A Treatise on Domestic Economy; For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School

company, is a weakness and folly, which it is hoped will every year become less common. The construction of houses with reference to _good taste_, is a desirable, though less important, item. The beauty of a house depends very much upon propriety of proportions, color, and ornament. And it is always as cheap, and generally cheaper, to build a house in agreement with the rules of good taste, than to build an awkward and ill-proportioned one. _Plans of Houses and Domestic Conveniences._ The following plans are designed chiefly for persons in moderate circumstances, and have especial reference to young housekeepers. Every year, as the prosperity of this Nation increases, good domestics will decrease, and young mothers are hereafter to be called to superintend and perform all branches of domestic business, to nurse children, direct ignorant domestics, attend the sick, entertain company, and fulfil all other family duties; and this, too, in a majority of cases, with delicate constitutions, or impaired health. Every man, therefore, in forming plans for a future residence, and every woman who has any influence in deciding such matters, ought to make these probabilities the chief basis of their calculations.[S] [Illustration: Fig. 17.] [Illustration: Fig. 18. Ground-plan. _a_, Porch. _b_, Parlor, 15 by 16 feet. _c_, Dining-room, 15 by 16 feet. _d, d_, Small Bedrooms. _e_, Stairs. _f, f, f_, Closets. _g_, Pantry. _h_, Store-closet. _i, i, i_, Fireplaces. _j_, Kitchen. _k_, Bedpress. _z_, Cellar door. Scale of Feet.] The plan, exhibited in Figures 17, and 18, is that of a cottage, whose chief exterior beauty is its fine proportions. It should be painted white. Fig. 17, is the _elevation_, or the front view of the exterior. Fig. 18, is the ground-plan, in which, an entire break in the wall, represents a door, and a break with a line across it, a window. When a cross x is put by a door, it indicates into which room the door swings, and where the hinges should be put, as the comfort of a fireside very much depends on the way in which the doors are hung. A scale