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5 Domestic Conditions Such, on the whole, are the social conditions in the United States. A few words must now be said about the domestic conditions in cities, towns, and villages. All over the world, the housewife is generally regarded as the central ¤gure in the house; but in American houses the housewife is given special importance. The American housewife is the veritable goddess of the house (although there are exceptions to this rule also). Since a housewife must have a house to live in, it would not be out of place to say a few words about the houses in this country, before describing her. The internal design of the house is usually the same in cities and villages, though the external construction is different. City houses are usually built of stone and brick walls; the houses in villages and towns are built mostly of wooden planks. Because of the abundance of trees and the general use of coal for fuel everywhere, wood is the principal material utilized for building houses. The foundation of the house is laid with stones or bricks, and the structure above is built of wooden planks,beams,and columns.From the outside the walls look like the panes of a stained-glass window; on the inside they are lined with thick planks or paper, plastered, and then decorated with paper of variegated colors. This wallpaper1 is very durable and allows no room for bugs, etc. The houses have several windows which let in ample light, and also fresh air which circulates all through. The windows are ¤tted with large glass panes so that the house does not become dark even when they are closed during the winter.2 During the summer there is an abundance of ®ies, mosquitoes, etc.; the windows are therefore ¤tted with screens of ¤ne wire mesh, so that they reduce the menace of ®ies without blocking the air. In order to decorate the windows and reduce the glare, they are hung with a variety of curtains made of lacy or plain cloth. There is an excellent provision to pull them to one side when necessary. The entire ®oor and the stairs, except for the kitchen and the front steps, are covered with a carpet or mats. The ®oor underneath is made completely even with wooden planks. Once or twice a year the carpet and mats are removed and brushed clean. Ordinarily a house has a parlor, a dining room, a kitchen, a guest room, and a separate bedroom for each person. There are several conveniences, such as wardrobes to hang clothes, shelves for books, tables, and chairs. Things like fuel, vegetables, and milk are kept in the basement. City houses have a bathroom which contains a large and long vessel like a cistern, lined with enamel, which is called a bathtub. Attached to it are two water pipes, for hot and cold water. The hot-water pipe is connected to a boiler near the stove in the kitchen, which saves the trouble of carrying hot water upstairs or installing a separate stove to heat water. Most village houses do not have bathrooms, which causes a great deal of inconvenience to one used to having a bath every day. Usually the people here do not have a daily bath; they wipe their bodies with a wet towel dipped in a jugful of water poured into a washbasin, and bathe only occasionally. Villagers content themselves for months on end with a mere “towel-bath.” In the winter a large brazier is lit in the basement and connected with iron pipes to all the rooms so as to carry the heat throughout the house. The pipes can be opened or closed at will with the help of “registers.” Most of the cities and even small towns have gas lights in houses and streets. This country is rich in combustible mineral gas. In Pittsburgh and many other cities this combustible gas is used also for cooking, running machines, heating houses, lighting houses and streets, etc. Mineral oil is used in the smaller towns which do not have the plants to produce combustible gas. The newly settled cities in the West have mostly electric lighting. Electric lights are occasionally seen also in the old cities in the East. The domestic arrangements for cooking and dining are like those of the Europeans . The white cloths spread on tables at mealtime; the white napkins for wiping the hands and mouth while eating; the towels for wiping hands...

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