Placard

“ You go there, enter the great door, get a bow graduated to your style and clothes from the gorgeous portier, and a bath ticket and an insult from the frowsy woman for a quarter, she strikes a bell and a serving man conducts you down a long hall and shuts you into a commodious room which has a washstand, a mirror, a bootjack and a sofa in it, and there you undress at your leisure. ”

“ A tumble-down trunk in a corner of the room did precarious duty for a chair; a faded carpet hid the floor; a cheap rocking-chair in the act of moulting its upholstery spread its luxurious arms invitingly near the dim window; and a table, on which a pack of German playing cards was coyly half concealed by a newspaper, a coal-hod, and a poker, completed the necessary furnishing of the apartment. ”

“ Turning away from the window, I could see through an open door into my companion’s room, and I said, “How did you get into my room?” “Very easily,” she answered; “there is a cupboard in the thickness of the wall between your room and mine; it opens into both rooms, but is at present full of my gowns, as you would have seen had you had the curiosity to look in, and the door happened to be unlocked.” ”

“ The angular formation of the mirrors will reflect the floor in front, and if the edges of the mirror are draped so as not to show from the front, the appearance from the street is that the space below the table top is open, and that the person of the individual whose head projects from the box is in some mysterious way confined in the very limited room which the box affords. ”

“ There is a door to each room, the oak chairs are bright with rubbing, and the floor, though unplaned, is so clean that one might eat off it. The table is clean and abundant, and the mother and daughters, though they do all the work, look as trim as if they did none, and actually laugh heartily. ”

“ Here a new and more convenient door gave into a large hall, not without suits of armour purchased at considerable expense, and giving by various doors into the larger, older, and grander rooms of the house, into a panelled dining-room, a large drawing-room, too often changing in style, and on the extreme west a room very rarely used save for the reception of whatever was not wanted about the living parts of the house, or—in theory at least—for the complete seclusion of its master, when—in theory—his heavy responsibilities demanded heavy concentration. ”

“ I get up in the morning, and find one asleep behind the door, and see one black head poking out from under the table, one lying on the door-mat,—and they are mopping and mowing and grinning between all the railings, and tumbling over the kitchen floor! ”

“ An attic, an oak bureau, a lovely face, a bed on the floor. Things have come and gone in my life since then, but they have been powerless to efface those early impressions. I adore pretty faces. I can't keep away from shops where they sell good old furniture like my bureau. I like plain rooms with low ceilings better than any other rooms; and for my afternoon siesta, which is one of my institutions, I often choose the floor in preference to bed or sofa. ”

“ They are forever moving the furniture. When you come in, in the night, you can calculate on finding the bureau where the wardrobe was in the morning. And when you go out in the morning, if you leave the slop-bucket by the door and the rocking-chair by the window, when you come in at midnight, or thereabouts, you will fall over that rocking-chair, and you will proceed toward the window and sit down in that slop-tub. ”

“ The packing-room, a huge hall around the sides of which ran a platform, was situated on the first floor of the main building, and accommodated three hundred workwomen, for the most part fresh, plump, turbulent girls, brazen, full blooded, with laughing, sensual mouths, intrepid eyes, possessing the gift of gab. ”

“ Indoors among ordinary things, the cupboard, the table, the window-sill with its geraniums, suddenly the outline of the landlady, bending to remove the cloth, becomes soft with light, an adorable emblem which only the recollection of cold human contacts forbids us to embrace. ”

“ As the hall-door is made an important feature in the residence, the front parlour is generally a narrow, lanky apartment, struggling for existence between the hall and the partition of the next house. The outer door, which is always provided with fine carved panels and mouldings, is of some rich varnished wood, and looks much better than our painted doors. ”

“ That's a small door, without a doubt,—perhaps to some unused closet. Maybe there was a time, when this house was new, when this room wasn't a library. Then somebody wanted to make it into a library, and fill all this side of the room with book-shelves. But that door was in the way. So they had it all papered over, and just put the shelves in front of it, as though it had never been there. You see the paper has fallen away, probably through dampness,—and the mice seem to have eaten it too. ”

“ While there is a certain responsibility about the coherent furnishings of all other rooms, from the music room of bare floor and scant drapery to the library with its heavy rugs, draped alcoves, and precise shelving—the sitting room may take tribute from all others. ”

“ You know what a thoroughfare that is? My bedroom and dressing room were on the second floor—the bedroom being at the back, and the dressing room in front, with three large windows overlooking the street. Large double doors connected the bedroom with the dressing room. I am thus particular in describing the locality that you may better understand the villainy of the stratagem," said the countess, looking around upon her friends.
They nodded assent, and she resumed:
"From some peculiar sensitiveness of temperament, I can never sleep unless every ray of light is shut out from my chamber. ”

“ My father marvelled at my preference, but not more than I at his proposal to fit up one of our pleasantest apartments for my chosen purpose. With what exultation I welcomed a new, long desk and benches neatly made of fair, white wood! To these I proceeded to add an hour-glass, and a few other articles of convenience and adornment. My active imagination peopled the room with attentive scholars, and I meditated the opening address, which I trusted would win their hearts, and the rules that were to regulate their conduct. ”

“ The third occupant of the little drawing-room is a pale, thin, studious-looking man, who is seated at a cabinet in a corner away from the window, amongst papers and books, which are heaped in a chaotic pile on the floor about him. ”

“ Ordinary day rooms should be sixteen feet, at least, from wall to wall. The fireplace and fender, dining table, with a chair on either side, and room for comfortable movement, make this space perative. ”

“ The interior of the apartments should provide wall-space for the arrangement of furniture; because, without wall-space no manner of furnishing a room can make it either handsome, elegant, or comfortable. The windows, therefore, should be few, and they and the door and fireplace should be so arranged as to provide as much wall-space as possible. ”

“ A table, covered with the various implements for writing, crossed the farther extremity of the apartment; and beyond it was an array of chairs for the magistrates, while at each end was a seat for the clerks; and a smaller table, also, under one of the south-east windows, was furnished with paper and pens for another secretary. The windows on that side were open, and the warm soft breath of the southerly wind was felt fanning the cheek, and breathing of nothing but peace, and gentleness, and tranquillity. ”

“ In place of the old hall is an entrance lobby and a dining-room, which, with a breakfast-room and drawing-room, all of large size and excellent proportions, a back drawing-room, study, and some smaller apartments, form a suite, quite equal to the aspects and pretensions of the building. ”

“ It was a boudoire, or ladies' sitting room. In each corner was a cabinet, filled with shells and all kinds of ornaments and curiosities. The doors of these cabinets were looking-glass. This room opened into a large and elegant bed-room, with a high and massive rosewood bedstead; all the furniture rosewood, to match. Next came a dressing-room: in either corner was an immovable wash-stand toilet, beautiful china vase; also, an immovable wardrobe, with three doors, the middle one of looking-glass. The next was a parlor, with crimson furniture. ”

“ It was an entry that was also a narrow room.
“Here’s a bed, you see, in the corner; and I have had the stove that was in my room set here. It throws the heat into the men’s quarters. We have a store–room on this floor,” said the keeper, opening a door in a wooden partition; “and we chuck various things in there. Step into the men’s room.” ”

“ There should be as little furniture as possible in the ordinary suburban hall or passage. The really necessary furniture has been described as placed{62} in the vestibule; but, if we have room we should undoubtedly have a tall palm on a stand, a grandfather clock in one corner, a couple of chairs: tall, high-backed ones for choice: and, if possible, between the dining and drawing-room doors, which are often close together, or at anyrate close to the latter door, have a nice plain walnut table. ”

“ Open shelves filled with books lined the apartment to the ceiling on every hand, save where a small fireplace, a cabinet and table were built into the walls. In the center of the room was a long table with writing materials set in nice order. ”

“ The partition should be made of light strips of wood, covered with cheap cloth, and painted to imitate the interior of a room. The door must be quite near the front, of Gothic form, studded with large nails; two iron sockets, four inches square, should be placed on the door and frame; a mahogany table, globe lamp, chairs, carpets, and engravings may be placed in the inner room; the outer apartment should be empty. ”

“ Opening one of these doors at the rear—the quietest part of the house—we find ourselves in a large room, the stone floor of which is covered with rich rugs, while tiles ornamented with bright pictorial designs, or mottoes, cover the walls. ”

“ This entrance was to be made through the doorway that opened from the hall on the second story into the library. To the right of this door, in an angle of two walls, was the cabinet, and on the left, the first of the camp chairs. These had been placed in a semicircle that stretched across the room, and ended at the parlor organ. ”

“ Fastenings.—Chubb's look on street door, chain, and bolts. Bars to all basement windows. Practicable approach from third room, ground floor, which is shuttered and barred, but bar has no catch, and can be raised with table knife. ”

“ If there be not floor-room, then perhaps there is wall-room, and every possible article must be made to hang, from the boot-bag and umbrella behind the curtain to the pretty market-basket, so toy-like, in the corner. ”

“ Two lead through passages into the men’s room; the other two open into the married quarters. There are also tiny windows, through which the children, and sometimes the women, squeeze in and out when it is more convenient than using the doors. ”

“ A small community-room, beyond which is a passage with a narrow staircase, seldom used, which leads to the fourth community-room, in the fourth storey. Following the passage just mentioned you enter by a door —
3. A little sitting-room furnished in the following manner: with chairs, a sofa on the north side covered with a red-figured cover and fringe; a table in the middle, commonly bearing one or two books, an ink-stand, pen, &c. At one corner is a little projection into the room, caused by a staircase leading from, above to the floor below, without any communication with the second storey. ”

“ Through an open door on the ground-floor you see the packing-room, where marvels of silk and lace are being enveloped in mountains of tissue-paper to be sent to the four quarters of the globe; on the first floor, or entresol, are workrooms full of girls seated at long tables and sewing under the directing eye of a severe-looking matron ”

“ There are generally three or four rooms, the larger one being used as a common sitting and dining room. The furniture of the common room is very simple—a table, chairs, and settle and wardrobe; while upon the whitewashed walls are coloured religious prints. ”

“ They will divide a large room into two small ones when a sudden influx of company arrives, or even close in a corner for the same hospitable emergency. They make delightful nooks in sitting-rooms for the little folks’ playhouse, or they may screen off, from the morning caller, a temporary sewing-room in the back parlor, and in sleeping-rooms, occupied by more than one person, a cosy dressing-room may be made by their use. ”

“ The furniture of the apartment is utilitarian in the strictest sense. There is nothing there for ornament or luxury, or even for ease; only what is absolutely necessary. Generally there is a dresser, above which, on shelves, the dishes and plates are arranged. ”

“ Another door opens out of it into the dining-room, which is separated from the kitchen by the well of the staircase, the steps being constructed partly of wood, partly of tiles, which are colored and beeswaxed. Nothing can be more depressing than the sight of that sitting-room. ”

“ The room in which these people live has a sloping roof, and a small-paned window on each side. For furniture, there were two chairs and a shaky, three-legged stool, a deal table, and a bed rolled up against the wall—nothing else. ”

“ When the floor is disconnected one may advance three or four steps, either from the window or door, and then that whole part turns on a hinge and slides you into a padded strong-room beneath, where you may kick your heels until you are released. ”

“ In Winter, the outside doors, opening to the piazzas, should be fastened and calked, and the side entry, at d, be used. At e, is the nursery, with the bedpress, g, which, being closed by day, makes a retired parlor for the mother. At n, is the children's playroom and sleeping-room, adjoining the mother's room. At k, is the kitchen, adjacent to the eating-room, with the storeroom, e, and the closets, m, m, one for the eating-room, and one for the kitchen utensils. At i, is a parlor, which can be used for a study or library, by the master of the family ”