FURBISHING. 45 



It is a pleasing fashion nowadays to have some color 

 about a bed in place of plain white. Counterpanes of 

 colored silk and satin are, of course, very elegant, but 

 th^y would be out of place in the simple appointments 

 of a farm-house bedroom. French dress cambric a 

 fine, glossy goods, costing about thirty cents a yard, and 

 sold in all shades makes very pretty counterpanes when 

 thinly wadded and nicely quilted in diamonds with a 

 sewing machine. In this room the color chosen should, 

 of course, be pink, and the stitching should be done 

 with precision. 



For pillow and sheet-shams select heavy bleached cot- 

 ton cloth, and make up with a wide hem and cambric 

 ruffles. The pillow-shams should be only the width of 

 the ruffle larger than the pillows, and the sheet-sham 

 wide enough to turn down two feet, or about one-third 

 the length of the bed. The sheets and pillow-cases may 

 have simply wide hems, as, if they are neatly made and 

 white as snow, they are quite beautiful enough. They 

 should be kept in a drawer with bags of rose-leaves, lav- 

 ender, or the aromatic sweet briar, and not put on the 

 bed until wanted, when they should be well aired to re- 

 move even the faintest suspicion of dampness. Fra- 

 grant snow-white "bed-linen" is within the reach of 

 almost the poorest housewife in the world, and makes 

 the plainest bed an inviting couch. 



In the winter, that comfortable article, a foot-blanket, 

 for wrapping up the feet on cold nights, can be made of 

 two yards of white flannel, bound about the edges with 

 pink cambric or ribbon. It should be folded and placed 

 across the foot of the bed. 



A common dry-goods box of the right size, when pret- 

 tily covered, makes a much more satisfactory toilet table 

 than anything that can be had under five dollars at the 

 furniture dealers. Select a box of a suitable hight, 

 about three feet long and twenty-eight inches wide. 



