286 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



water will keep hot till the morning. This, of course, is 

 doubly useful when there are no fires. 



With all my recommendations about buying second- 

 hand furniture, of course I do not mean to include bedding. 

 I am old-fashioned enough to think that mattresses had 

 always better come, though more expensive, from the best 

 shops. If my general advice is to furnish simply, this 

 applies doubly to nurseries and bed-rooms. In fact, these 

 rooms should be of such a kind that if the surgeon or 

 nurse entered them with a view to an operation, they 

 would wish nothing altered distempered walls, white 

 or coloured, grave or gay, as suits the taste ; no carpets 

 going into the corners, but broad margins of painted 

 wood, white is the best. ' Oh, it shows the dirt so ! ' 

 says the upholsterer or builder. ' So much the better,' 

 should the owner of the house answer ; ' the dirt shown 

 on white is harmless and clean compared to the dirt 

 hidden by dark colours.' The curtains should be of 

 the smallest and simplest kind, hung on a brass or iron 

 rod, merely to keep out light or to make warmth ; they 

 should never reach to the ground, unless the window 

 does. 



It is a serviceable and clean plan to sew strips of 

 holland or chintz, which can be removed and washed, on 

 to the edge of the mattresses ; this prevents the house- 

 maid's hands from dirtying them. I remember the day 

 when all beds were covered with what are called counter- 

 panes, which were even left on at night. But these now 

 are universally acknowledged to be unwholesome, and, for 

 the daytime, they have been superseded by some coloured 

 coverlid. I like this coverlid, which keeps the blankets 

 clean by day, and is folded up by night, to be the hand- 

 somest feature in the room, though its material may vary 

 from the cheapest twill or cretonne to the richest needle- 

 work or damask-silk, old or modern. The walls can 



