From Kitchen to Garret: Hints for young householders
CHAPTER XX.
THE SUMMING-UP.
I have been so continually asked what is the very smallest possible sum of money that will suffice to furnish a little house for a young couple beginning life, that I have drawn up from actual bills a short schedule of the cost of furnishing the ordinary villa residence in the suburbs. But to this must be added quite another 50_l._ should the householder have literally every single thing to buy; for in this special house, as will be seen from the list, several rather important items were already procured, and wedding presents made a great and perceptible difference in the appearance of the modest _ménage_, as is fortunately generally the case with all young couples starting in life, who, if they are wise, will only purchase necessaries at first, saving their money until they are actually married, and know not only what their friends have given them, but also what the house itself really requires. There is no doubt, if this be done, the following will suffice at first; and on 150_l._ the house will not only look nice but artistic too.
DINING-ROOM.
Bought of £ _s._ _d._ A. and R. Smee Six oak-framed rush-seated chairs at 25_s._ 7 10 0 Maple Mahogany table 3 5 0 “ Kidderminster square carpet 1 17 6 Burnett Felt for curtains 1 4 9 Whiteley Fender 0 7 6 “ Fireirons 0 9 6 ------------ £14 14 3
There were two deep cupboards in this special room, which rendered the purchase of a sideboard unnecessary; if one be imperative, I recommend the purchase of Maple’s ‘Vicarage’ suite of furniture at 20_l._ It is both pretty and good, I _hear_; I have not actual personal experience of it.
DRAWING-ROOM.
Bought of £ _s._ _d._ Shoolbred Two squares of carpet 3 15 0 Maple Sofa and pillows, covered velveteen 9 2 6 Whiteley Fenders 1 5 6 “ Fireirons 0 15 0 Smee Walnut octagonal table 5 0 0 “ Stuffed arm-chair 5 18 0 “ Sutherland table 2 0 0 “ Low chair 0 16 6 “ Arm-chair in rush &c. 1 2 6 “ Walnut and rush easy chair 2 5 0 Whiteley Two low basket chairs 1 0 0 “ Cushions made at home 0 12 0 Burnett Cretonne for curtains &c. 1 10 0 Holroyd and Barker Muslin for second curtains 0 10 6 ----------- £35 12 6
I strongly advise in addition to this one of Messrs. Trübner’s excellent revolving bookcases, of which a drawing was made in my dining-room sketch. I consider no lover of books should be without one of these invaluable bookcases.
BEST BEDROOM.
Bought of £ _s._ _d._ Maple Black and brass bedstead 3 5 0 “ Excelsior spring mattress 2 9 0 “ Hair mattress 3 10 0 “ Bolster 0 17 6 “ Four pillows (5_s._ each) 1 0 0 Smee Washing-stand 5 5 0 “ Dressing-table and glass 5 5 0 Maple Kidderminster square 1 14 0 Smee Two pretty chairs (5_s._) 0 10 0 Maple Box ottoman 2 15 0 Smee Chest of drawers 6 10 0 Burnett Cretonne for curtains 0 15 0 Smee Muslin for ditto (4½_d._) 0 6 0 Whiteley Fender 0 4 3 “ Fireirons 0 3 11 ----------- £34 9 8
Ware was in the possession of the young people, but a nice set can be bought for 7_s._ 6_d._, and even a little less; glass jug and glass for 1_s._ 6_d._, at Douglas’s, the artistic glass-shop in Piccadilly.
DRESSING-ROOM.
Bought of £ _s._ _d._ Treloar Rug on floor 0 12 0 Whiteley Bath 1 1 0 Watts Dressing-table and washing-stand combined 6 5 0 Maple Wardrobe 5 0 0 “ Set of ware &c. 0 8 6 ----------- £13 6 6
SPARE ROOM.
Bought of £ _s._ _d._ Maple Five-foot bedstead 2 5 0 “ Excelsior mattress 2 9 0 “ Hair mattress 3 10 0 “ Bolster and pillows (4) 1 17 6 Smee Washing-stand 5 5 0 “ Dressing-table and glass, very deep drawers 5 5 0 “ Two chairs (5_s._) 0 10 0 “ Chest of drawers 4 10 0 Burnett Cretonne for curtains 0 15 0 Smee Muslin “ “ 0 6 0 Treloar Kidderminster square 1 1 0 Whiteley Fender 0 4 3 “ Fireirons 0 3 11 “ Set of ware 0 5 0 ----------- £28 6 8
SERVANT’S ROOM (ONE MAID).
Bought of £ _s._ _d._ Maple Japanned bedstead 0 13 6 “ Palliasse 0 6 9 “ Mattress 0 10 0 “ Bolster and pillow 0 9 0 “ Dressing-table 0 4 9 “ Toilet-glass 0 5 0 “ Set of ware 0 3 9 “ Chair 0 2 0 “ Washing-stand 0 5 0 “ Dhurries for bedside 0 3 10 ----------- £4 5 1
STAIRCASE.
Bought of £ _s._ _d._ Shoolbred Kalmuc stair-carpet 2 15 0 Maple Umbrella-stand 0 12 0 “ Hooks and rails for hats 0 15 0 ----------- £4 2 0
KITCHEN.
(Whiteley for all.)
£ _s._ _d._ Deal Table 1 1 6 Two Chairs (3_s._ 9_d._) 0 7 6 Three cups and saucers (2¾_d._) 0 0 8¼ Three plates (2¼_d._) 0 0 6¾ One bread-and-butter plate 0 2 4¾ Two bowls 0 0 4½ Set of jugs 0 1 6 Bread-pan 0 1 6½ Four brown jars 0 2 11 Two pie-dishes 0 1 1½ Hot-water jug 0 2 6 Slop-pail 0 4 9 Knife-tray 0 1 6 Egg-whisk 0 0 7½ Fish-slice 0 0 10½ Mincing-knife 0 1 4½ Sugar-tin 0 2 3 Weights and scales 0 8 11 Pestle and mortar 0 3 3 Copper kettle 0 7 3 Two wire covers 0 1 3½ Sweep’s brush for stove 0 1 1½ Two stove-brushes 0 3 4 Banister brush 0 2 0 Scrubbing-brushes 0 1 3½ Broom 0 2 11 Carpet-broom 0 2 11 Knifeboard 0 1 1½ Two plate-brushes 0 1 9½ Plate-polisher 0 1 6½ Salt-box 0 1 3½ Leather 0 1 1½ Housemaid’s box 0 2 3½ One fork-tin 0 0 6½ Colander 0 1 4½ Spice-box 0 1 11½ Cake-tin 0 0 7½ Tart-tins 0 0 5¾ Patty-pans 0 0 6½ Meat-saw 0 1 11½ Meat-chopper 0 1 11½ Coalscuttle 0 4 6 Coal-hammer 0 0 10¾ Coal-shovel 0 2 3 Toast-fork 0 0 6½ Pepper-box 0 0 4¾ Tea-tray 0 1 11½ Paste jagger 0 1 11½ Two flat irons 0 1 9½ Pail 0 1 4½ Brass water-jug 0 5 6 Japanned can 0 5 11 Two saucepans 0 9 6 One saucepan 0 2 3 One saucepan 0 1 9½ ‘Digester’ 0 12 0 Basting-ladle 0 0 11½ Two tin moulds 0 3 6 Oval fryingpan 0 1 2½ Gridiron 0 1 9½ Fish-kettle 0 3 11 Tea-kettle 0 4 11 Knives 0 0 8¾ Dustpan 0 0 10¾ Bread-grater 0 0 7¾ Gravy-strainer 0 1 0½ Flour-dredger 0 0 7¾ Pasteboard 0 1 11½ Rolling-pin 0 1 9½ Steps 0 5 3 Set of dinner-ware 1 1 0 Set of tea-ware 0 12 6 ----------- £11 2 1½
SUMMARY OF ALL.
£ _s._ _d._ Dining-room 14 14 3 Two drawing-rooms 35 12 0 Best bedroom 34 9 8 Spare room 28 6 8 Servant’s room 4 5 1 Staircase 4 2 0 Kitchen things 11 2 1½ Dressing-room 13 6 6 --------------- £145 18 3½
Besides this we spent about 5_l._ on blankets and odds and ends; but all house linen was given, and several other things. However, the above will demonstrate how it is possible to furnish a small house on 150_l._, and have for this good, well-made furniture that will wear, and is not mere cheap rubbish stuck together to sell, and not meant to last.
To manage this satisfactorily it is necessary to keep one’s eyes open and know precisely where to buy everything, for locality makes an enormous difference, and different shops have always some one thing cheaper than any other establishment; and while Whiteley will ask 1_s._ 4½_d._ for the glass globes that cost 3_s._ 6_d._ at Shoolbred’s, Shoolbred will sell for 3_s._ 6_d._ a brass can that costs 4_s._ 6_d._ or 5_s._ everywhere else. To furnish cheaply and satisfactorily, therefore, one’s eyes must be kept open, and one must know exactly where to go for everything. And I may mention here, as a short and succinct guide, that cretonnes are cheaper and better at Burnett’s, King Street, Covent Garden, and at Colbourne’s, 82 Regent Street, than anywhere else; that Maple’s Oriental rugs and carpets, matting, wall-papers, and brasses are also the cheapest in the market. Wicker chairs are to be had at Colbourne’s for 31_s._ 9_d._, painted any colour with Aspinall’s enamel, and cushioned and covered with cretonne or printed linen; that artistic and beautiful draperies are to ha procured at Liberty’s and Collinson and Lock’s, whose dearer cretonnes are unsurpassed; that Mr. Arthur Smee’s furniture is the best and most artistic, in my opinion, in London; that Stephens, 326 Regent Street, has the best and cheapest Turkish embroidered antimacassars, and also possesses some beautiful and inexpensive materials for curtains--notably a cheap brocade that is made in exquisite colours and called Sicilian damask; that the brass rods and ends for windows are to be had cheaper of Whiteley and Colbourne than anywhere else, and are quite as good as the more expensive makes; artistic pottery is to be had of Mr. Elliott, 18 Queen’s Road, Bayswater; cheap chairs of Messrs. Harding Bros., Beaconsfield, Bucks; and for all gas-fittings I strongly recommend Mr. Strode, 48 Osnaburgh Street, Regent’s Park, N.W. I have tried all these firms for years, and am speaking of them from experience entirely.
It may not be out of place in my last chapter to mention the exact cost of setting up and keeping a carriage; for by the time my readers have come as far on their life’s journey as I have, they may reasonably expect to have the great comfort and luxury of a modest equipage of their own, than which there is no greater blessing in the world, and which I would rather cling to than anything else I possess, and which really does not cost half as much as the constant hiring of flys and driving in cabs which are so dear to the heart of the orthodox British matron, who goes on her weary round of society gaieties which she does not really enjoy, little thinking how much happier she would be spending her money in a thousand different ways.
But one must keep one’s carriage with common-sense, like everything else, and must not be under the thumb of one’s coachman, who must not be allowed for one moment to buy his own corn &c., as no class receives higher percentages than does the coachman who is allowed his own sweet will in matters appertaining to the stable. A widow lady who cannot well battle with tradesmen herself had much better apply to some good firm like Withers and Co., of Oxford Street, who for a certain sum a year, which varies according to the style of horse and man desired, will provide everything, down to a safe place for the carriages, which can be left unhesitatingly in their charge. But for a couple who desire to set up their carriage and do not quite know how to do it, I think the following will be sufficient guide for them:--
ESTIMATED COST OF SETTING UP ONE HORSE AND A CARRIAGE.
£ _s._ _d._ Good horse (should be bought in the country if possible) 50 0 0 Set of good single harness (Stores) 7 0 0 Brushes, leathers, sponges, &c. (Shoolbred) 2 0 0 Rugs, rollers, &c. (Shoolbred) 3 0 0 Brougham or victoria (Holland and Holland) 175 0 0 Coachman’s livery (Goodall and Graham, Conduit Street) 10 11 0 Boots--less discount (Thierry, Regent Street) 3 0 0 Stable suit (Goodall and Graham) 3 0 0 Mackintosh (Goodall and Graham) 1 10 0 Mackintosh rug (Whiteley) 1 10 0 Mats (Holland and Holland) 1 10 0 Carriage rugs (Swears and Wells) 3 0 0 ------------ £261 1 6
Of course the carriage need not cost as much; but, if possible, a new carriage is to be preferred to a second-hand one. Still, at Holland and Holland’s, Oxford Street, W., one can often, especially at the end of the season, pick up a second-hand carriage very cheaply, and at such a place as this one can be sure that no rubbish is being bought; but sales should be avoided, as should advertisements, and if a second-hand carriage is necessary I strongly advise intending purchasers to go to Holland and Holland and ask them to keep their eyes open, remembering, likewise, that at the end of the season one is far more likely to do a good stroke of business in this way than at any other time of the year. In our climate, if only one carriage can be kept, a brougham is to be preferred to any other; this makes one independent of weather entirely, and one’s garments do not become as dusty and spoiled as they invariably do in an open vehicle. Once the carriage is purchased, we have to consider the cost of keeping it up, which, of course, varies considerably in every locality, but I think the account given below strikes the average, and allows the outside cost of everything. Of course, very often the rent of the stables is covered in the rent of the house, which includes also a place for the coachman.
ESTIMATED COST OF KEEPING ONE HORSE AND CARRIAGE.
£ _s._ _d._ Coachman’s wages (from 23_s._ to 25_s._, say) 62 8 0 Livery 13 0 0 Corn, straw, hay, &c. 40 0 0 Shoeing 3 0 0 Repairs &c. 26 0 0 Rent of stable &c. 20 0 0 ------------ £164 8 0
‘Repairs &c.’ include ‘depreciation,’ which is calculated on 20 per cent. of estimated value of whole, less livery, otherwise provided for. Of course, a second horse could be added for about 40_l._ a year more, good double harness being procurable at from 18_l._ to 20_l._
Passing from the carriage to dwell for a moment on the great dress question, which is a most serious one in these days of ours, I find I can really lay down no laws on this subject, but I strongly advise all young brides who cannot afford a maid to learn dressmaking for themselves, or to search out some place where, for a reasonable cost, the renovating of dresses and simple making can be carried on for her, or else she will soon find herself in difficulties. Her under-linen in her trousseau should last her ten or twelve years at least, and with ordinary care her trousseau dresses should, with judicious management, last her quite two years; this gets over the worst part of one’s life as regards pecuniary bothers, as a rule; but the less she can spend on dress the better, always allowing herself enough to look nice and be tidy on. A man can dress himself well on 30_l._ a year, and a woman can do likewise on 50_l._, but this requires, in both cases, the most careful management, while the average cost of a child is from 10_l._ to 15_l._ Women with small means will do much better if they confine themselves to one colour, and would look much nicer at a far less cost if they would only purchase things to match; but English people, as a rule, only buy things because they like them, never considering whether they possess already any garment at home with which the new possession will harmonise or agree entirely. Brown and red are good colours for winter nowadays when so many people have seal-skins; greys are good shades for summer, the ever-useful serge and washing silks looking always delightfully cool and ladylike.
Our book, now rapidly coming to a conclusion, would not be complete without one word about the ‘garret’--otherwise the box-room--which, all too often, is a storehouse for all sorts and conditions of rubbish, put up there in a desperate hope that, sooner or later, the odds and ends will come in usefully. There cannot be a greater mistake than hoarding, and I strongly advise my readers never to allow this to be done. If one’s clothes when worn out are not fit for one’s poorer friends, I suggest some respectable dealer should be applied to, and that they should be sold. I am aware this sounds an awful proposition to most people, but how rarely are our dresses suitable for those who would wear cast-off raiment? while, if we sell them, we can give the money in charity, or buy pictures or flowers for our rooms. Still, if this should be repugnant to the feelings of my readers, they can always send all their rubbish to the Kilburn Orphanage of Mercy, the good sisters there being able to use to the veriest fragment all they receive, and which does then immediate good.
Let the box-room or garret be thoroughly turned out and investigated once every three months; keep there all pieces of paper similar to the papers on your walls for mending purposes, and any travelling trunks or boxes that may be wanted; but do not accumulate rubbish of any kind. Even sentimental rubbish should be destroyed at once; when we die it will be done by hands which are not as tender as ours are, and no good is done by hoarding all sorts and kinds of letters and flowers, or even babies’ first shoes. They may mean life itself to us; they will be nothing but the veriest rubbish to our successors.
Standing as it were in the garret, our long work of revising and writing this book at last drawing to a conclusion, and feeling sad, as one always feels when parting with an occupation that has been on one’s mind for many a month, I should like to say a few words on that saddest of all subjects, a death in the house--only a few words; but a house that has never known a death is indeed an almost impossible thing to contemplate, and so our record would not be complete without this. Thank Heaven, we look out with brighter eyes on the other country than did our ancestors, but we have still many customs to leave off, many others we could adopt with benefit from the relics of past days.
I would advocate great cheerfulness about our dead. They should never be left alone, and candles and bright flowers should fill the room; where, had I my way, the blessed sunshine should stream in always, gloom should be discouraged, and the service with its music and the coloured pall should suggest not our grief but the gain of those who, even to the agnostic of the period, appear at rest, and can most certainly never weary or hunger any more; while to us who hope to look beyond these shadows their happiness should overshadow our grief entirely. Still, whichever way we look on the silence that surrounds our little life, there are certain things that I would urge on the survivors. Let all the personal linen and garments of the dead friend be at once sent to Kilburn, or to Miss Hinton’s, A. F. D. Society, 4 York Place, Clifton. These garments are distributed at once among the families of poor clergymen, and so immediately benefit a most deserving class. Do not permit any hoarding (I once knew a whole valuable wardrobeful of clothes consumed by the moth, because the widow’s feelings did not allow of the garments being disturbed, though they were not too acute to prevent her becoming engaged to be married before the year was out); and, above all, burn all letters that may be left _unread_; this will save endless mischief, and should be done at once. No one knows who may be the next to depart and be no more seen, and so this should not be delayed any longer than is possible.
It is far better to do these things at once. If we close the room in which our beloved have passed away, and think time will enable us to face the task with more boldness, we shall find we are grievously mistaken; the longer we put it off the worse it will be, and we shall not forget them any quicker because their own possessions have been given to those who can benefit by them. Each thing in life should always be in use; hoarding of any kind in a garret is useless, and wicked too.
And now I have come to the last hint, I think, I have to give my young householders. Of course, the subject is practically inexhaustible, and enlarges itself for one every day we live; but I have given you all my own experience up to the present date, and if it should save one young couple the mistakes I made in my first start in life, or give them the help I should have been so glad of myself twenty years ago, I shall feel I have not spent my time in vain; while let no one despise the homely subject, for it is our first duty in life to try and make our homes so bright and beautiful and pleasant that they may shed radiance on all in their immediate neighbourhood, setting the example that is worth so very much precept, and be like good deeds, ‘shining like a candle in this naughty world.’ Let love, beauty, carefulness, and economy rule your lives, O young householders! and then you will find that life is the most interesting thing possible, and is always, to the very last day of it, well worth the trouble of living.
INDEX.
Absurd arrangement of our houses, 171, 172
Account book, leaf from an, 24
Accounts, 23-25
A. F. D. Society, Miss Hinton’s, 231
Afternoon teas, 209, 210
Airing bedroom, 115, 116
-- beds, 116
-- nursery, 170
‘Allowancing’ servants, 154
American cloth, 77
Angelina’s bedroom, 103
-- private duster, 125
-- wardrobe, 121
Antimacassars, 74
-- Stephens’, 227
-- Turkish, 84
A place for everything, 129
Apple shape, 220
Arm-chair, 62-64
Arm-chairs, Colbourne’s, 62
-- tapestry for covering, Maple’s, 62
Arsenic in wall-paper, 69
Art and the bitter lot of the poor, 7
-- colours, 7
-- furniture, 7
Artistic corners, 84
Aspinall’s paint, 68, 76
Babies, baths for, 189
-- clothing, 185, 186
-- cow’s milk for, 163
-- garments, 185
-- special theories about, 162
Babies, their berceaunettes, 170, 171, 173, 174
Baby-talk, stupid, 172
Back of piano exposed, remedy for, 86, 87
Baker Street vases, 77
Bamboo brackets (Liberty’s, and at Baker Street Bazaar), 75
Basket chairs, 74
Baskets for soiled linen, palm-leaved, 121
Bath and bath blankets, 138, 139
Beaconsfield chairs, 75, 132
Beaufort ware, 126
Beautiful things, making them common, 7
Bed airing, 115
-- gowns, 188
-- making, 103
-- pocket, 116
Bedroom brackets, 120
-- carpet, 103, 104
-- chairs, 131
-- cupboards, 106-107
-- curtains, 107
-- door fittings, 107
-- match-boxes, 116
-- paper, 46, 105, 106, 107, 108
-- -- colour for, 104, 106
-- screen, 112
-- ware, 126
-- windows, muslin for, 92
-- -- too many, 4
Bedrooms, 4, 5
-- colour for, 103
-- papering ceilings of, 107
Beds for servants, 152
Bedside, table near, 116
Bedstead, brass or iron, the best, 113
-- wooden, 112
Beef, cold, 28
-- olives, 220
Beer, 25
Beginning housekeeping, 25, 26
Bellows for dining-room, 68
Benson’s lamps, 102
Berceaunettes, 173, 174
‘Berry’ paper, 46
Bills, regular payment of, 20, 22, 23
Biscuit-box, 34
Black-lead, 85
Blankets, Witney, 114
Blinds and their rollers, doing away with, 91, 95
Blue and white paper for bachelor’s spare room, Chappel & Payne’s, 151
Boarding-school plan a mistake, 204
Bohemian ware, 31
Boiled rabbit, 28
Bolton sheeting, 188
Bookcase, bedroom, 133
-- velveteen cover, 73
Bookcases, revolving American, 72, 73
Books for spare rooms, 147, 148
Boudoir, spare room made into, 142
Bow-windowed villas, window-seats in, 59, 92
Bow-windows, curtains for, 92, 93
Box ottomans for bedrooms, 106, 110
-- -- -- -- Maple’s, 106
-- -- -- hats and bonnets, 130
-- pincushions, 119
-- room, 142
Brackets, 133
Brandy the one spirituous liquor that should be kept in a house, 72
Brass brush for dining-room, 68
-- door handles best, 80
-- fire-irons, 85
-- fittings for bedroom doors, Maple’s 106, 107
-- headed nails, 80
-- kettle, 72
Brass pots, 88
-- pots for palms, Hampton’s, 88
Bread, 19
-- brown, 27
-- knives, Mappin & Webb’s, 35
-- price of, 20
-- stands, 35
-- wasted, 16
Bread-pan with cover, 16
Breakfast, 26, 27, 34
-- table, 32, 35
-- -- gloomy, 5
-- -- punctuality, 14, 15
Brewers, 25
Bromley, 3
Brooks, Shirley, 27
Brougham, cost of, 228
Brushes and combs, 122, 123, 223
Brushing under beds, 116
Buckland, Frank, 19
Burnett, address of, 227
Burnett’s ‘Marguerite’ cretonne curtains, 34
-- serges, 84
Bush Hill Park, 3
Butchers, 25
Butter, cost of, 20
Buyers of bottles, rags, &c., 17
Cabinet pudding, 216
Cabinets, 73, 74
-- made by Smee, 74
‘Calls,’ doing away with, 89
Canadian custom respecting carpets, 96, 97
Candle shields, 101, 120
Candlesticks, Liberty’s, 45, 64
Carbolic acid, 13
Careless housemaid, 85
-- servants, 29
Carlyle, Mr. and Mrs., 7
Carpentry, amateur, 4, 110
Carpet designs, Mr. Morris’s, 97
-- for drawing-room, 80, 81, 82
-- royal blue, Colbourne’s, 97
Carpets, 4, 5
-- hints about, 96, 97
-- Oriental, 98
-- Wilton, 98
Carriage, cost of keeping a, 227, 228, 229
-- rugs, rollers, &c., cost of, 228
Carrot soup, 216
Carson’s ‘detergent,’ 49, 109
Cauliflower _au gratin_, 213
Centre-piece, 34, 35
Chairs, bedroom, 131
-- dining-room, 5, 51
-- embellished by carvings, 51
-- Harding Bros.’, 52
-- Liberty’s, 85
-- New Zealand pine, for dining-room, 51
-- (rush-seated, black-framed) for dining-room, 52
-- Smee’s, 52
Chambers, large, airy, 160
Chappel & Payne, address of, 151
Charming chair for drawing-room (rush-seated), 85
Checked muslin for bedroom windows, 92
Cheerful surroundings, 7
Cheese fondus, 214
-- soufflés, 217
-- straws, 219
Cheval glass, 122
Chickens, 20, 28
Child of the period, the, 162
Children and inherited tendencies, 191
-- amusing themselves, 178
-- authors for, 197
-- collecting pretty things around them, 179
-- destructive and untidy, 177
-- diet for, 195
-- grown-up, 206, 207
-- helping their elders, 175
-- hour for rising, 176
-- hours for studying, 195, 196
-- importance of quiet and regularity for, 164
-- -- -- sunshine for, 192
-- punishing, 196
-- spoiling them, 161
-- teaching them self-control, 175
-- the home they were born in, 208
Children’s breakfast, 195
-- dress, 200
-- education, 195
Chimneys, 5
China, Crown, Derby, and Worcester, 33
-- gilt on, 32
China, Minton’s ivy-patterned, 32
-- Oriental, 34
-- real, 33
Chippendale chairs, 51
-- furniture, 8
Chocolate cream, 217
Choosing rooms, 7
Cigars in drawing-room, 86
Clean brush and comb in toilet drawer, 122
Clear soup, 213
Clock, necessity for, in spare rooms, 147, 149
Clocks, Oetzmann’s, 64
Coachman’s livery, cost of, 228
Coats hanging in rooms, 85
Coffee, 34
-- cost of, 20
Colbourne, Messrs, address of, 62
College pudding, 220
Colours for bedrooms, 149
Combination dressing-table and washing-stand, Watts’s, 136
Common sense, 6
‘Confound baby!’, 124
Conservatory, tiny, 2
Cook, overburdened, 9
-- thoughtful, 17, 18
Cooks, ‘experienced,’ 18
Cost of dinner, 217, 219
Cottage piano, 86
Counterpanes, 116
Cradles, 173, 174
Credit, nothing so dear as, 20
Cretonne, 47, 82
-- curtain, 69, 71, 94
-- on mantelpiece, 77
Croquettes of chickens, 218
Cruet-stands, 34
Cupboards forgotten, 4
-- small, 106, 107
Curried kidneys, 216
Curtain, bedroom, 134
-- rods, bedroom, 131
-- -- Maple’s, 41
Curtains, 4, 5, 82
-- _v._ screens, 112
Cutlets _à la réforme_, 213
-- of cod, 216
Dado, Collison and Lock’s, 82
-- in dining-room, 58
-- in drawing-room, 78
-- leather paper for, 56
Dado rail, Maple’s, 56
-- Treloar’s, 46
Damasks, Stephens’ ‘Sicilienne,’ 93
Day nursery, 164
Deal dressing-tables, 118
Decorating drawing-room, 82
‘Demon builder,’ the, 160
Dessert service, Hewett’s, 32
-- -- Mortlock’s, 33
‘Digesters,’ 17
Dining-room, 5, 6, 7, 8, 27, 49-68
-- mantelpiece, 64, 65, 66
-- walls, 56
Dining-rooms, orthodox, 7
Dinner, complete cost of, 213
-- service, best, 29
-- sets, Mortlock’s, 31
-- waggons, 54
Disagreeable details, 9
Dishes, 30
Disinfectants, 14
Doctors’ bills, 23, 25, 201
Domestic problems, 206
‘Do nothing in a hurry,’ 9
Door front, 47, 48
-- -- brass stand behind, 42
-- -- double curtains for, 41, 42
Double tray tables, 84
Dr. Chevasse, 181
-- -- books by, for young mothers, 181
Drain disinfectant, 14
Drainage, 4
Drains, 13, 14
-- time for seeing to, 14
Draped alcove, Collison & Lock’s design, 112
Drawing-room, 5, 60, 67, 71, 76, 77
-- blue wooden mantelpiece for, 80
-- carpet, Colbourne’s, 81
-- -- Maple’s, 80
-- -- Shoolbred’s, 80
-- -- Smee’s, 81
-- -- Treloar’s, 80, 82
-- colour for, 78, 80, 82
-- curtains, 93
-- essentially a best room, 86
-- mistress’s corner, 84
-- tea-table for, 89
Dress and personal appearance of daughters, 206
-- cost of, for man and wife, 229
Dress, wife’s, 20
Dressing jackets invaluable, 188
-- gown, 188
-- room, 128
-- table and washing-stand combined, 136
-- tables, price of, 118
-- -- should not be dust-traps, 119
-- -- Smee’s, 118
Drugget, hard-wearing, Pither’s, 46
Dulwich, 3
Duplex burners, 99
Dustbin, 4, 10, 14
-- not a necessity, 18
Dusters, 36
Dust-sheets for furniture, 36
Dyeing, Pullar’s, 41
Eclairs, 214
Edwin’s dressing room, 135
-- -- substantial dado for, 138
Eider-down quilts, 114
Eggs, 30
Electric light, 98
‘Eligible residences,’ 3
Elliot, Mr., 73
-- -- address of, 45
Enamel paints, 62
Enfield, 3
‘Excelsior’ mattresses for spare rooms, 143
-- spring mattress, 114, 143
Exhibiting baby, danger of, 175
Fashion and folly, 4
Feather beds, 114
Ferns and immortelles for toilet-table, 123
Field & Co.’s candle shields, 111
Finchley, 3
Finger-glasses, 31
Fire-keeping, recipe for, 67
Fireplaces, 5, 68
-- misplaced, 4
Fires, benefit from, in winter and summer, 124
-- in bedrooms, benefit of, 124
First babies, 162, 175
-- -- washing them, 189
Fish, 20
-- contracts for, 28
Fish Market, Central, 19
-- markets, 19
Fittings, 37
Five o’clock tea, 89
Flannel pilches, 185
Flock papers, 2
Floor (bedroom), staining all over, 116
Floral paper for spare room, 150
-- -- Maple’s, 150
Flour, 20
Flowers in bedrooms, 123
Foot-baths, 127
Footstools for dining-room, 68
-- -- morning-room, Whiteley’s and Shoolbred’s, 75
Forest Hill, 3
Formal visiting, 88
Fowl, 20
French pancakes, 213
-- parents, 21
-- windows and curtains, 91
Fresh air, 2
-- flowers in sick-room, 189
Friezes, 80
-- Mrs. McClelland’s, 77
Frilling for sheets, Cash’s, 115
Fruit, 20
Frying-pans, 16
Furnishing, schedule of cost of, 223, 224, 225, 226, 277
Furniture, fearful expense of, 171
Garden, small, 2
Gardening, 35
Garrard, Mrs. S. B. (beds, &c., for infants), 173
Garret, 229, 230
-- regular investigation of, 230
Gas, best for spare rooms, 148
-- effect of, on plants, 169
-- fittings, Strode’s, 227
-- in bedrooms, evil of, 101
-- -- rooms where there are children, necessity for, 101
-- -- sitting-rooms, 99
-- _v._ paraffine, 100
Gentlemen’s wardrobes, 135
German lamp screens, 100
Gilt legs to chairs, 8
Glass, 31
-- best, 29
Glass cloths, 32
Glasses and bottles, coloured, Douglas & Co.’s, 31, 32
Going off to school, 201, 202
Good hostess, 211
-- monthly nurses all the battle, 181, 182
-- servants, insuring them, 154
Gossip, spiteful, 198
Governess, 199
‘Graining,’ a barbarism, 47, 48, 80
Grand piano, 87
-- -- made a decorative piece of furniture, 87
Grate, wasteful, 5
Grates, Barnard’s, 67
Green water, 13
Gridirons, 16
Grilled mushrooms, 220
Groceries, 19, 20
Grown-up daughters, 208
-- families, 207
Guests, making them comfortable, 145
Guipure lace for curtains, 91
Hall, 41
-- candlesticks, 45
-- ceilings papered, 47
-- flooring, 43
-- gas-lamps, 47
-- lighted from the sides, 99
-- -- -- -- top, 99
-- oil lamp unsuited for, 89
Halls, stone, 48
Happy childhood, 196
Harding Bros., address of, 52
Hare soup, 214
Harness for carriage, price of, 228
Hassan and Co.’s chickens, 28
Healthy children, 162
Heavy mahogany, 2
Hewett’s bazaar, 32
-- dessert services, 32
Hoarding in garrets, 230
-- old clothes, 137
Honest mechanic, prospect for an, 117
Honeycomb quilts, 116
Horse, price of, for carriage, 228
Hot-water cans for bedrooms, 127
-- dishes, 35
House decoration and the landlord, 37
-- -- Collison & Lock’s, 37
-- -- Morris’s, 37
-- -- Smee’s, 37
-- hunting, 4
-- inspection, preliminary, 5
-- rent, 19
Household books, 21
-- economy, 20
-- servants, young girls as, 18
Housekeeping bills, 154, 211
Housemaid’s duties, 35
-- pantry, 29
House-mother, life of, not appreciated, 183
Ideal and real nurseries, 161
Indian matting for schoolroom floors, 192
-- tapestry, Liberty’s, 87
Infant and nurse, 175
Infants, knowingness of, 172
Informal gatherings, 89
Inherited tendencies, 201
Ink-erasers for hand cleaning (Perry’s), 192
Inkstands purchased at Baker Street Bazaar, 64
Invalids, cooking for, 221, 222
Inventions Exhibition, 99
Iron brackets and lamps, 99
Jack Tar suit, 200
Jackets and trousers for boys, 200
Japanese fan, 76, 77
-- -- for fireside, 85
-- leather paper, 56, 58
-- -- -- for the hall, 46, 86
-- paper for wardrobe panels, 110
-- screen for piano, 87
Joss-sticks, 189
Judicious watchfulness regarding servants, 156
Jugs and pots, Elliot’s, 45
Jury of matrons, 172
Kidderminster squares, 80, 81
Kilburn Orphanage, 230
Kitchen arrangements, 9
-- capabilities of, 9
Kitchen ceilings, annual white-washing of, 12
-- dado in, 11
-- dinner, 158
-- dismal, 11
-- grates skimped, 12
-- -- smells from, 13
-- management, 10
-- passages, 11
-- position of, 10
-- staircase a cause of worry, 10
-- underground, 10
-- utensils, 15
-- wash-tub not needed for, 18
Kitcheners, Steel & Garland’s, 12
Koffee Kanns, Ashe’s, 34
Kurd rugs, 46
Kyrle Society, 7
Ladies’ chamber in retirement, 186, 187
Lahore cretonne, 106
Lamp brackets, 99
-- screens, German, 100
-- -- selecting colour of, 101
Lamps, beaten iron, 47, 99, 102
-- Benson’s, 102
-- brass, 111
-- china, 99
-- duplex, for nursery, 168
-- glass hanging, 99
-- Mortlock’s, 99
-- paraffine, Drew’s, 102, 116
-- Smee’s, 47
-- Strode’s, 47, 99, 102
Landing, the, 4
Landseer, Sir Edwin, 178
Leases and structural repairs, 4
Legs of mutton, 19
-- -- -- à la Bretonne, 218
Lemon pudding, 28
Liberty’s cretonnes, 78
-- sashes, 200
-- silk handkerchiefs, 41
-- -- -- for curtains, 94
-- tapestries, 83
Lighting bedrooms, 120
-- of sitting-rooms, 98, 99
Linen marking, 115
-- old-gold colour printed, Pither’s, 95
Linoleum mat for dining-room, 68
London markets, 28
-- north side of, 3
Lordship Lane, 3
Low frocks and short sleeves for children, disappearance of, 170
Luncheon, 27
-- hour (orthodox) for young wives, 76
Macaroni cheese, 220
Madras muslin, 71, 82, 92
Mahogany sideboard, old, 8
Making a bedroom pretty, 132
Managing servants, 146
Mantelpieces, cheap wooden, Shuffery’s, 67
Maple, 30, 43
Maple’s bedsteads, 113
-- box ottomans, 110
-- Golden Pine carpet, 82
Marble mantelpiece, white, 5
Marguerite cretonnes, Burnett’s, 94, 108
Mats, 4, 5, 46
Matting for dining-room, 96
-- price of, 96
-- sweeping in one way, 98
-- Treloar’s, 46
Mattresses, cases for, 114
Mayfair, tiny hovels in, 4
McClelland, Mrs., 77
Meal odours in rooms, 6
Meals and money, 13
Meat, ‘best English,’ often New Zealand, 212
-- New Zealand, 19
-- price of, 20
Medical attendance, 25
Menus, cost of, 211-221
Meringues, 219
Midday meal, 27
Middle-class parents, 21
Milk, 20, 25
Milkmen, Londoners at the mercy of, 163
Mince pies, 213
Minton’s china, 32
Monograms on cloths, 90
Monthly nurse, 176
Moreen curtains, 2
-- damask, 8
Morning-room, books and magazines for, 71
-- chairs, 74, 75
Morning-room decoration, 76
-- desk for, 70
-- embellishing door-panels of, 70
-- no gas in, 72
-- paper for, Smee’s, 96
-- sage-green paper for, 69
-- sofa, 71
-- stand for papers, 71
-- under care of housemaid, 77
-- work-table, 71
Morocco, dull brown, 51
Morris, Mr., 97
Mortlock’s china, 31, 32, 33
-- -- lamps, 99
-- ware, 126
Mulligatawny soup, 218
Music, receptacle for, 87
Muslin curtains, 91, 92
Muslins, Liberty’s, 45
Mutton cutlets, 215
Mysore chintz, Liberty’s, 45
-- muslin, 72
Neck of mutton, 28
Nevill’s hot-water bread, 27
New babies, making ready for, 186
-- baby a profound nuisance, 182
Night garments, 115
-- -- embroidered case for, 115
-- nursery, 170
-- -- management of fire in, 170
Nurseries, 32
-- bright paper for, 165
-- cretonne, dado, and painted rail for, 165
-- gas in, 168, 169
-- good duplex lamp for, 168, 169
-- pictures on walls of, 177-179
-- position of, 161
-- strong guard for fires in, 168
-- two in a house, 160
-- _v._ spare rooms, 161
Nursery a children’s kingdom, 176
-- blue and white paper for, 166
-- ceiling, 165
-- chair for each child in, 167, 168
-- choice of a, 160
-- cretonne cleaned with dry bread, 166
Nursery cupboards, 166, 167, 168
-- doors, 166
-- floor, 165
-- furnishing the walls of, 168
-- made out of worst bedroom, 161
-- sofa, 167
-- table, 167
-- walls, 165
Nursing, 169
Occasional visitor, 140
Oetzmann, 64
Oilcloth, cheap, 11
-- for walls, 11
-- resembling old mosaic, 11
Old London lamps, 99
-- night-dresses invaluable, 121
Oriental carpets for dining-room, 96
-- -- Smee’s, for drawing-room, 81
-- rugs and carpets, sweeping them one way, 98
-- -- for hall, 46
Our dead, 230, 231
Ovens, cleansing, 13
Painted suites of furniture, 142
Painting, 37
-- spare rooms, 142
Palm-leaved baskets for soiled linen, 121
Panelled drawing-room, 80
Panes, of glass, tiny, 113
Pantry, housemaid’s, 29
Paper for day nursery, Pither’s, 166
-- stand, 85
Papering, 37
Pears in jelly, 214
Penge, 3
Persian and Turkey carpets, 2
Personal expenses, wife’s, 20
Petty tyrannies, 206
Pheasant, boiled, 216
-- roasted, 219
Photographs for bedrooms, where to buy, 132
-- -- nursery, 177
Piano back, draping, 87
-- chair, 87
-- drapery for back, 86, 87
Piano, drawing-room, 86
-- front, 87
-- grand, 87
-- stool unendurable, 87
Picture rail, Maple’s, 58
-- teaching for children, 167
Pictures for bedrooms, 132
-- hooks for, 80
-- in schoolroom, 193
Pigeons, stuffed, 212
Pinafores, 200
Pincushions, 119
Pither, address of, 38
Pither’s papers, 58, 82, 109
-- printed linen, 77, 95
Plain cook, wages of, 210
Plantation coffee, 34
Plants and flowers for rooms, 90
Plates, 30
Plum pudding, 216
Plumber, &c., 120
Pokerette, 85
‘Portable property,’ servants’, 152
Pretence of wealth, 22
Pretty room for each servant, 152
Prince Albert’s pudding, 214
Printed muslin, Liberty’s, 107
Professional decorator, 1
Ptarmigan, 215
Purchasing furniture, 2
Putting the feet on chairs, 129
Queen Anne cretonne (terra cotta), 151
-- -- table, 75, 84
-- -- tables, Oetzmann’s, 75
Quilts, cretonne covering for, 114
-- eider-down, 114
-- Francis’s, 116
Rabbits, buying them, 28
Reading in bed, 188, 189
Rebecca jars, 73
-- -- Elliot’s, 73
Reception-rooms, the regulation, 3, 360
Recipes for menus, 202
Rents less out of London, 2
Rest, necessity of complete, 169
Returning from school, 202
Ribs of beef, 27
Rice pudding, 28
Rider Haggard, 197
Rolled ribs of beef, 212
Roman sheeting for curtains, 94
Room for children, heating properly, 170
Rooms, appropriation of, 5
Round tables, 52
Rugs, good, 82
-- in front of fires, danger from, 85
Rush _v._ bamboo table, 89
Russian diapers, 185
-- embroideries, 150
Rylands’ stain for floors, 97
Saddle of mutton, small, 220
Salmon, 220
Salt-cellars, 35
-- Doulton’s, 35
Salviati glass, 210
-- ware, 31
Sanitary papers for children’s schoolroom, 193
Sanitas in saucers, 14
Satin chairs, 140
Saucepans, 16
-- cleaning them, 10
-- number of, 15
-- Whiteley’s, 16
School training for boys, 205
Schoolboys, dealing with, 203-205
Schoolmaster, orthodox, 205
Schoolroom ceiling, 193, 194
-- dresses, 200
-- Indian matting for, 192
-- Kidderminster carpet for, 192
-- maid, 199
-- papering walls of, 193
-- position of, in house, 199
-- tables and chairs, 194
Schoolrooms, 32
Scinde rugs, 46, 96
-- -- price of, 98
Screens, 4
-- in bedrooms, 112
Scullery, 10
-- ceiling, 12
-- walls, 12
Second-hand carriages, 228
-- -- where sold, 228
Selfishness of parents, 205
Separate beds for servants, 152
Serge curtains, 107
Serges, Burnett’s, 84
-- Colbourne & Co.’s, 93
Servants, 4, 33, 34
-- apartments, 11
-- bedrooms, 151
-- clothes of, 159
-- encouraging them to walk and work in the garden, 159
-- feelings of new, 154
-- giving them good books to read, 159
-- harassing them, 13
-- pretty furniture for, 158
-- wasteful, 21
Sets of bedroom furniture, price of, 119
Settees (bamboo), Liberty’s, for the hall, 45
Sewing for girls, 197
Sheets, bed, 114, 115
Shelves for morning-room, 69
-- recesses for, 4
Sheraton furniture, 8
Shoolbred, 19
Shoolbred’s curtains, 93
Shop specialties, 38
Shopping, judicious, 39
Short blinds in bedrooms, 133
Side lanterns, 99
Sideboards, 8, 54
Sink, 13
-- regular flushing of, 14
Sinks, disinfecting, 14
Sitting-room and workroom for servants, 11
Sketches, Mrs. McClelland’s, 46
Slamming doors, 176
Sleeping with window open, 123
Slop-pails, 127, 128
Slovenly manners, 86
Small girls, 185
-- house, price of furnishing, 227
-- infant, bed for, 172
Smuts and blacks, 2
Soap, 127
Sofa-ottomans for spare rooms, 147
Sofas, 74, 82, 112
-- covering for, 71
-- Maple’s, 71
-- nursery, 168
-- striped curtains for, 71
-- substitute for, 110
Soles, boiled, 215
-- fried, 212
Soup from bones and vegetables, 28
Soups, excellent, 17
Spare glass and china, 30
-- room beds, 143
-- -- floor, 150
-- -- furniture, 142, 148
-- -- -- cost of, 143
-- -- readiness for occupation, 145
Spring mattress best for beds, 113, 114
Squabbles about money, 29
Square black cupboards, receptacles for music, 87
-- ottoman for piano, 87
Stained floors, 96
Stair carpets, 44
Staircases, 40
Stamped velveteen, 84
Stephens, address of, 227
Stores, 19, 20
Straight backed chairs, Smee’s, 62
Strange nurse, 171
Strode, address of, 227
Strode’s iron lamps, 102
Suburban clay, 3
Suburbs of London, 3
Sugar, 10
-- price of, 20
Summer babies, 189
Sunday in the schoolroom, 198
Sunday’s supper, 28
Sundries, 23
Sunless rooms, 7
Sunshine, first necessity of, 5
Sutherland table for drawing-room, 89
Swiss ‘mull’ muslin, cost of, 92
Table drawers, bedroom, 121
Tablecloths, 53, 54, 106
Tables, Chippendale design, 90
-- rickety, 83
Tapestry, drawing-room, 83
-- imitation, 73
-- tablecloth, 107
-- toilet covers, 119
Tea after dinner odious, 25
-- cost of, 20
-- in the schoolroom, 199
Tea cloth, five o’clock, 90
Tea-table in drawing-room, 89
Tea-things in morning-room, 72
Teetotallers, 25
Temporary ‘help’ for cook, 155
Tennis, 198
-- parties, afternoon, 210
Terra-cotta chintz for bedroom doors, Burnett’s, 106
-- paper, 106
Third room to sit in, 6
Tiled hearth, 5, 6, 67
Toasted cheese, 215
Tobacco, 59, 60, 61, 69, 72
Toilet covers, 106, 119
-- drawers, 121
-- ‘tidies’ to be avoided, 120
Tooth-brushes, 127, 223
Tooth water-glasses, 127
Treatment of servants, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159
Treloar, 43, 46
Treloar’s matting, 10
Trübner & Co., 72
Tumblers, 30
Turbot, half a, 213
Turkey carpets, 39
-- small, 214
Turret puddings, 219
Umbrella stands, 44
-- -- Maple’s, 43
Umbrellas, wet, 43
Unhealthiness of gas, 168, 169
Unpunctuality, effects of, 149
Upholsters, 39
Upholstering chairs, 51
Varnished wall-paper, 11
Vases, 77
Vegetable dishes, 31
Visiting, ethics of, 141
Wall-paper, 2
Wall-papers, E. Pither’s, 38
Wardrobe, Edwin’s dressing-room, 135, 136
-- making, amateur, 110
Wardrobes, 4, 10, 109
-- Hampton’s, 109
Washable papers, 11
Washing brushes, 122
-- -- Whiteley’s, 19
-- cost of, 20
Washing stand, 124, 125
Waste-paper bags, 70
Water-bottles, 31
Watts, Mr., address of, 136
Wedding finery, excessive display of, 22
White curtains, 134
-- soup, 212, 220
Whiteley, 16, 19, 30
Wicker chairs for drawing-room, 82
Widgeon, 220
Wild duck, 213
Window-blinds, 4, 5
Windows, 4, 5
-- cathedral glass top, 107
-- open at the top, 147
Window wedges, 128
Winter babies, 189
Withers & Co., address of, 228
Witney blankets, 114
Women architects, 4
Wooden bedsteads, 112, 113
-- mantelpieces, 66, 80
Woollen tapestry, 52, 75
Worrying the nurse to death, 176
Writing-desk for the dining-room, 62, 63
Yorkshire pudding, 28
Young couples, 9
-- -- decoration of house for, 9
-- -- management of house for, 9
-- nurses a mistake, 18, 164