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The windows and Venetian blinds
are tightly closed, the door is tightly shut, and the best room,
that I am now thinking of, is, in consequence, always ready for
- what? for daily use? Oh, no; it is in every way too good for
that. For weekly use? No, not even for that - but for company
use; and thus the choice room with the pretty view, is
sacrificed, to keep up a conventional show of finery that
pleases no one, and is a great, though unacknowledged, bore to
the proprietors. Such is one style of best parlor to be found in
America; and though it is by no means universal, it is far too
general for comfort. A drawing room like this becomes a sort of
quarantine in which to put each plague of a visitor that calls;
and one almost expects to see the lady of the house walk in with
a bottle of camphor in her hand, to prevent infection, she seems
to have such a fear that any one should step within the bounds
of her real every-day home life. All this is absurd. No room in
any house, except, perhaps, in a very large mansion, ought to be
set apart for company use only. If a reception-room for
strangers is needed, it should be a small, unpretending room,
certainly not the most agreeably situated apartment in the
house, which should be enjoyed daily, for it is not the having
any good thing, but the using it, that gives it its value.
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