use in seeing that the work is done as ordered. Where she has not
acquired this knowledge, and the husband is either incompetent or not
free to undertake this supervision, it is well to employ a contractor,
arranging for thorough, satisfactory work, and holding him strictly to
the contract.

The prime requisite in a house is that it be adapted for home life, be
a comfortable place in which to sleep, cook, eat, rest and read, talk
and laugh, and play and pray; in a word, in which to do all the work that
enables these necessities and pleasures to be obtained. Next to the
comfort of the family comes that of the outside world. It is desirable,
though not essential, that the home contain facilities for entertaining.




CHAPTER V

THE HOUSE

Essential Parts of a House--Double Use of Rooms--Utility of
Piazzas--Landscape Gardening--Water-supply--Water-power--Illumination
--Dangers from Gas--How to Read a Gas-meter--How to Test Kerosene
--Care of Lamps--Use of Candles--Making the Best of the Old House.

The parts that are desirable in a well-ordered house may be enumerated
as follows: Cellar, the kitchen, the storehouse, the pantry, the
laundry, the dining-room, the living or sitting-room, the lavatory,
the parlor, the hall, the library, the nursery, the sewing-room,
the bedrooms, including guest chamber, the attic, the piazzas.