If one is willing to spend the money, electrically operated shampooing-machines can be installed, curling-irons, vibrators, ozonators, hair-driers, shaving-mugs, heat-baths, etc., but these seem luxuries to us yet. But will the next generation look upon them this way? A very elegant bathroom may also be equipped with built-in receptacles in the tile wainscot for holding soap, sponges, toilet-paper, tumblers, tooth-brushes, etc. Fine white-enamelled medicine-cabinets are not uncommon to see built into the walls. Glass rods for towels and glass shelves for miscellaneous objects add much to the practical up-keep of the bathroom. Faucets over the bathtubs and lavatories are now covered with white enamel and have porcelain handles, so that the work of polishing nickel ones is done away with. Water-closet bowls are designed with such deep water-seals and with such powerful flushing-jets that they do not need the cleaning that the older types required. Tubs are built into the walls and down on the floors, so that dirt cannot collect under them, as it did under the old leg-supported tubs. Thus each year brings forth more improvements that are helping to reduce the labor of keeping house. XVII CONCRETE WORK AROUND THE HOUSE Concrete has become such an excellent servant to the needs of various objects built around the house that no apology will be offered for devoting a chapter to its use. Of course, one is familiar with the artistic flagstone walk with open joints through which the grass is allowed to grow, and one cannot deny the beauty of brick pavements; but in spite of these the concrete walk is found about more houses wherever one goes than any other type, and, although in most cases very ugly, yet it cannot be relegated to the past even by the most fastidious, for its existence depends upon very fundamental qualities of practical serviceability. And likewise, although we may not have seen concrete walks that had the charm of rubble-stone or brick, yet they are coming to be used more and more, for they can be made to appear very beautiful if properly made. Concrete garden furniture, concrete pools, fountains, garden ornaments, tennis-courts, and other familiar adjuncts to the lawn about the house, are making themselves evident on all sides. There is something about the material that lends itself to such uses, for even the owner of the house can get out and work in it, and need not call in a contractor. [Illustration: Rough Cast Finish or Splatter Dash Pebble Dash]