Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1909 — Living In a Few Rooms. [ARTICLE]

Living In a Few Rooms.

Who would have thought a few years ago that a married couple could live in two rooms? It is astonishing Just how many do, and somehow they seem to have a fairly good existence despite \‘%eir small home. Perhaps the rich man sitting back in his sumptuous library, all oak and morocco, among glittering backs of splendid volumes and massive davenports which he merely paid for, has not half the enjoyment that Robinson Crusoe had when he looked around his cave, with its rude shelves and bulkheads, its clumsy arm-chair and pottery, all contrived by his own hands. And men today are modern Crusoe’s only there is a woman in the case to manage and plan two tiny rooms, to make them habitable, comfortable and even inviting. Often a very large house has a cold appearance, simply because room after room will be closed with no use for them unless, perhaps, a large company arrives. If one gains something by having a large house, something is lost too, for too much space does not give the cosy home atmosphere. If we wish to see architectural beauty, it Is necessary to go Into fine cathedrals, magnificent business houses, halls and ediOces where hardwood floors and prism colored windows reflect the soft colors through the large, echoing halls. Marble steps graved with immense tubs of palms, ferns and the like present a certain charm in the opera house, but a happy couple will willingly have three gray painted steps, a stretch of red rug and a few cozy cushions. Often this will accommodate a bevy of evening callers and all will go merrily on the humble -wood stoop, while acfoss the way the magnificent piazza and imposing entrance to the house will be as cold and forbidding as a tomb. So It is not the house after all, but how it is arranged that gives it the fascination desired in every home.