Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER I. THE ENTRANCE. A Few words, in the beginning, about the "Hall," as, in our American love of fine names, we are wont to call what, in nine cases out of ten, even in houses of pretension, is nothing but an entry or passage-way. A hall (aula) must be a large room, large at least in proportion to the size of the house; and such a hall it is rare to see in our modern city houses. Our old-fashioned houses had often halls; I remember some in houses about the Common in Boston, and some in old towns like Gloucester and Hingham, that were handsome, and that, seen to-day, give a pleasant idea of the comfort and substantial elegance enjoyed by many not over-rich people in old times, when the population was not so thick as it is to-day. In city houses, particularly in New-York, where I believe we are more scrimped for room, and where even the richest people are obliged to squeeze themselves into a less number of square feet than in any other city in the world calling itself great, there is often a sufficient excuse for these Dining Koom. 16X20 dismal, narrow, ill-lighted entry-ways, but there is no excuse for them in our country houses. As in meeting a man or a woman, so in entering a house, the first impression generally goes a great way in shaping our judgment. If, on passing the door, we find ourselves in a passage six feet wide, with a hat-stand on one side reducing it to four feet, and the bottom step of the staircase coming to within six feet of the door-way in front of us, and a gaselier dropping to within a foot of our head, we get an impression of something that is not precisely generosity, and which is not removed either by finding the drawing-room overfurnished, or by the fact that the hat-rack was made by Herter, that the carpet...
