Chapter XX · THE SUMMING-UP.

I have been so continually asked what is the very smallest possible sum of money that will suffice to furnish a little house for a young couple beginning life, that I have drawn up from actual bills a short schedule of the cost of furnishing the ordinary villa residence in the suburbs. But to this must be added quite another 50l. should the householder have literally every single thing to buy; for in this special house, as will be seen from the list, several rather important items were already procured, and wedding presents made a great and perceptible difference in the appearance of the modest ménage, as is fortunately generally the case with all young couples starting in life, who, if they are wise, will only purchase necessaries at first, saving their money until they are actually married, and know not only what their friends have given them, but also what the house itself really requires. There is no doubt, if this be done, the following will suffice at first; and on 150l. the house will not only look nice but artistic too.

Dining-room.

Bought of £ s. d.

A. and R. Smee Six oak-framed rush-seated chairs at 25s.7100

MapleMahogany table350

“Kidderminster square carpet1176

BurnettFelt for curtains149

WhiteleyFender076

“Fireirons096

£14 14 3

There were two deep cupboards in this special room, which rendered the purchase of a sideboard unnecessary; if one be imperative, I recommend the purchase of Maple’s ‘Vicarage’ suite of furniture at 20l. It is both pretty and good, I hear; I have not actual personal experience of it.

Drawing-room.

Bought of £s.d.

ShoolbredTwo squares of carpet3150

MapleSofa and pillows, covered velveteen926

WhiteleyFenders156

“Fireirons0150

SmeeWalnut octagonal table500

“Stuffed arm-chair5180

“Sutherland table200

“Low chair0166

“Arm-chair in rush &c.126

“Walnut and rush easy chair250

WhiteleyTwo low basket chairs100

“Cushions made at home0120

BurnettCretonne for curtains &c.1100

Holroyd and BarkerMuslin for second curtains0106

£35 12 6

I strongly advise in addition to this one of Messrs. Trübner’s excellent revolving bookcases, of which a drawing was made in my dining-room sketch. I consider no lover of books should be without one of these invaluable bookcases.

Best Bedroom.

Bought of £s.d.

MapleBlack and brass bedstead350

“Excelsior spring mattress290

“Hair mattress3100

“Bolster0176

“Four pillows (5s. each)100

SmeeWashing-stand550

“Dressing-table and glass550

MapleKidderminster square1140

SmeeTwo pretty chairs (5s.)0100

MapleBox ottoman2150

SmeeChest of drawers6100

BurnettCretonne for curtains0150

SmeeMuslin for ditto (4½d.)060

WhiteleyFender043

“Fireirons0311

£34 9 8

Ware was in the possession of the young people, but a nice set can be bought for 7s. 6d., and even a little less; glass jug and glass for 1s. 6d., at Douglas’s, the artistic glass-shop in Piccadilly.

Dressing-Room.

Bought of£s.d.

TreloarRug on floor0120

WhiteleyBath110

WattsDressing-table and washing-stand combined650

MapleWardrobe500

“Set of ware &c.086

£13 6 6

Spare Room.

Bought of £s.d.

MapleFive-foot bedstead250

“Excelsior mattress290

“Hair mattress3100

“Bolster and pillows (4)1176

SmeeWashing-stand550

“Dressing-table and glass, very deep drawers550

“Two chairs (5s.)0100

“Chest of drawers4100

BurnettCretonne for curtains0150

SmeeMuslin ““060

TreloarKidderminster square110

WhiteleyFender043

“Fireirons0311

“Set of ware050

£28 6 8

Servant’s Room (one Maid).

Bought of £s.d.

MapleJapanned bedstead0136

“Palliasse069

“Mattress0100

“Bolster and pillow090

“Dressing-table049

“Toilet-glass050

“Set of ware039

“Chair020

“Washing-stand050

“Dhurries for bedside0310

£4 5 1

Staircase.

Bought of £s.d.

ShoolbredKalmuc stair-carpet2150

MapleUmbrella-stand0120

“Hooks and rails for hats0150

£4 2 0

Kitchen.

(Whiteley for all.)

£s.d.

Deal Table116

Two Chairs (3s. 9d.)076

Three cups and saucers (2¾d.)0 08¼

Three plates (2¼d.)006¾

One bread-and-butter plate024¾

Two bowls004½

Set of jugs016

Bread-pan016½

Four brown jars0211

Two pie-dishes011½

Hot-water jug026

Slop-pail049

Knife-tray016

Egg-whisk007½

Fish-slice0010½

Mincing-knife014½

Sugar-tin023

Weights and scales0811

Pestle and mortar033

Copper kettle073

Two wire covers013½

Sweep’s brush for stove011½

Two stove-brushes034

Banister brush020

Scrubbing-brushes013½

Broom0211

Carpet-broom0211

Knifeboard011½

Two plate-brushes019½

Plate-polisher016½

Salt-box013½

Leather011½

Housemaid’s box023½

One fork-tin006½

Colander014½

Spice-box0111½

Cake-tin007½

Tart-tins005¾

Patty-pans006½

Meat-saw0111½

Meat-chopper0111½

Coalscuttle046

Coal-hammer0010¾

Coal-shovel023

Toast-fork006½

Pepper-box004¾

Tea-tray0111½

Paste jagger0111½

Two flat irons019½

Pail014½

Brass water-jug056

Japanned can0511

Two saucepans096

One saucepan023

One saucepan019½

‘Digester’0120

Basting-ladle0011½

Two tin moulds036

Oval fryingpan012½

Gridiron019½

Fish-kettle0311

Tea-kettle0411

Knives008¾

Dustpan0010¾

Bread-grater007¾

Gravy-strainer010½

Flour-dredger007¾

Pasteboard0111½

Rolling-pin019½

Steps053

Set of dinner-ware110

Set of tea-ware0126

£11 2 1½

Summary of all.

£s.d.

Dining-room14143

Two drawing-rooms35120

Best bedroom3498

Spare room2868

Servant’s room451

Staircase420

Kitchen things1121½

Dressing-room1366

£145 18 3½

Besides this we spent about 5l. on blankets and odds and ends; but all house linen was given, and several other things. However, the above will demonstrate how it is possible to furnish a small house on 150l., and have for this good, well-made furniture that will wear, and is not mere cheap rubbish stuck together to sell, and not meant to last.

To manage this satisfactorily it is necessary to keep one’s eyes open and know precisely where to buy everything, for locality makes an enormous difference, and different shops have always some one thing cheaper than any other establishment; and while Whiteley will ask 1s. 4½d. for the glass globes that cost 3s. 6d. at Shoolbred’s, Shoolbred will sell for 3s. 6d. a brass can that costs 4s. 6d. or 5s. everywhere else. To furnish cheaply and satisfactorily, therefore, one’s eyes must be kept open, and one must know exactly where to go for everything. And I may mention here, as a short and succinct guide, that cretonnes are cheaper and better at Burnett’s, King Street, Covent Garden, and at Colbourne’s, 82 Regent Street, than anywhere else; that Maple’s Oriental rugs and carpets, matting, wall-papers, and brasses are also the cheapest in the market. Wicker chairs are to be had at Colbourne’s for 31s. 9d., painted any colour with Aspinall’s enamel, and cushioned and covered with cretonne or printed linen; that artistic and beautiful draperies are to ha procured at Liberty’s and Collinson and Lock’s, whose dearer cretonnes are unsurpassed; that Mr. Arthur Smee’s furniture is the best and most artistic, in my opinion, in London; that Stephens, 326 Regent Street, has the best and cheapest Turkish embroidered antimacassars, and also possesses some beautiful and inexpensive materials for curtains—notably a cheap brocade that is made in exquisite colours and called Sicilian damask; that the brass rods and ends for windows are to be had cheaper of Whiteley and Colbourne than anywhere else, and are quite as good as the more expensive makes; artistic pottery is to be had of Mr. Elliott, 18 Queen’s Road, Bayswater; cheap chairs of Messrs. Harding Bros., Beaconsfield, Bucks; and for all gas-fittings I strongly recommend Mr. Strode, 48 Osnaburgh Street, Regent’s Park, N.W. I have tried all these firms for years, and am speaking of them from experience entirely.

It may not be out of place in my last chapter to mention the exact cost of setting up and keeping a carriage; for by the time my readers have come as far on their life’s journey as I have, they may reasonably expect to have the great comfort and luxury of a modest equipage of their own, than which there is no greater blessing in the world, and which I would rather cling to than anything else I possess, and which really does not cost half as much as the constant hiring of flys and driving in cabs which are so dear to the heart of the orthodox British matron, who goes on her weary round of society gaieties which she does not really enjoy, little thinking how much happier she would be spending her money in a thousand different ways.

But one must keep one’s carriage with common-sense, like everything else, and must not be under the thumb of one’s coachman, who must not be allowed for one moment to buy his own corn &c., as no class receives higher percentages than does the coachman who is allowed his own sweet will in matters appertaining to the stable. A widow lady who cannot well battle with tradesmen herself had much better apply to some good firm like Withers and Co., of Oxford Street, who for a certain sum a year, which varies according to the style of horse and man desired, will provide everything, down to a safe place for the carriages, which can be left unhesitatingly in their charge. But for a couple who desire to set up their carriage and do not quite know how to do it, I think the following will be sufficient guide for them:—

Estimated Cost of setting up one Horse and a Carriage.

£s.d.

Good horse (should be bought in the country if possible)5000

Set of good single harness (Stores)700

Brushes, leathers, sponges, &c. (Shoolbred)200

Rugs, rollers, &c. (Shoolbred)300

Brougham or victoria (Holland and Holland)17500

Coachman’s livery (Goodall and Graham, Conduit Street)10110

Boots—less discount (Thierry, Regent Street)300

Stable suit (Goodall and Graham)300

Mackintosh (Goodall and Graham)1100

Mackintosh rug (Whiteley)1100

Mats (Holland and Holland)1100

Carriage rugs (Swears and Wells)300

£261 1 6

Of course the carriage need not cost as much; but, if possible, a new carriage is to be preferred to a second-hand one. Still, at Holland and Holland’s, Oxford Street, W., one can often, especially at the end of the season, pick up a second-hand carriage very cheaply, and at such a place as this one can be sure that no rubbish is being bought; but sales should be avoided, as should advertisements, and if a second-hand carriage is necessary I strongly advise intending purchasers to go to Holland and Holland and ask them to keep their eyes open, remembering, likewise, that at the end of the season one is far more likely to do a good stroke of business in this way than at any other time of the year. In our climate, if only one carriage can be kept, a brougham is to be preferred to any other; this makes one independent of weather entirely, and one’s garments do not become as dusty and spoiled as they invariably do in an open vehicle. Once the carriage is purchased, we have to consider the cost of keeping it up, which, of course, varies considerably in every locality, but I think the account given below strikes the average, and allows the outside cost of everything. Of course, very often the rent of the stables is covered in the rent of the house, which includes also a place for the coachman.

Estimated Cost of keeping one Horse and Carriage.

£s.d.

Coachman’s wages (from 23s. to 25s., say)6280

Livery1300

Corn, straw, hay, &c.4000

Shoeing300

Repairs &c.2600

Rent of stable &c.2000

£164 8 0

‘Repairs &c.’ include ‘depreciation,’ which is calculated on 20 per cent. of estimated value of whole, less livery, otherwise provided for. Of course, a second horse could be added for about 40l. a year more, good double harness being procurable at from 18l. to 20l.

Passing from the carriage to dwell for a moment on the great dress question, which is a most serious one in these days of ours, I find I can really lay down no laws on this subject, but I strongly advise all young brides who cannot afford a maid to learn dressmaking for themselves, or to search out some place where, for a reasonable cost, the renovating of dresses and simple making can be carried on for her, or else she will soon find herself in difficulties. Her under-linen in her trousseau should last her ten or twelve years at least, and with ordinary care her trousseau dresses should, with judicious management, last her quite two years; this gets over the worst part of one’s life as regards pecuniary bothers, as a rule; but the less she can spend on dress the better, always allowing herself enough to look nice and be tidy on. A man can dress himself well on 30l. a year, and a woman can do likewise on 50l., but this requires, in both cases, the most careful management, while the average cost of a child is from 10l. to 15l. Women with small means will do much better if they confine themselves to one colour, and would look much nicer at a far less cost if they would only purchase things to match; but English people, as a rule, only buy things because they like them, never considering whether they possess already any garment at home with which the new possession will harmonise or agree entirely. Brown and red are good colours for winter nowadays when so many people have seal-skins; greys are good shades for summer, the ever-useful serge and washing silks looking always delightfully cool and ladylike.

Our book, now rapidly coming to a conclusion, would not be complete without one word about the ‘garret’—otherwise the box-room—which, all too often, is a storehouse for all sorts and conditions of rubbish, put up there in a desperate hope that, sooner or later, the odds and ends will come in usefully. There cannot be a greater mistake than hoarding, and I strongly advise my readers never to allow this to be done. If one’s clothes when worn out are not fit for one’s poorer friends, I suggest some respectable dealer should be applied to, and that they should be sold. I am aware this sounds an awful proposition to most people, but how rarely are our dresses suitable for those who would wear cast-off raiment? while, if we sell them, we can give the money in charity, or buy pictures or flowers for our rooms. Still, if this should be repugnant to the feelings of my readers, they can always send all their rubbish to the Kilburn Orphanage of Mercy, the good sisters there being able to use to the veriest fragment all they receive, and which does then immediate good.

Let the box-room or garret be thoroughly turned out and investigated once every three months; keep there all pieces of paper similar to the papers on your walls for mending purposes, and any travelling trunks or boxes that may be wanted; but do not accumulate rubbish of any kind. Even sentimental rubbish should be destroyed at once; when we die it will be done by hands which are not as tender as ours are, and no good is done by hoarding all sorts and kinds of letters and flowers, or even babies’ first shoes. They may mean life itself to us; they will be nothing but the veriest rubbish to our successors.

Standing as it were in the garret, our long work of revising and writing this book at last drawing to a conclusion, and feeling sad, as one always feels when parting with an occupation that has been on one’s mind for many a month, I should like to say a few words on that saddest of all subjects, a death in the house—only a few words; but a house that has never known a death is indeed an almost impossible thing to contemplate, and so our record would not be complete without this. Thank Heaven, we look out with brighter eyes on the other country than did our ancestors, but we have still many customs to leave off, many others we could adopt with benefit from the relics of past days.

I would advocate great cheerfulness about our dead. They should never be left alone, and candles and bright flowers should fill the room; where, had I my way, the blessed sunshine should stream in always, gloom should be discouraged, and the service with its music and the coloured pall should suggest not our grief but the gain of those who, even to the agnostic of the period, appear at rest, and can most certainly never weary or hunger any more; while to us who hope to look beyond these shadows their happiness should overshadow our grief entirely. Still, whichever way we look on the silence that surrounds our little life, there are certain things that I would urge on the survivors. Let all the personal linen and garments of the dead friend be at once sent to Kilburn, or to Miss Hinton’s, A. F. D. Society, 4 York Place, Clifton. These garments are distributed at once among the families of poor clergymen, and so immediately benefit a most deserving class. Do not permit any hoarding (I once knew a whole valuable wardrobeful of clothes consumed by the moth, because the widow’s feelings did not allow of the garments being disturbed, though they were not too acute to prevent her becoming engaged to be married before the year was out); and, above all, burn all letters that may be left unread; this will save endless mischief, and should be done at once. No one knows who may be the next to depart and be no more seen, and so this should not be delayed any longer than is possible.

It is far better to do these things at once. If we close the room in which our beloved have passed away, and think time will enable us to face the task with more boldness, we shall find we are grievously mistaken; the longer we put it off the worse it will be, and we shall not forget them any quicker because their own possessions have been given to those who can benefit by them. Each thing in life should always be in use; hoarding of any kind in a garret is useless, and wicked too.

And now I have come to the last hint, I think, I have to give my young householders. Of course, the subject is practically inexhaustible, and enlarges itself for one every day we live; but I have given you all my own experience up to the present date, and if it should save one young couple the mistakes I made in my first start in life, or give them the help I should have been so glad of myself twenty years ago, I shall feel I have not spent my time in vain; while let no one despise the homely subject, for it is our first duty in life to try and make our homes so bright and beautiful and pleasant that they may shed radiance on all in their immediate neighbourhood, setting the example that is worth so very much precept, and be like good deeds, ‘shining like a candle in this naughty world.’ Let love, beauty, carefulness, and economy rule your lives, O young householders! and then you will find that life is the most interesting thing possible, and is always, to the very last day of it, well worth the trouble of living.