FURNISHING. 59 



Plain "Turkey-red" calico, or pale-buff cambric, or 

 "chambrey" gingham, wadded and quilted, will make 

 a suitable counterpane, and hems and ruffles will be 

 sufficient finish for the shams, unless some neat-handed 

 daughter is ready to put the mother's initials in the cen- 

 ter with scarlet or buff embroidery cotton. 



Regarding these shams, a farmer's wife once declared 

 to me that she would have no " shams" in her house; 

 that their very name was offensive, and that when her 

 sheets and pillows were in such condition as to need 

 hiding, she could throw them into the wash and pro- 

 vide clean ones. 



Now, this is a bit of virtuous indignation altogether 

 out of place. Where a bed is used every day the pillow- 

 slips and the sheet that should turn down smoothly 

 across the top, become, after the first using, not soiled, 

 but rumpled, and covering them with smooth, crispy, 

 ruffled " shams'' that can be removed at night and kept 

 immaculate for many weeks, is merely a praiseworthy at- 

 tempt to make even the commonest things pleasing to 

 the eye. 



And now, with a small clock for the mantel-shelf, 

 which should be placed no higher than your shoulder, a 

 pleasant picture or two hung so as to be level with the 

 eye when one is standing, a wall-basket for newspapers, 

 and a rack for the children's and other books, the 

 Mother's Room is ready for occupancy. 



THE GIRLS' ROOM. 



Most young girls take so instinctively to refining and 

 beautifying their surroundings, that it seems almost su- 

 perfluous to offer them any suggestions. A writer in one 

 of our home journals speaks of a country girl of sixteen 

 who, with nothing but her ingenious fingers and twenty 

 yards of five-cent calico, made of her bedroom "a per- 

 fect bower of daintiness and purity." 



