RUS IN URBE
SIR HERBERT MORGAN, K.B.E.
THE woman of to-day, while apparently alive to all the possibilities that life has to offer her, is yet, too often, living in the era of the Victorians as regards the kind of house she can, and should, possess. When she marries, if she knows nothing of cooking, labour-saving devices, and the possibilities of central heating, her path will be beset with thorns, unless, of course, the couple possess a large private income ; and even then an intelligent knowledge of what used to be called " Housecraft " is never wasted.
As regards the planning of the small house there is one point above all others which needs emphasizing. The main living-room of a house, however humble, should be the best room in the house. A quantity of small rooms makes for service difficulties, stuffmess, and general discomfort. What is the use of a drawing-room which is never lived in ? Or the small " study " to which the head of the house is supposed to retreat, but never in practice visits ? Far better is it to have one large, well-ventilated, well-furnished room which is really lived in. Such a room, which has been given the best of whatever the house offers, both in aspect and in decoration, will have a real sense of home which untenanted rooms, with their musty,. unwanted atmosphere can never give.
Few of Us realize how greatly modern science has not only lightened and brightened the work of housekeeping, but also shortened the distance between town and country.
Comforts which a decade ago were luxuries are now within the reach of all. And the average middle-class couple in an up-to-date house have really no 'need for more than one servant, or possibly two, and therefore have that money which would have been spent on servants for luxuries.
It has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that labour- saving devices pay- the cost of their installation within a very short time. Taking £100 a year to be the average cost of a servant, and capitalizing this sum at £1,500, it will be seen that appliances which can save the up-keep of one servant are worth, in actual value to the user, a sum which could run into three figures without being considered extravagant. Yet labour-saving devices for a small home could not possibly cost more than a fraction of this sum.
The fact is, a modern house is a piece of machinery designed for the comforts of its occupants. Just as a motor-car has a definite function to perform in conveying its owner from place to. place with safety, speed and comfort, so a house, with its broader, more varied, and less visible, but not less important, functions must provide for the health.and happiness of its owners in a hundred obvious ways. The house, in short, is a thing of moving parts, not a mere box for -
shelter. • Little enough consideration, in all conscience, has been given to this matter by householders, actual or prospective. And even less thought is given to the vital subjects of location and space-utilization. Here, indeed, our ideas are those of caw grandmother's day. Persons with income of from £600 be £1,200 are only just beginning to realize how close motors and the modern electric train have brought the countryside to London.
There are, of course, advantages and disadvantages in being a season-ticket holder. A rush to the station to catch the early train may be a nuisance, but a night's sleep in the' quiet of the country and the waking to fresh air compensates for this and is undeniably. healthy. The half-h ours to London and back may be boring, but again it may be considered to be among the most useful periods of the day, being devoted in the morning to an unhurried reading of the day's news and, on the return journey, to some book which the busy business man might otherwise not find time to read, or to meditation with closed eyes.
For health, and the enjoyment of those open-air sports which give health, and also for those with children, mudh can be said in favour of the country.
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