DOMESTIC ECONOMY, HYGIENE, DIETETICS. 



433 



cabinet (if it is tasteful, which not one in a 

 hundred is), laden with good bric-a-brac. What- 

 ever is done, don't let the piano stand in front 

 of this spot and obliterate it. 



The Library. The main economical 

 question is, doors or no doors to the bookcases. 

 Doors nearly double the cost, and the books 

 will do very well without them, especially if 

 a strip of leather depend over their tops from 

 the shelf above. "Pinked" edges on this 

 strip will curl up, but gilt lines have a pleasant ! 

 effect. Library furniture is best covered in | 

 leather green or dark brown. Here one 

 conies to read, and the eye should not be 

 wooed from its work by any dashes of impor- 

 tunate color. 



The Dining' Room. Probably there is 

 no better test of the refinement of a family 

 than the relation of its dining room to the rest 

 of the house. If the family meal is regarded 

 as a mere feeding, the place where it is taken 

 will plainly show the fact. If the meal be a 

 cheerful household ceremony, where the best 

 qualities of head and heart engage, and to 

 which the most honored friends are gathered, 

 these facts, too, will be indicated by/the room. 

 The piece of furniture that makes or mars the 

 dining room is the sideboard, or buffet, as we 

 seem to be in the way of calling it now. 

 With a good substantial table and chairs (the 

 latter cushioned if it can possibly be afforded) , 

 any amount of effect can be added to the buffet 

 without its appearing to overshadow the rest, 

 and every feature will tell. If you cannot have 

 an elaborate one, you will not be in bad taste 

 with one of simple outline. When people are 

 at table, they see neither the table nor the 

 chairs, but they do see the buffet. If you 

 can cover it with ancestral plate, very good ; 

 but if you cannot, it may, perhaps, be made to 

 look as well with bright china, glass, Japanese 

 lacquer-work, and flowers (never artificial 

 ones). Don't have a marble top, it will 

 "chip" glass articles with angular bottoms. 

 Many a fine piece has been thus gradually 

 spoiled, and the cause not realized. 



Bedrooms. As far as decorative effect 

 goes, the thing of least importance in a bed- 

 room is the bed. Generally, the more the 

 cabinetmaker does to it, the uglier he gets it, 

 and, even if he gets it pretty, those who lie 

 upon it do not see it, and when not lying upon 

 it, their attention is more apt to be directed to 

 another article, which is the real center of bed- 

 room effect, namely, the dressing bureau. This 

 generally stands in the same important spot 

 between the windows that has been enlarged 

 upon in treating of the parlor. Hence, if you 

 are not rich, get a plain bedstead and spend 

 your spare money on the bureau. Don't over- 



look brass bedsteads. It is to be hoped that 

 they will soon be cheaper than at this writing. 

 Nothing need be better. 



Wardrobes are not generally included in 

 bedroom suites ; but if they cannot be found 

 to match, may be made to order. 



Nursery. Don 't have a carpet. It always 

 will smell. Lay the floor in hard wood if you 

 can possibly afford it ; the cheaper wood car- 

 peting can be made to do. In the middle of 

 the room have a woolen drugget, fastened at 

 the corners by movable nails, so it can be 

 taken up and shaken daily, and washed often. 



Don't have curtains to the windows. The 

 children while awake need every ray of light 

 they can get. Have thick, dark-green shades, 

 though, to shut out all light while they are 

 napping. A low table, six or eight feet long 

 by two wide, is a grand thing for a nursery. 

 The children will handle many toys on it 

 instead of cultivating round shoulders on the 

 floor. Let its legs fold against it so that it 

 can be laid against the wall when room for 

 romping is needed. The height of your chair 

 seats regulates the distance your children shall 

 tumble from. 



Servants' Booms. Iron bedsteads are 

 the thing. They are durable and do not 

 make good nests for bugs. Bureau washstands 

 economize space. The room is not to be oc- 

 cupied much ; it ought to be comfortable 

 though, and decent enough to attract servants 

 who are decent. Bright, broad coloring in 

 the carpetr will do much to obviate a cheerless 

 look. 



Gas Fixtures do more to make or mar a 

 room than almost anything else. We do not 

 mean that the chandelier should be so gaudy 

 as to be the only thing visible in the room, 

 but that it should cost enough to be good. 

 This is too often lost sight of, and some people 

 even economize on the gas fixtures which 

 never wear out, rather than on the carpets and 

 upholstery, which do. Most people do worse, 

 however, by buying abominable angular cast 

 metal concerns, or those with curved glass 

 tubes which threaten breakage if you look at 

 them. The basis of most good metal chande- 

 liers is wrought tubing, and of most good glass 

 or earthenware ones, vases, or plates around 

 or through which the gas is conveyed in 

 metal tubes. A room in Brussels and worsted 

 reps with a good chandelier will have treble 

 the effect of a room in moquette and brocatelle 

 with a poor chandelier. 



Common gas fixtures can be refinished for 

 about one third of their cost, and changed 

 from gilt to bronze or steel or oxidized silver, 

 if desirable. The better ones of honest brass 

 are generally covered with lacquer, and need 



