196 TJie Farmstead 



titles against a soft background. Nothing either 

 in form or color should "stick out." 



If the general principles just laid down be 

 applied to the details of house furnishing, we 

 shall find that many matters must be changed. 

 Since the housewife must usually do her own 

 work with very little or, at most, inadequate 

 help, everything should be planned to save her 

 strength. If we remember, also, that the first 

 effort of good housekeeping is to keep dirt out 

 of the house, and the second to get it out at 

 once, it will appear that carpets are unsanitary. 

 It has already been shown that good fioors 

 are now to be had easily and cheaply. If prop- 

 erly painted or finished with oil and wax, they 

 form the best foundation for tasteful and cleanly 

 housekeeping. Carpets not only keep the dirt 

 in the house, but they involve that annual bug- 

 bear, house-cleaning. Even when the floors are 

 old and poor, the space around the edge of a rug 

 may be puttied and painted so as to look very 

 well when the rug is put down. By rugs, I do 

 not mean several little rugs, like oases in the 

 slippery surface, or at the doorways to trip the 

 unwary, but a good, generous -sized rug which 

 just escapes the edges of the heavier furniture 

 around the sides of the room ; which is substan- 

 tial enough not to roll up, and which is yet 

 small enough to be carried in and out by one 



