Boston (Mass.) -- Fiction; Women philanthropists -- Fiction
I have thought of another thing, that is, of having low, stationary
settees made in suitable places against the wall, and having the seat a
cover which would turn up on hinges, showing space underneath where
clothes and all sorts of things could be kept out of sight, instead of
being put into trunks or left to lie around in an untidy way. I shall
have no closets, as I find that space can be better saved and
cleanliness more readily enforced by building stationary wardrobes, each
with a drawer underneath and shelves above extending to the ceiling.
Closets, I find, are rarely swept.
On these shelves, which can be protected by a curtain, things not in
frequent use can be laid away, and every inch of space to the ceiling
utilized. I know you will not approve of this. You think closets are a
_sine qua non_; all of which is well enough if you are dealing with
people who are sure to keep them swept clean, and where room is not so
precious. But in this case I am planning to economize space to the
utmost, and at the same time give the number of hooks for hanging
clothes that there is in the ordinary closet.
The rooms are to be only seven feet high, thereby saving much space and
making it possible for me to put on another story to the building.
Without this, by the closest planning, I could not afford all the
conveniences that I want and get my four per cent. interest, which, for
the success of the experiment, I feel bound to make.
Of course these low-studded rooms would give too little air were it not
that I have taken extraordinary pains about the ventilation. I have been
using all my feminine ingenuity to devise all possible means to provide
the greatest amount of comfort and convenience for the smallest possible
amount of money and space. Understand that I am aiming to provide a
decent home for the very poorest, who cannot afford to pay more than
five dollars a month for rent. I mean to give them as much room as they
have now in their dirty, dark alleys and attics, and in addition to
that, warmth, pure air, cleanliness, and the saving of countless steps.
I find my architects strangely unsuggestive about all this; they have
not enough imagination to put themselves in the place of a tired
ignorant woman who has to spend all her life in two rooms with her
husband and four or five untidy, restless children.
Knowing how much afraid of the dark many of my North End people used to
be, and remembering how they used to keep a lamp burning all night in
their sleeping-rooms, where the windows were shut tight, I have planned
to have the upper eight inches of the walls of the room bordering on the
hall, of glass, which can be opened like a transom, to admit air and
much light at night from the lights in the hall, which I shall myself
provide. I mean also to have in every room, fastened against the wall, a
stationary table that can be put up or let down like an ordinary
table-leaf.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account