THE CALL OF THE LAND 



To this for our present purpose we may 

 add cleanliness. Any bric-a-brac or adorn- 

 ment whatever which renders it hard to 

 keep a room clean is out of order and con- 

 tradicts the best taste. On this account I 

 would not use a picture molding or allow 

 any covering or ornament on any article of 

 furniture so constructed or put on as to hide 

 dust. I would eschew all carpets. They 

 are dirt collectors and germ breeders. Use 

 rugs if you can get them ; if not, bare floors 

 made as presentable as is convenient and 

 kept clean. 



Let us have no room, call it parlor or 

 what not, too nice for daily use. Any part 

 of your house good enough for you will 

 please your callers whoever they are. One 

 can suffer no more chilling or inhospitable 

 treatment than to be shown into the best 

 room of many a house. You feel yourself in 

 a strange place, cold, lonely, uninhabited. 

 Even if the room is perfect in its decora- 

 tion and appointments the effect of its non- 

 use is frigidity. There is, of course, no im- 

 propriety in making certain rooms finer 



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