50 THE SMALL COUNTRY PLACE 



added to the white and stirred until the whole is thor- 

 oughly mixed. This is repeated until the shade is just 

 like the sample to be matched. If dry coloring materials 

 are used, each one should be thoroughly mixed sepa- 

 rately, with a little oil only, until smooth, then more oil 

 added and again mixed until it will pour, then it is 

 mixed with the white lead. 



No definite rule can be given as to the quantity of 

 various materials needed to produce certain tints, but 

 with a sample on a card or piece of wood one must keep 

 adding, little at a time, the colors that will produce the 

 desired shade. In testing a color, one must rub it thor- 

 oughly with the brush in order to bring out the same 

 shade as would be obtained by spreading it upon a 

 building. 



Popular Colors. 



Every few years certain colors are "in fashion," as 

 are coats, hats or gloves. Thus various shades of gray 

 were popular twenty-five years ago; then came the 

 browns a few years later; then buffs and yellows with 

 white or dark green trimmings; and at the present time 

 shades of green are much used. In the thickly-settled 

 village almost any of the above shades if not too bright 

 and glaring, smoothly put on, are in harmony with the 

 surroundings, but in the country soft colors of gray, 

 brown, or buff are more appropriate. White, the typi- 

 cal color of New England country dwellings, and some 

 other sections, is too glaring unless heavily set with 

 trees and shrubbery. While white lead is perhaps the 

 most durable of paints, it is easily soiled by contact with 

 trees, or by water running down from the- eaves, and 

 often it costs more to keep a house looking nicely in 

 white than in some other color. 



