a cheerless scam

"Aside from the question of health and personal comfort,
nothing can be more cheerless and depessing
than a room without a fire
on a winter day.
...
Without a fire, the best appointed drawing room
is as comfortless as the shut-up "best-parlor"
of a New England farmhouse (my emphasis)
...
a room is not really lived in
and its appearence of luxury and comfort
is but a costly sham
prepared for the edification of visitors."

Edith Wharton from The Decoration of Houses.


C - admonished

(shout out to Cintra, Wharton scholar)