HELPFUL HINTS. 423 



For stoves and other hardware, S. B. Hubbard & Co. 

 will be found ready to meet every call satisfactorily. 



But for those who must trust to making the most of the 

 materials at hand, the following directions will be found 

 invaluable in creating order out of disorder, comfort out 

 of discomfort, softness and beauty out of hard, angular 

 ugliness, and plenty out of scant materials. 



And now let us see how to go to work to do all this. 



BED-ROOM FURNITURE. 



Suppose you have no bed — Avell, make one. Go out to 

 the nearest hammock and get some strong, ^^liable saplings, 

 hickory or oak, two for the sides of the bedstead, two for 

 the ends ; for the legs you want thicker saplings, sawed off 

 to the height you wish the posts to be ; if you want a head- 

 board, let the posts run up accordingly. Of course the 

 bark must be peeled off from the saplings before they are 

 fit to use. Into one side of each post cut a notch at the 

 height from the floor that you desire your bed to be — re- 

 membering to allow for the height of the mattress — of such 

 a size as to allow the side and end saplings to fit neatly 

 within them, then a few nails or screws will render them 

 secure, and if you have a firm foundation to work upon, 

 if the posts are stout enough, and if you can get an auger 

 that will bore a hole through them large enough for the 

 saplings to slip into, so much the better ; in this case, use 

 hot glue in the holes liberally before putting in the side 

 and end pieces. A light hempen rope run in and out in 

 a net-work from one end of the frame-work to the other, 

 tightly drawn, makes a first-rate spring. This is for a 

 " tural-lural" bedstead that need not cost a penny, unless 

 it is for rope and cutting the saplings ; but if you prefer 

 to procure lumber from a mill, the bedstead can be made 

 on the same plan ; in this case the rope can be dispensed 



