Part 123

When hands are equal so far that each party holds a pair or 2 pairs of exactly the same value, then the next highest card or cards in each hand must be compared with the next highest card or cards in the other hand to determine which wins.

In case of the highest hands (which very seldom occurs) being exactly equal, the pool is divided.

The main elements of success in the game are: (1) good luck, (2) good cards, (3) plenty of cheek, and (4) good temper. (_The Field._)

Vint, or Siberian Whist.--This game is at present much played and is very popular in Russia, and comprises some very interesting features. The scoring appears complicated, but is not really so, and may be easily learnt in one evening’s play.

It is similar to whist, with the difference that there are many more combinations, and the rewards and penalties are greater. The object is to make the number of tricks you declare, with a certain suit for trumps, or without trumps, according to the declaration; but should a less number of tricks be obtained, then a penalty of a certain number of points is scored to the opponents, according to the number of tricks short of the number declared. The side that reaches 400 first scores game, but the hands are played out and scores and penalties marked as usual. The laws of whist apply to revoke and general rules. Cut for partners and deal as in whist, the last card not to be turned up.

Value of Suits.--Spades, as seen below, are the lowest in value, and “without trumps” the highest.

“Spades” 4 “Clubs” 6 “Diamonds” 8 “Hearts” 10 “Without Trumps” 12 “Two Spades” 14 “Two Clubs” 16 “Two Diamonds” 18 “Two Hearts” 20 “Two without Trumps” 22 “Three Spades” 24 “Three Clubs” 26 “Three Diamonds” 28 “Three Hearts” 30 “Three without” 32

Declaring.--The dealer commences with one declaration, then the player on left hand, and so on; each declaration must be of a higher value than the previous one. Any number of declarations may be made by any player, but after each declaration all the other players have the right to declare in their turn, but no declaration can be made after all the 4 players have consecutively said “Pass.” A player not wishing to declare says “Pass.” Should, at the commencement, no declaration be made by the dealer, and all the players in their turn say “Pass,” the cards are thrown up, and the deal passes on as usual. This is called a “Bird,” and 300 points are noted, to be added to the score of points of the winners of the rubber. Several “Birds” may occur during a rubber, and are noted thus ⩋ = 300 points. A declaration of “Spades” or other suit, or “Without trumps,” means that 7 or more tricks will be made with declared suit trumps; “2 Spades” or other suit, 8 tricks will be made; “3 of a suit, or without trumps,” 9 tricks, and so on.

Scoring--Is noted at the end of each hand, every trick counting thus, with a declaration of “Spades,” AB., 7 tricks = 28; CD., 6 tricks = 24. A declaration of, say “3 Diamonds,” then AB. 9 tricks = 252; and CD., 4 tricks = 112; or if AB. make 10 tricks = 280; and CD. 3 = 84. Big Schlem, 1000; little ditto, 500; rubber, 1000; game, 500. Bird 300 each, scored to winners of rubber.

Honours, &c.--The 10 counts as an honour; 1 or 2 honours do not count; 3 honours, score according to value of suit thus: 3 honours spades score 120 (a zero always being added); 4 = 160; 5 = 200.

3 honours in, say hearts = 300; 4, 400; 5, 500. 3 aces count 150; 4, 200; 1 or 2 do not count. A game being played “without trumps,” honours do not count; but aces score, for 3, 300, 4, 400. The honours and aces may be in the 2 partners’ hands, as at whist.

Penalties.--Should the number of tricks declared not be made, the penalty is reckoned thus: For a declaration of, say “Spades,” other suit, or “without trumps,” 400 points for every trick under the number declared; a declaration of “Two” of any suit, 800 points; for “Three,” 1200 points for every trick, and so on. Thus, if the declaration was “Five” of a suit, or “without trumps,” and only 9 tricks were made, or 2 short, the penalty would be 4000 to be scored to the opponents. Penalties, honours, aces, &c., are scored above the line, and do not count towards game, but are scored as points. The total number of points scored by the losers during the game, and also the rubber, must be deducted from the winners’ score, the balance, if any, credited to the winners; or it may happen that the winners of a rubber may lose in points. Should the game be for stakes, so much per point should be calculated.

Illustrative “Vint” Hand.

A.’s Hand. C.’s Hand. Ace, 10, 7 ♠ | King, Qn, 5, 4 ♠ 10, 5 ♥ | Ace, Kg, Kv, 7, 4 ♥ King, 7 ♣ | 5, 3 ♣ Ace, Kg, Q, 8, 7, 2 ♦ | 9, 5 ♦

B.’s Hand. D.’s Hand. 9, 3, 2 ♠ | Knave, 8, 6 ♠ 3, 2 ♥ | Queen, 9, 8, 6 ♥ Ace, Knv, 9, 6, 2 ♣ | Queen, 10, 8, 4 ♣ Knave, 6, 3 ♦ | 10, 4 ♦

A. and B. are partners. A. is the dealer, and begins declaring

A.--“Diamonds.” C.--“Hearts.” B.--“Two clubs.” D.--“Two hearts.” A.--“Three spades.” C.--“Pass.” B.--“Three diamonds.” D.--“Pass.” A.--“Four clubs.” C.--“Pass.” B.--“Pass.” D.--“Pass.” A.--“Four diamonds.” C.--“Pass.” B.--“Pass.” D.--“Pass.” A.--“Pass.”

A. and B. have to make 10 tricks, with diamonds as trumps. C. leads.

+-----------+ | B | | | | C D | | | | A | +-----------+

A. and B. make 10 tricks, scored thus:

CD. AB. 3 aces 150 4 honours 320 ------------ -------------------- 114 380

The above hand is only given to show how the declaring may be made. (_The Field._)

SUPPLEMENTARY LITERATURE.

Mrs. Orrinsmith: ‘The Drawing-room; its decorations and furniture.’ London, 1878. 2_s._ 6_d._

Henry J. Dakin: ‘The Stage in the Drawing-room; or the Theatre at Home. Practical Hints on Amateur Acting for Amateur Actors.’ London, 1883. 1_s._

Capt. Crawley: ‘The Handy Book of Games for Gentlemen. Billiards, Bagatelle, Backgammon, Chess, Draughts, Whist, Loo, Cribbage, Écarté, Picquet, All Fours, Quadrille, Pope Joan, Matrimony, Vingt-un, Quinze, Put, Speculation, &c.’ London, 1876. 5_s._

Cavendish’s ‘Pocket Guides to Backgammon, Chess, Draughts, &c.’ London, 1878. 6_d._ each.

_THE BEDROOM._

=The Room.=--Some of the conditions affecting bedrooms have been already discussed on p. 101. It is not necessary to say anything about the special ventilation of bedrooms, for the same principles apply to them as to other rooms; but, in passing, it will be well to mention that there should be a floor space of at least 42 ft. to each person, and at least 500 cub. ft. of air space--more if possible; 12 ft. is quite high enough for ordinary rooms; all space above this is wasted, so far as health is concerned. There should be as little in the way of carpeting, bed and window curtains, as is consistent with comfort. Light metal bedsteads are the best. The floor is best stained and polished. Avoid crowding with heavy furniture as much as possible. If the bed is out of the way of direct draught, it is a good plan in summer to let down the top sash of the window a little way. Sleep will be more refreshing and sounder than if the window had been closed all night.

Edis would have the whole floor of the room stained and varnished, or painted, and strips of carpet, matting, or rugs thrown down only where required; these can be taken up and shaken every day without trouble, and the evil of fixed carpets is thus avoided. If, however, a carpet must be laid down, let it on no account go under the bed or within 2 ft. of the walls; the spaces under the bed or wall furniture would rarely be swept, and under heavy wardrobes and chests of drawers there would be a gradual accumulation of dirt and dust, until such time as the annual general turn-out and cleansing takes place. At least, leave the floor uncarpeted underneath a bed, so that the boards can be swept daily and scoured weekly. But if the room is close carpeted, a tightly-stretched piece of holland should be pinned down under the bed to receive the flue, which is certain to accumulate; the holland cloth can be taken away and replaced as frequently as occasion requires.

For the walls, Edis suggests a dark matting dado as a base, and the remainder of the wall to be distempered of some grateful soft tint, with graceful pattern border and frieze stencilled on, and here and there panels formed in the decoration, with enclosing lines of bright and well-selected colours, wherein might be enframed looking glasses, and here and there watercolours or photographs, as forming part of the decoration of the room, but not standing out of it in any too prominent manner. All this kind of work can be treated simply, and at little cost, and the distemper work can be rubbed over with bread crumbs, or brushed down, and so easily cleaned.

The general woodwork of the doors, windows, and skirtings should be painted in some plain colour to harmonise or contrast with the wall decoration, and the whole varnished; woodwork finished in this way can be easily washed or cleaned, and the extra expense of varnishing will be saved in a few years. Now that good painted tiles can be obtained at small expense, they may be used in washing stands with good effect, or the wall above might be lined entirely with them to a height of 2-3 ft.

With regard to warming bedrooms. It surely requires but very little common sense to see that it must be thoroughly bad for people to spend their evenings in warm comfortable rooms, with the thermometer at 60° F., and then to take their departure for chilly bedrooms, along cold passages, and to undress in a temperature of 30°-35° F. Even the strongest constitution must suffer more or less by such a proceeding. The favourite argument against warm bedrooms is that it is weakening. Sleeping in badly ventilated, _hot_ rooms, may be weakening; but sleeping in a temperature of 50°-60° F. cannot possibly be so. If it were, then healthy sleep in the summer would be impossible. It is, of course, essential that the heating apparatus--be it a stove, a fire-place, hot-water pipes, hot-air ducts, or gas-stoves--should not consume the oxygen from the room without at the same time provision being made for the admission of fresh air from without. This fresh air from without need not, however, come into the room in a cold state. It may be first warmed by passing near to the fire or heating apparatus. Providing the above precautions be taken, there is no fear of warm rooms being injurious to health. Some grates suited to bedrooms have been described on pp. 61-71, especially the “Eagle”; but all grates possess objections for a bedroom, and probably the very best warming medium would be a soda acetate stove, as spoken of on p. 82.

As to flowers in a bedroom, it seems pretty safe to assume that the mischief of a dozen or two is theoretical rather than practical, and that those who like flowers in their bedroom may indulge their fancy quite safely. But it should be borne in mind that certain plants may throw off much larger quantities of carbonic acid gas than others; and some emit unpleasant odours. In any case, where flowers are grown in bedrooms, there should be very free ventilation.

The position of the bed in the room is of much importance, although many are utterly regardless of it. It depends on the size of the room, the part occupied by the fireplace, and the position of the windows. If possible, the bedstead should always be put between the door and windows; not at the end of a long room, where the fresh air can never blow upon it; and not opposite to the windows, as the glare from them is not agreeable on first awakening. It is not easy to lay down fixed rules, but the housewife should give this a proper amount of thought and care. It is wrong to place beds sideways against a wall, as they invariably spoil the paper or paint, and will very likely be badly made.

Servants are very often put in attics without fireplaces. This is an unwholesome plan which should be avoided, as without a chimney there cannot be proper ventilation. When an attic is the only available servants’ room, some ventilation should be effected by boring holes in the wall, or by making one large hole and inserting a grating. An open grate is, however, far preferable, as it greatly conduces to the wholesomeness of any sleeping room to have a fire lighted in it several times in the course of the winter. Bare boards, with good strips of carpet round the beds, a chest of drawers, looking-glass, and neat washstand for each servant, and a couple of cane chairs, would be quite enough for a room occupied by two maids. Each maid should certainly have a separate bed, and a comfortable one. Servants’ beds should never have valances round them, as it encourages a habit of keeping boxes and rubbish under the beds, which is most untidy and unwholesome. There should be a couple of bags hung up for soiled linen, unless a wash-basket can be spared. The room should be not only swept out every week in turn with the other bedrooms, but also well scrubbed all over with carbolic soap, and left to dry with windows and door open. If this is done, the room will never get stuffy. Encourage everything in the way of neatness and refinement. Cotton, twill, or unbleached linen is suitable for sheeting. Each servant should have one clean sheet a week, changing the upper one to the lower regularly. A clean pillowcase every week is generally necessary, and one large or two small towels. A bell communicating between the mistress’s room and the servants’ is a great convenience for calling them in the morning. Insist on having the beds stripped and the window opened as soon as the servants are up.

_The Bed._--To revert to the bedstead, its size and length are well worthy of consideration. Of course these may vary according to the fancy of the occupant; but, unless in exceptional cases, a bed should never be less than 6 ft. 6 in. in length for a grown person. A tall man may be made utterly miserable by a bed too short for him, while the extra inches make but little difference, even in a small room. The width must vary as the tenant likes; but a bedstead to contain 2 persons should certainly never be less than 5 ft. 6 in., and will be better at 6 ft. in width.

The feather bed is now acknowledged to be a mistake, and detrimental to health and strength. It is both enervating and luxurious; it heats and relaxes the spine, and enfeebles the whole frame. Notwithstanding that warmth is considered of the utmost necessity for an infant, feather beds are now never put in their cots or bassinettes, wool and hair mattresses being used instead. In larger bedsteads in private houses, spring and hair mattresses have almost completely taken the place of the feather bed. Nevertheless, it should by no means be tabooed in the case of the old and infirm, who, having lost the quick pulsation so necessary for the warmth of the body, and still more the pliability of their limbs, require the surrounding softness of the feather bed to afford them the caloric they so much need, and a greater support and more yielding substance than the mattress to afford them rest. For them the feather bed is highly useful and desirable; but for the vigorous and the young there is not this excuse, and it should never be allowed. Besides which it is expensive, and requires much care to protect it from the moth.

The advantages of chaff beds are many. Real chaff, not chopped straw, is used for them, and they are cheap, easily filled, and easily renewed; the latter should be done once a year. Delightfully soft, and at the same time supporting, they have not the stuffy heat of feathers, but are warmer than mattresses. A chaff pillow and bolster to those suffering from headaches are luxuries. In making the bed, chaff must be well shaken.

The horsehair mattress is now usually preferred, and is an agreeable substitute, being cooler, more comfortable, and far better than the feather bed from a sanitary point of view. Then there is the wool or flock mattress, much less expensive, and very commonly found in servants’ rooms and in the dwellings of the poorer classes. It soon, however, wears flat, and even with care becomes lumpy after a short time, and moth is very likely to attack it. Even when mixed with hair, it makes an unsatisfactory bed, and loses much of the springiness which is so pleasant a sensation in one of superior horsehair. It must be owned, however, that not a little of the discomfort of wool mattresses is owing to the carelessness with which they are treated. If now and again they were unpicked, and the wool well carded, they could easily be restored to their first state and made clean and comfortable--for the tick which contains the wool is capable of being washed during the picking and carding process. French mattresses are irreproachable. It is the custom throughout France to renew the mattress once a year; and taking advantage of the summer months, they remove the tick covering, and pick, card, and pull the wool or hair until they have restored it to its original elasticity. The tick or covering is then replaced by a clean one, and very wholesome and pleasant is the result. The wool mattress is not at any time so pleasant as one made of horsehair, nor is it so durable; and indeed it is well to bear in mind, that the most economical method in the end is invariably to purchase the best material.

The housemaid should have strict injunctions to beat, shake, and turn all mattresses each morning, and they should be brushed all over from to time, in order to prevent dust and flue from accumulating underneath the little leather stars through which the thread for ticking the mattress down is passed. To prevent the edge of the mattress from becoming soiled, it is an admirable plan to sew or tack a border of glazed holland all round the palliasse and mattresses; and a still better one is to have them put into large white covers, after the fashion of a pillow case, as these may be removed and washed at will, keeping the external tick always as good as new.

A straw palliasse is the first thing placed upon the laths of the bed: with a proper amount of care this should last a lifetime. The spring mattress takes the place of it in many instances, being an invention of modern times. It is much more expensive, but is held in high esteem by most housewives, being considered superior in comfort to any other kind. But some housewives still prefer the palliasse, declaring that, with two good hair mattresses placed above it, no bed can be superior to it in elasticity and comfort.

The spring bed has its faults; the wires underneath, not easily reached, collect dust, and they may get out of order, in which case they occasion no small discomfort. The best spring bed is that called the Sommier Tucker--on a new principle, without a covering, so that it can be entirely cleaned and dusted throughout. These beds are undoubtedly cool and have the advantage of giving great elasticity to the bed, as indeed do all of their kind. A hair mattress is always placed on the springs; this, if well brushed and tended, ought to require only occasional renewal, perhaps once in 8-10 years.

The bolster is always of feathers; the pillows may be manufactured either of feathers or down, according to the fancy of the housewife. This is quite a matter of taste; and some like a hard, others a very soft pillow. The shape must also vary, according to the ideas of those most concerned. The oblong is the usual form, but a square cut one, after the French fashion, is a very comfortable style of pillow. The number of blankets must vary, according to each person’s taste and the time of year, but 2 on an average, are enough for temperate weather. Great care should be taken in the purchasing of these: they should be of the best quality, and the wool free from a mixture of cotton. They should be washed at least once a year; but that ought to be enough, as they are impoverished by constant cleansing. For winter wear the Witney blanket is a delightful covering. Sheets may be made either of linen or cotton, and their textures are numerous; varying from the delicate fine linen of the wealthy and luxurious housewife, to the thick, coarse, unbleached cotton of the poorer classes. Linen is the most durable, and is generally used in preference to cotton, as being more pleasant to the touch. It is cooler, preferable for summer wear, and some people are rendered hot and uncomfortable when sleeping in cotton sheets at any time of the year. In winter however, much may be said in their favour. By using them, the chill which first contact with linen invariably gives the skin is avoided. For children’s beds they are much the best, and can be bought of as fine a quality as the housewife desires. Twilled cotton wears the longest, and is a very suitable material for servants’ sheets. For keeping the feet warm there is no covering so pleasant as the eider down quilt, its lightness being its greatest recommendation. But each person has his or her idiosyncrasies on the matter of quilts, and the arrangement of the bed.

_Making Beds._--Bear in mind, to begin with, that, unless a bed is properly aired every day, it certainly will not be a place of rest. Remember the instant you get up, to throw back all top clothes, and let the air come freely to the lower sheet. This will be a great help to the housemaid later on. A bed should always be stripped daily.

Every girl should, as a matter of course, learn to make her bed, and it would be very good for her if she had to do it regularly as part of the daily routine. Naturally, while little, she would require help and supervision; but after 14 she ought to make her bed, and be responsible for the general tidiness of her room, with no further interference than the sweeping and a little help in turning the mattresses. Rooms would be more daintily kept if girls were encouraged to see to such things and the housemaid would be saved a good deal of work.