville, according to a statement of James O'Toole, agent for the eastern concern. The plant will be used for assembling the controllers.


Non-Fly-Back Crank Arrives

CRYSTAL FALLS, Mich., Dec. 16. — Archie Liberty has invented a ratchet crank for automobiles which cannot fly back and break the arm of the operator. It consists of an ordinary crank with a flange attachment, with notches in its edge, forming a ratchet. On the outer casing, surrounding this ratchet, are six dogs that drop into the teeth of the ratchet and keep the crank from reversing.

Electricity in the Home

1901

Many devices are now available for use in the home. They include small hand lamps which light at the touch of a spring; a pocket lamp and battery made flat like a folding camera; ornamental candles with miniature lights at their tip; a tiny lamp attached to the front of a clock, and small lamps for decorative purposes.

A current is introduced in a house to supply power for flat irons, curling irons, coffee mills, ice cream freezers and sewing machines, and heat for chafing dishes and tea kettles. Telephones are replacing speaking tubes in most of the new mansions and also to connect with stables and other outbuildings.

If power from a waterfall or windmill is available the owner of a house can install an electric plant of his own at small cost. In many large country houses the dynamo is run by a gasoline engine. — St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Miserable Homes – Let Home Be Home Indeed

1874

What a mistake some good people make when they maintain, within the home circle, the rigid rule and decorum which becomes irksome even during committee meeting; when parents and children assemble at the table in solemn silence, and finish the meal within the prescribed minutes; and the late arrival at the breakfast table is scowled at, reprimanded, and remarked upon by mother and father, aunt and uncle, until the more punctual juniors come to regard him as a black sheep.

Oh, horrid home, where the little boys are never seen without their school books, or the little girl without a towel to hem; where ma no more dares to buy a rattle for the baby without mentioning the expenditure to pa, than anybody dares to throw open the parlor shutters or tuck up the curtains, or even at the table to have more of this dish or less of that.

The small boy who hates fat is not accommodated, as Jack Sprat's wife was, by anybody. The tall girl, who naturally likes pudding, has her triangular wedge, and no more; while the eldest son, outgrowing his liking for the dish, is reproved for the leaving of a piece on his plate.

Order and good housekeeping are charming, but the good order of a person, and the regular supply of rations necessary in a workhouse, are not suitable for home. Home is no home unless as far as reason will allow, the taste and wishes of the youngest child are consulted; unless there is freedom of word and action, speech and love, and good will without measure.

When I was a child home was the place where the wicked ceased from troubling, and the weary were at rest. Everything was always forgiven there. There was no awful rod behind the door, no domestic dungeon under the roof. I do not think I grew up a worse woman because I was not whipped, or put to bed without my supper for dressing the bed-post in grandmother's best lace cap, or making paper dolls, against orders, in the front parlor — because life was not made a burden to me by forcing fat into my unwilling mouth, and sugar candy forbidden as though it was poison.

I could shed tears over the wretched homeless children of the house where discipline, as strict as that of the army, is maintained, though their fare is costly and the dress perfect, and their future prospects as to an inheritance final. They are more to be pitied than the children of any poor man, who clusters about their parents' knee without any fear of chiding; who are encouraged to tell their troubles, and kindly lead away from follies; and who will not, in later days, remember "pa" as the old gentleman who flogged them, and "ma" as the old lady who kept the keys, and boxed their ears for them, but think of them with that respect and reverence due by a child to its parents. — The Household.

Woman Has Personal Invitation to Anti-Suffrage Meeting

Pennsylvania, 1915

ANTI-SUFFRAGE MEETING

Mrs. O'Neal to Attend Session in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Mrs. Walter H. O'Neal left for Philadelphia on Thursday to attend, by a personal invitation from Mrs. Horace Brock, State Chairman, a conference of women, opposed to the granting of suffrage to women. The meeting will be at the home of Mrs. Brock, 1920 Spruce street, on Friday morning. Mrs. A. J. George, of Boston, will be one of the speakers. After the meeting Mrs. Brock will serve a luncheon to the guests.

—Adams County News, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, January 16, 1915, page 5.


Folly of Profanity

Although the use of some expletives decently and in order may often be justified, it is something we should all try to avoid. Thoroughly well balanced men and women never let their nerves become wrought up to a pitch where swearing is necessary. They appreciate that no matter how good scientific reasons there may be for expletives their use is a confession of weakness.


Certainly Suggestive

Perhaps the old fellow who first pointed out that a man's home is his castle had in mind the way it's almost constantly beleaguered by persons wishing to sell you brooms, potatoes and other commodities that you don't want any more of than you already have. — Columbus (Ohio) Journal.


Amended the Author

Little Lola had been given a short poem to commit to memory by her teacher. In it these lines occurred: "Sail on, ye mariners, the night is gone." Later when requested to repeat the poem, she rendered the lines thus: "Sail on, ye married men, the light is gone."

The Trained Housekeeper — So Your Maid Knows What She's Doing

1895

Benefits Derived from a Scientific Court of Learning

The domestic problem is one of the most vexing as well as important problems of the day.

Training schools for servants are as necessary as they are loudly advocated, but the mistress needs training quite as much as the servant — a training which a season at a fashionable cooking school is inadequate to give.

And it is the middle class housekeeper — the woman who keeps only one servant, the woman whose mother in nine cases out of ten was a notable housekeeper, and did her own work — who needs systematic and scientific training far more than do the heads of more luxurious households, for among these it is no unusual thing to find women who are perfect in every department of housekeeping.

The best housekeeper I know possesses millions in her own right. She never has trouble with servants, for one reason, because she can afford to pay the highest prices, and for another, because she thoroughly understands what duties to expect of each and is quick to recognize the slightest deficiency. She does not always get perfect servants, but she does get the order of intelligence capable of profiting by the instruction given. Her new maids are always turned over to the care of a valued and trusty servant, whom she herself trained many years ago.

When every mother recognizes it as one of her highest duties and privileges to make thorough housekeepers of her daughters, then and only then shall we have cause to congratulate ourselves upon the "New Woman." — New York Herald.

The Luxury of a Great Porch in the Summer

1912

SUMMER PORCHES

The Luxury of Living Outdoors in Hot Weather

WHAT PAINT WILL DO

Get Out Your Own Chairs, Buy Two New Wickers, Give Them a Green Coat and Then Dress Them Up In Gay Chintzes

It seems a pity that all country homes are not built with roomy, spacious piazzas. After all, the principal reason that any one has for living in the suburbs and going through all the trouble of commuting is because he wants to live in the country. Of course six months in the year it is too cold to sit out of doors, but when spring comes the suburbanite wants to enjoy the country to the utmost. He cannot do this by sitting indoors, certainly. He wants to read his paper and smoke his pipe where he can see nature's beauties spread all out before his eyes — namely, on the porch.

Modern architects are realizing more and more the need for big porches, no matter how small the house. Of course the suburbanite who owns his own home can always add to the porches if he wishes. But the others must make the most of what they have and do the best they can to make their piazza cozy and comfortable, no matter how small it may be.

You women who live in the country will find that a can or two of paint and a bolt of pretty chintz will do much to transform your porch furniture. If you have no comfortable chairs for piazza use do buy one or two. They need not be expensive pieces, but be sure they are comfortable and have pretty lines.

The wicker or reed furniture is really the most attractive for verandas, and it is not at all expensive.

You need not worry if you have two or three pieces of one kind and a couple of pieces of another variety. After you have given them all a coat of the same paint and made chintz cushioned seats and backs for them they will look enough alike to fool any casual eye. Besides, no one expects rigid formality in porch decorations.

If your house is white or gray you will find that green porch furniture will look best. Give all the chairs, tables and settees a coat of green paint and one of green enamel paint. The chintz for green furniture should contrast with it, and a figure with a good deal of red in it will be found most effective.

It may be wisest to have a cheap upholsterer make the seat cushions and backs if you are afraid to tackle so tricky a job. Have them made with some white goods as a cover. Then you can yourself make slip covers of the chintz for them. The reason why it is better not to have the chintz put right on as the first cover of the cushions is because it may soil very quickly, being where the street dust can easily reach it. If the chintz is made into slip covers they can be removed and washed when soiled.

If your house is any other color except white or gray brown porch furniture is prettiest. So you can paint your furnishings brown and use almost any gaily colored, pretty bright chintz for cushions.

—The Kingston Daily Freeman, Kingston, New York, June 24, 1916, page 7.

Dean of Women: 'Love-Making Rooms Not Needed in Homes'

1921

"Courting Parlors" Not Needed Says Wisconsin University Dean

Room Fitted for Love-Making Would Drive Away Average Young People; Old Time Courting Out of Date

By MERLE SHAW

"The establishing of courting parlors in homes, where the young people can make love under mother's supervision, may be necessary in England, but not in Wisconsin," declared Mrs. M. H. Mendenhall, assistant dean of women at the University of Wisconsin. Most American homes are of such an informal nature that the old time courting days are decidedly out-of-date anyway."

Mrs. Mendenhall believes that in the larger cities where many homes are crowded and disorderly and where lovers are rushed out into the street to do their courting, such rooms might be necessary. Much of the public courting that goes on in parks, theaters, and trolleys in the large cities is, however, due to the foreign population.

"The time has not yet come in Wisconsin when a so-called 'courting parlor' is needed in the average substantial home," said Mrs. Mendenhall. "Besides," she added with a twinkle in her eye, "a room fitted out for love-making purposes is more liable to drive out the young people rather than serve a means to keep them at home."

—The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, May 2, 1921, page 3.