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If one’s house
must be small and the rooms few, still a hall or some sort of
pleasant vestibule ought to be afforded, rather than have the
living-room or parlor open abruptly into the open air. It is
good for family habits, too, that the children have a regular
place for hats and caps, and an opportunity before a hall mirror
to see that they are presentable prior to appearing in the
sitting or dining-room. Such little household regulations teach
children order and self-control.
This moral view
of the Hall brings up another consideration. There are many
kind-hearted, fair-minded house-keepers who regard the main
entrance of their houses as being too sacred for daily use, and
prefer that husband and children and intimate friends should
"run around" to a side or a kitchen door. This is a
mistake. Better live in a hut with but one entrance than have a
door-way too grand for those nearest us to walk through!
But these same
fair-minded house-keepers will exclaim, "Oh, it is all very
well to talk about the footsteps of those nearest us, but I can’t
afford to have my hall-carpet covered with mud every day and
torn to tatters in six months!"
Of course you
cannot afford it, nor can you afford to have your children
acquire the careless manners and habits that come of the
back-door principle. Have a door-mat at the hall door, and teach
little feet to respect it.
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