180 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. Doc. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR FUENISHING AND DECORATING 



COUNTRY HOMES. 



By LAURA M. DICKIE, Homer City, Pa. 



In a western town there is situated a college for young men and 

 women in which appears this significant motto: "The honor of a 

 house is hospitality; the blessing of a house is piety; the happiness 

 of a house is contentedness; the ornament of a house is cleanliness." 

 With this ornament lacking it will not be the abode of health and 

 comfort. 



Then the first consideration of the home should be in regard to 

 its healthfulness. This is maintained when the household is kept 

 at its best. That "order is heaven's first law" has passed into a 

 proverb, and order embraces fitness, arrangements, simplicity, and 

 above all, neatness. It should begin with the cellar and end with 

 the attic. 



Every farmers' house should have a good cellar — one that will 

 withstand the cold of winter and the heat of summer. There should 

 be an outside doorway and also an entrance from the kitchen. 



Now, we pass to the kitchen. Here we should find a good range, 

 a table and chairs, a sink placed underneath pipes that carry the 

 water into the kitchen, a cupboard well supplied with cooking uten- 

 sils, and on the floor a good rag carpet. 



Off from the kitchen should be a panti'y containing flour bins, 

 shelving for canned fruit, etc., and a cupboard for aprons and tea- 

 towels. 



Every farmer's house should have a dining room. This should 

 be an airy room — one that can be kept cool in summer and clear of 

 annoying flies. This room does not require a great deal of furniture, 

 but what there is should be of the most substantial kind. It may 

 contain in addition to table and chairs, a china closet and side- 

 board. 



Whether a hard wood floor should be bare or carpeted is a question 

 on which housekeepers do not agree. The cleanliness of the bare 

 floor is an argument in its favor, but many prefer carpet as it dead- 

 ens the sound of footsteps. 



The living room or sitting room, as it is commonly called, should 

 be the most attractive place in the house. All the furnishings 



