28o POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



which is a real danger, they soon feel the heat, and that 

 warns them to keep away from the hearth. But it is 

 essential that the hearth should be wider than is usual, 

 both for appearance and safety ; and if a finish is thought 

 desirable between the tiles and the floor, a flat band, three 

 or four inches wide, of brass or iron looks very well — but 

 it is not necessary. The fire-irons should be on a stand 

 apart, or put against the chimneypiece on hooks, or in a 

 hoop of iron or brass. Nothing, of course, supersedes the 

 high wire fender for safety in nurseries and schoolrooms. 

 White tUes as a Uning for the sides, grates, and hearths of 

 fireplaces are not often used, but to my mind they are far 

 prettier than dark tiles, if the chinmeypiece is made of 

 light-coloured marble or white wood, as is so common. 

 The adapting and improving of what we find in builders' 

 houses is one of our modem difficulties. 



Mr. Morris is severe on pianos, and it must be 

 admitted they are very ugly, but great attention is now 

 being given to improving them. One simple inexpensive 

 way of doing so is to have the case very plain ; the 

 music-desk plain bars, instead of ornamental fret- work; 

 and the whole left absolutely without varnish or poUsh. 

 The housemaid's rubbing only improves the marking on 

 the grain of the wood. 



In London everything ought to be sacrificed to sweet- 

 ness and Ught. Let no one put on their walls or their 

 floors that which they cannot afford constantly to renew. 

 In an ordinary London house, merely keeping things 

 clean one year with another, inside and out, adds a con- 

 siderable sum yearly to the rent. 



I have found it very clean and useful to wash the 

 corners and sides of the window-panes with Sanitas, 

 especially in the country in spring. It destroys the eggs 

 of flies and insects of aU kinds, and in no way injures the 

 paint. It saves waste to lay on the Sanitas with a brush. 



