CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION. 



215 



THE LARGER OF THE TWO PALMS 

 PARTIALLY BOXED FOR SHIPMENT. 



The room is blue and white and is not 

 beruffled, but made up on the simple 

 plan of straight lines. The paper on 

 the sidewalls is blue, the white ceiling 

 paper coming - down to meet it at the 

 moulding. There is no border except 

 in the window. For this I obtained from 

 one of the department stores a ravishing 

 strip of barn swallows. I bought more 

 than enough for the window, and cut 

 out the birds for a little flock on mv 

 white sidewall border. These I placed in 

 a little overflow group on the short side 

 of the wall to the corner, then as they flew 

 along the long side of the room I placed 

 them more scatteringly until I fixed one 

 bold leader making for the next window 

 as if to regain his freedom. The other 

 two sides of the room have no birds. 



Two of the window cushions are filled 

 with the silky down of the milk-weed 

 pods ; another contains the delicious hay- 

 scented fern, and the fourth sweet bal- 

 sam. I have here and there over a pic- 

 ture a dainty vireo nest on its branch, 

 and over the door some weathered 

 sprays of pitch pine, with the gray cones 

 still clinsfingf to them. The tiny home 

 of the redstart graces the corner over my 

 bed, and with a bunch of rabbit-foot 



that 1 was favored by having for a back- 

 ground to my plan a very dainty and 

 rather expensively fitted room. 



In having the bay window run up to 

 the second floor where my room is situ- 

 ated, I had the shape changed from the 

 conventional bay of the story below to a 

 square-cornered window to allow of a 

 window-seat long enough for reclining. 

 As I needed more book space I had a 

 bookcase built in at either end of the 

 seat. What would have been the lower 

 shelf in each case was changed to two 

 short drawers to avoid bringing the glass 

 doors too low. The window-seat and 

 bookcases are of birch and the floor of 

 oak with a beautiful inlaid border. The 

 large space between the window-seat is 

 a very convenient place for storing my 

 nature magazines, camera, etc. The lit- 

 tie drawers seem as if made for my bird 

 magazines, and among my books one will 

 find information on trees, flowers, 

 shrubs, mosses, ants, bees, and volume 

 after volume on birds, mv dearest hob- 

 by. 



TO 



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Q 



-***V 



"I HAVE CONVERTED MY ROOM INTO. 

 MORE OR LESS OF AN EDEN." 



