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Page 13
[Illustration: A SLIGHT ADDITION.]
"Certainly not. Tearing down partitions, taking out plumbing, building
a few chimneys, moving stairways, and such little things, can't be
called 'alterations'--oh, no."
"And the house will be worth so much more when you come to sell it."
"Of course. But why do you call this a 'sitting-room?' It wouldn't be
possible to sell a house that has no parlor; besides this is marked
'parlor' on the plan."
"I prefer the spirit of the plan to the letter of it. This is the
pleasantest room--almost the only pleasant room on this floor. It is
sunny and convenient, it looks out upon the street and across the lawn,
and whatever it is labeled it will _be_ our common every-day
sitting-room. For similar reasons we will take the chamber over it for
our own room."
"What becomes of our hospitality if we keep the best for ourselves?"
"What becomes of our common sense if we make ourselves uncomfortable
the year round in order to make a guest a little less uncomfortable
over night. I try to love my neighbor as myself; I can't love him three
hundred and sixty-five times as well. Now, if you are rested, we will
go and see if the architect has come."
He had not arrived, but they found a ponderous package of plans from
Aunt Melville, with an explanatory note, a letter from Cousin Bessie
admonishing Jill that her new home ought to be "a perfect poem,
pervaded and perfumed by a rare feeling of tender longing and homely
aspiration," and another from her father's oldest sister.
[Illustration: GROUND FLOOR OF AUNT MELVILLE'S AMBITION.]
[Illustration: FIRST FLOOR OF AUNT MELVILLE'S AMBITION.]
"For fifty years," Aunt Jerusha wrote, "I have lived in what would now
be called an old-fashioned house, though it was new enough when I came
to it, and I always think of the Scripture saying when I hear about the
many inventions that men have sought out and are putting into houses
now-a-days. The danger is not so much from the inventions themselves as
from what they lead to. They promise great things, but I've learned to
be suspicious of anything or anybody that makes large promises. I've
learned, too, that realities sometimes go by contraries as well as
dreams. The poorest folks are often the richest, and the greatest
saving often turns out to be the greatest waste. Air-tight stoves saved
the wood-pile, but they gave us colds and headaches. So your uncle put
them away and we went back to the fireplaces. Then came the hot-air
furnaces, which seemed so much less trouble than open fires, but taking
care of the open fires wasn't half so troublesome as taking care of
sick folks; and the same thing we learned to our bitter cost of the
plumbing pipes that creep around like venomous serpents and promise to
save so many steps. Perhaps they do, but it seems to me that much of
our vaunted labor-saving is at best only a transfer. We work all the
harder at something else or compel others to work for us. When I began
housekeeping I had no difficulty in taking care of my large house
without any help, nor in caring for my family while it was small. Yet I
hadn't a single modern invention or labor-saving machine, I have had a
great many since and have tried a great many more. When I find one that
helps in the work that _must_ be done I am glad to keep it. If it
merely does something new--something I had never done before--I keep
the old way. Multiplying wants may be a means of grace to the
half-civilized, but our danger lies in the other direction: we have too
many wants already. And this is what I sat down to say to you, my dear
child: Don't make housekeeping such a complex affair that you must give
to it all your time and strength, leaving no place for the 'better
part.' Don't fill your house with furniture too fine to be used, and
don't try to have everything in the latest fashion. I see many
beautiful things and read of many more, but nothing is half so
beautiful to me as the things that were new fifty years ago and are
still in daily use. Of planning houses I know but little. For one
thing, I should say, have the kitchen and working departments as close
at hand as possible. This will save many weary steps, whether you do
your own work or leave it with servants, the best of whom need constant
watching and encouragement, or they will not make life any easier or
better worth living."
"Isn't this rather a solemn letter?" Jack inquired.
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