OSCHERSLEBEN. 
399 
square. Here and there buildings at the back of the courts have been converted 
into dwelling-houses, but this is exceptional. 
Turning from the court to the interior of the house, one is struck by the high 
degree of cleanliness which characterises the approaches of even the poorest 
dwellings. This is possibly due in some measure to the fact that the landlord 
frequently lives on the premises and has a small shop on the ground floor, so that 
he is able to exercise supervision over the whole house, while another reason is that 
the housewives each take a week in turn in keeping the common landing and 
flight of stairs clean. To the right and left of the street door inside the 
corridor are doors opening into the respective tenements. Opening one of these 
the visitor finds himself standing in the kitchen or living room, as the case may 
be, which communicates with each room in the tenement. The arrangement of 
a three-roomed dwelling varies ; sometimes all three rooms extend in a straight 
line, when the kitchen and bedroom are both very narrow ; sometimes the 
living room alone fronts the street and the kitchen and bedroom are at the back ; 
whilst occasionally living room and bedroom are to the front and a common 
kitchen, shared by two households, is at the back. The same general arrange 
ment holds good for the dwellings in the upper storeys. Often the kitchen can 
only by courtesy be called a room, especially in the older and cheaper dwellings. 
Meals cannot be taken in it as it is much too small, and the floor is usually of 
brick and not always very even. The dimensions vary from 6 feet 6 inches to 
12 feet 3 inches long by 5 feet 7 inches to 8 feet 2 inches broad in the older 
houses, and 13 feet to 16 feet 6 inches long by .8 feet 2 inches toll feet 6 inches 
broad in the newer ones. 
The kitchen of a poor tenement presents a very bare appearance. A few 
enamelled cooking utensils hang from nails on the wall, but it is otherwise quite 
devoid of furniture. Neither stove nor kitchen range is found in it, but a 
primitive brick structure with two wells, one small and one large, covered with 
iron plates let into the top. The large well serves as an oven, which is heated 
with coke. An iron grating across the bottom serves to hold the cooking pans. 
It is evident that such a method of cooking can have but one recommendation, 
viz., that of cheapness. The coke used is the residue of the soft lignite coal, 
found in the neighbourhood, after paraffin and other substances have been 
extracted. It resembles coal dust in appearance and as it smoulders very slowly 
it makes a cheap fuel. Housewives maintain that they can cook everything 
they require for a whole week for a family of four persons at the cost of 3^d. 
which is the price of \ cwt. 
The living room in the older type of house measures 9 feet 9 inches to 
11 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 9 inches toll feet, and is lighted by two windows 
varying from 3 feet 3 inches to 4 feet 9 inches high and from 2 feet 3 inches to 
3 feet 3 inches broad. The height of the rooms in general is about 6 feet 
6 inches. The tall stove standing in one corner is invariably made of iron. 
The dwellings have frequently a somewhat neglected appearance, owing no 
doubt to the fact that so many women are engaged in the factories and 
workshops. 
The bedroom in all these poorer houses is a small room 11 feet 6 inches by 
9 feet 9 inches with unpapered walls, lighted by one small window, and having 
a very cheerless aspect. Often the floor is of cement and the ceiling unplastered. 
Three small narrow beds crowded together is a common sight. 
The more modern working-class house has precisely the same general 
arrangement of dwellings, rooms, court, &c., as the foregoing. The dimensions 
are however larger, the living room measuring from 13 feet to 14 feet 9 inches 
by 9 feet 9 inches to 13 feet, the bedroom 13 feet to 14 feet 9 inches by 11 feet 
6 inches, and the kitchen 14 feet 9 inches by 6 feet 6 inches to 7 feet 10 inches. 
In this class of dwelling the kitchen floor is boarded and the room itself better 
furnished; cooking utensils hang from brackets on the walls, a small cupboard 
contains the household china, and the presence of table and chairs shows that 
the room is used for meals. What is elsewhere the living room now attains the 
dignity of a parlour, with neat polished furniture and many small ornaments. 
The bedroom, however, even in this better class of dwelling is remarkably bare 
and seldom contains more than the necessary small beds and one or two chairs.