Drawer

“ Sometimes a drawer will refuse to yield to either persuasion or force, and will part with both handles rather than yield; another will come out in the most coy and coquettish manner imaginable; elbowing along, zig-zag; one corner retreating as the other advances; making a thousand difficulties and objections at every move; until the old gentleman, out of all patience, gives a sudden jerk, and brings drawer and contents into the middle of the floor. ”

“ In America we connect the term with a piece of furniture designed to hold articles of clothing in its various drawers. It was somewhere about the middle of the seventeenth century that the drawer was added to the lower part of the chest. Later in the century further drawer capacity was developed, and by the beginning of the next we find the complete chest of drawers in use. In view of this we shall not expect to find Jacobean desks, though we may find cabinets for writing-materials and documents and even occasional desk-like pieces. ”

“ There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the two first with my linen, and, as I had still much to pack away, I was naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There was only once thing in it, but I am sure that you would never guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. ”

“ There were rows of dresses hanging on hooks, halberts and muskets propped up in the corners, albums of photographs for reference lying on the tables, pairs of boots and buskins thrust away behind the curtains and under the valences. You felt convinced that every drawer was packed so that it could only just be induced to shut, and that if you opened the door of a cupboard a crowd of imprisoned articles would come tumbling out helter-skelter. ”

“ The height of the drawer also will be misconceived by those who examine it in a cursory manner. There is a space of about three inches between the top of the drawer as seen from the exterior, and the bottom of the cupboard—a space which must be included in the height of the drawer. These contrivances to make the room within the box appear less than it actually is, are referrible to a design on the part of the inventor, to impress the company again with a false idea, viz. that no human being can be accommodated within the box. ”

“ The top drawer is the one which locks most securely, because it is under the top of the bureau, instead of under another drawer which might be removed. It is therefore the one in which people usually keep the things which they especially value, and their pocketbooks or handbags. If a part of the top drawer is set apart for the collars, ties, handkerchiefs, hair ribbons and belts which are in immediate use, it will assist immensely to keep a room and bureau top neat. ”

“ Storing up things in a bottom drawer, and picking up old furniture at sales, and polishing it up so lovingly, thinking of where it is going, and letters coming and going, and looking forward to the time when he’ll come down next—’tis a beautiful time. ”

“ Then he arranged all the tools in the largest deep drawer, and with a long-handled brush and a can of black paint that was nearly dry, he labeled the drawer TOOLS with neat lettering. Another drawer he lettered NAILS, and assorted its contents into a few of the many boxes that were lying around. ”

“ The opposite side of the cube was composed of a chest of drawers. I am not impertinently curious by nature, but as I was the first-floor lodger, bethought myself entitled to open the top long drawer with a view to the bestowal of the contents of my black bag. ”

“ In default of a table regularly made for the purpose, the amateur may with little difficulty adapt an ordinary table for use as a makeshift. A common library or kitchen table having a drawer on one side, and raised on four bricks or blocks of wood to the requisite height will answer the purpose very fairly. The table must be covered with a cloth; and should have the drawer pulled out about six inches (the drawer side being, of course, away from the audience) to form the servante. ”

“ These should be taken out of the drawer and laid on a table when being handled. The drawers for the smaller sizes should be box-shaped, with sides cut down somewhat to allow the prints to be easily turned. ”

“ We examined, first, the furniture of each apartment. We opened every possible drawer; and I presume you know that, to a properly trained police agent, such a thing as a secret drawer is impossible. Any man is a dolt who permits a ‘secret’ drawer to escape him in a search of this kind. The thing is so plain. There is a certain amount of bulk—of space—to be accounted for in every cabinet. ”

“ In all the desks shown, the pillars at each side of the middle door in the interior pull out as drawers. These were supposed to be secret drawers. Often the little arched pieces above the pigeonholes are drawer fronts. The middle compartment is sometimes a drawer, or if it has a door, behind this door is a drawer which, when taken entirely out, proves to have a secret drawer opening from its back. Occasionally an opening to a secret compartment is found in the back of the desk. ”

“ You put your candle on the top of the cabinet. You opened, and shut, one drawer after another, until you came to the drawer in which I had put my Diamond. You looked at the open drawer for a moment. And then you put your hand in, and took the Diamond out. ”

“ This secretary is generous in secret compartments, of which there are six. The centre panel of the cabinet is the front of a drawer, locked by a concealed spring, and at the back of this drawer are two secret drawers; beneath it, by sliding a thin piece of mahogany, another drawer is disclosed; a fourth is at the top, behind a small drawer, and at each end of the curved drawers is a secret drawer. ”

“ At a later period, the chest was placed on a frame of short square legs. The next development was the addition of a long drawer below the chest. Another drawer was added, and another, until this piece of furniture gradually became, instead of a simple box or trunk, a “chest-of-drawers,” a “chest-with-drawers,” a “nest-of-drawers,” a “case-of-drawers,” a “press,” a “cupboard-press,” etc., etc. The bureau, or desk, or “screetore,” is another development; and, of course, the cabinet in its simplest form is nothing but a chest-of-drawers with shelves inside shut in by doors. ”

“ Some of you are tidy here, but at home your temptation is to plaster some neatly folded garment or sash over the recesses of an untidy drawer, or to use anything that comes to hand, any racquet, or croquet-mallet, or oil-can, or thimble; your own cannot be found—you take the nearest and then leave that also lying about. ”

“ WARDROBE, a portable upright cupboard for storing clothes. The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that separate accommodation was provided for the sumptuous apparel of the great. The name of wardrobe was then given to a room in which the wall-space was filled with cupboards and lockers—the drawer is a comparatively modern invention. From these cupboards and lockers the modern wardrobe, with its hanging spaces, sliding shelves and drawers, was slowly evolved. ”

“ In one drawer are kept stockings of all sorts, and in the other shoes; it has a cushion and handles, and is set on castors. It is to stand by the bedside, and a person can change the dress of the feet with the greatest comfort and convenience. ”

“ As types of the chests of drawers on legs we give two illustrations. Fig. 54, from a photograph supplied by Messrs. Hampton and Sons Ltd., Pall Mall, represents a fine specimen of veneered work of the William and Mary period. The figuring in the walnut veneer is very good and finely matched. The stand is tall, with but one long shallow drawer. The turned legs are particularly graceful in outline. It will be noticed that the inverted cup detail is repeated in the china cabinet (Fig. 69) , amongst the illustrations of lacquered furniture. ”

“ The cheap, painted chest of drawers, the worn trunk at the foot of the bed, the dingy wall-paper, the shaded white glass lamp on the rickety table, all seemed invested with a nobility alien to their everyday common appearance, inasmuch as they assisted at the turning of a living thing, who had rejoiced, and toiled, and suffered, into unresponsive clay. ”

“ On each side of the window are book-cases, and behind the glass doors of one of these you can see beautiful dolls, kittens, dogs, elephants, and a variety of other works of art. These are our "pretty things," which were, most truly, "born to be admired." A deep locked drawer under the shelves contains the raw material from which our wonders are made, and in the southeast corner of it is safely hidden the bank in which our precious pennies are kept. ”

“ A large and a small fan are lacquered upon the lower middle drawer, and on the upper one is a funny little pagoda top, with a small fan, both in lacquer. The handles are of an early type, and the moulding around the drawers is a double separated one. Such japanned pieces are rare and of great value.
A fine high chest is shown in Illustration 17, from the Warner house in Portsmouth. It is of walnut and is inlaid around each drawer. The upper middle drawer is inlaid in a design of pillars with the rising sun [28] between them, and below the sun are inlaid the initials J. S. and the date 1733. ”

“ The front of a drawer is usually made of thicker stock than the other parts. Fig. 174. For example, if the front were to be made of three-quarter inch stock the sides, back and bottom would probably be made of three-eighths inch material. Drawer fronts are always made of the same material as the rest of the cabinet or desk while the sides, back and bottom are usually made of some soft wood such as yellow poplar. ”

“ Oh, yes; he used to keep it in a drawer of his writing desk. Not that I was one to pry; but he didn't try to hide the thing. Sometimes the drawer was left half open, and I couldn't help seeing what was in it, when I was putting the room to rights. ”

“ Why didn’t I put the things away in drawers and wardrobes? Simply because every such receptacle I possessed was full to distraction before the trousseau things started to arrive! Did you ever know a woman who possessed a drawer or a wardrobe peg that wasn’t already over full, and she pining for more space? So for weeks we had to hop over piles of cardboard boxes no matter what room we entered, and scrabble up more bales of tissue paper and things to make room on the sofa for the friend who called to bring her good wishes in person. ”

“ In this case the bottom of the drawer is made partly open, under which is fixed a small narrow drawer, to contain a heater, which gives warmth to the plates, the same as in a pedestal.
“In spacious dining-rooms the sideboards are often made without drawers of any sort, having simply a rail a little ornamented, and pedestals with vases at each end, which produce a grand effect. One pedestal is used as a plate-warmer, and is lined with tin; the other is a pot cupboard, and sometimes it contains a cellarette for wine. ”

“ As to the raps they may have been produced by means such as we have described elsewhere, or by others peculiarly adapted to the sofa-table, when, as is generally the case, such tables have drawers. It is a circumstance known to the spirit world, and even the uninitiated may verify it that such drawers fit their frames more or less loosely. ”

“ An antique he never sells—old escritoire against rear wall—secret drawer—take out wide middle drawer—reach in and rub your hand along the top—you'll feel the spring. We waited to—to get—get counterfeits—put counterfeits there—understand? ”

“ In cutting drawers for a prominent abdomen allow an extra inch or two at the top, tapering the allowance away to nothing over the hip. In circular drawers the upper edge of the drawer pattern must he slashed and spread to give the drawers the original waistline, which is made smaller in making this allowance. This alteration is practically the same as altering the top of a circular skirt for this type of figure. ”

“ A low, broad table with a large, shallow drawer and a shelf half way down one side will be found the most convenient place to work and this can be moved as the work progresses from place to place so as to make as little walking and lifting as possible. ”

“ In time there was an accumulation of all sorts jumbled together in the drawer in a manner to make it difficult to find needed pieces without loss of time. Often the quickest [Pg 27] way to obtain the right piece was to cut off a longer one.
This wasteful method was the universal custom before the era of the labor-saving assortment stored in orderly fashion in a cabinet and placed within instant reach of the workman. ”

“ Many of our most beautiful old Indian chests of drawers and cabinets have this black ground with quaintest bronze or brazen clamps and hinges, locks and handles, to give relief to the sombre groundwork. Except that the drawers seldom open well, and are nearly always inconveniently small, they are the most beautiful things in the world for keeping clothes in, but it would certainly be as well to have, out of the room in a passage, some more commodious and commonplace receptacles. ”

“ The doors are fastened on with hinges, using two metal knobs in front of the doors to open them. The foundation of the upper section is made of a box (5” deep × 18” × 26”) . The three crosspieces used as shelves are made from the two small boxes (5” × 12” × 18”) . Make the drawer of a box (5” × 18” × 24”) , putting a partition through the center of the box and on the inside if two drawers be desired. Place two hand bolts on the front of the drawer. Sandpaper, stain, and polish the sideboard.
[Pg 49] SCREEN
A screen is useful in many ways in the home. ”