404 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
October, 1909 
Frieze: birds and animals of the house and farm 
of Chanticleer above the doorway and two scenes showing 
the little girl on the fence watching the pigs and the boy 
calling the cows home are shown in the illustrations. 
Another interesting series is that of the bedtime pro- 
cession, which is especially adapted for the sleeping-room. 
Then there are friezes of children’s toys, favorite animals 
and Mother Goose characters. 
There is a good deal of discussion as to the proper 
pictures to hang in the child’s room. Shall these be copies 
of real works of art? Pictures that are world-famous by 
their prominent position in art galleries? Or, shall there 
be simple subjects within range of the child’s comprehension ? 
My own preference would be for the latter, just as it would 
be to withhold the masterpieces of literature from children 
when their intellects are too immature to enjoy them. 
When a frieze is not attached to the upper third of the 
wall, a picture-paper may be pasted in consecutive strips on 
the lower wall to a height of five feet, leaving the space 
above to be filled with a plain paper, or the new sanitary 
covering in unglazed finish. 
If an entirely plain wall is preferred, some decorations 
are in order in colored prints, framed and hung according 
to the different spaces. A common mistake in hanging 
nursery-pictures is in putting up too many that are small in 
size and insignificant in detail. 
Stencilling is so much in vogue at present that its adoption 
on nursery-walls is often inquired about. It can be success- 
fully done by an amateur, and may be applied to a tinted 
wall, upon oil-paint or a plain paper. Its simplest form’ is 
as a border running under the picture-molding; or, it may 
be laid on in panels, according to the construction of the 
room. 
The furniture for a nursery can now be had in small sizes 
in oak, mahogany, bent wood, splint seats and wicker. Only 
a few years ago this statement would have seemed unbe- 
lievable, yet at the present time many of our large depart- 
ment stores have quite a collection of children’s chairs and 
tables. 
For a boy’s room the Mission type with leather seats 
would be the most attractive, and for a girl’s room some- 
thing of less heavy construction. 
A window-seat is always enjoyable for children who are 
housebound, but too often the seat is placed so high that it 
is not easily reached. If the board can not be lowered, some 
low wide steps may be added. 
When bookcases, cupboards and lockers are built into 
the nursery, due forethought should bring them within 
reaching distance of the children themselves to inspire an 
individual care of toys and other possessions. 
Some new nursery chintzes with Kate Greenway figures 
are attractive for bed-covers, curtains, box-coverings and 
screens, and in all the mirror articles for the nursery—china- 
ware, mantel ornaments, accessories for the toilet-table— 
if one is intent on keeping away from the conventional 
equipment for adults, there are very charming substitutes at 
hand. 
A frieze of many creatures 
