American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science;: Being a Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian HomesStowe, Harriet Beecher
Religion
American Woman's Home: Or, Principles of Domestic Science;: Being a Guide to the Formation and Maintenance of Economical, Healthful, Beautiful, and Christian Homes
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Home economics
This screen must be so high as nearly to reach the ceiling, in order
to prevent it from overturning. It is to fill the width of the room,
except two feet on each side. A projecting cleat or strip, reaching
nearly to the top of the screen, three inches wide, is to be screwed
to the front sides, on which light frame doors are to be hung, covered
with canvas and panel-paper like the front of the screen. The inside
of these doors is furnished with hooks for clothing, for which the
projection makes room. The whole screen is to be eighteen inches deep
at the top and two feet deep at the base, giving a solid foundation.
It is moved on four wooden rollers, one foot long and four inches in
diameter. The pivots of the rollers and the parts where there is
friction must be rubbed with hard soap, and then a child can move the
whole easily.
A curtain is to be hung across the whole interior of the screen by
rings, on a strong wire. The curtain should be in three parts, with
lead or large nails in the hems to keep it in place. The wood-work
must be put together with screws, as the screen is too large to pass
through a, door.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
At the end of the room, behind the screen, are two couches, to be run
one under the other, as in Fig. 7. The upper one is made with four
posts, each three feet high and three inches square, set on casters
two inches high. The frame is to be fourteen inches from the floor,
seven feet long, two feet four inches wide, and three inches in
thickness. At the head, and at the foot, is to be screwed a notched
two-inch board, three inches wide, as in Fig. 8. The mortises are to
be one inch wide and deep, and one inch apart, to revive slats made
of ash, oak, or spruce, one inch square, placed lengthwise of the
couch. The slats being small, and so near together, and running
lengthwise, make a better spring frame than wire coils. If they warp,
they can be turned. They must not be fastened at the ends, except by
insertion in the notches. Across the posts, and of equal height with
them, are to be screwed head and foot-boards.
The under couch is like the upper, except these dimensions: posts,
nine inches high, including castors; frame, six feet two inches long,
two feet four inches wide. The frame should be as near the floor as
possible, resting on the casters.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
The most healthful and comfortable mattress is made by a case, open
in the centre and fastened together with buttons, as in Fig. 9; to be
filled with oat straw, which is softer than wheat or rye. This can be
adjusted to the figure, and often renewed.
Fig. 10 represents the upper couch when covered, with the under couch
put beneath it. The coverlid should match the curtain of the screen;
and the pillows, by day, should have a case of the same.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
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