May, 1908 



AMERICAN 



HOMES AND GARDENS 



ML 



213 



The Sleeping Bunks Within the Room 



an indoor place. As two beds would have taken up too 

 much room, our cousin designed one for us on the principle 

 of ship's berths, one bed on top of the other. It is fitted 

 with good castors, so that it can easily be moved about and 

 its position altered according to how the room is opened. 

 A rough table, also on castors, and a deal form and basket 

 chair complete our outfit, as we do all our dressing in our 

 bedrooms. Each side of the dado is a seat, so that we are 

 quite able to entertain. The bed, like the sofa of the Ger- 

 mans, is considered the place of honor, which is always ac- 

 corded to our most important visitor. The walls inside are 

 matchboarded; we wished to keep them as natural looking 

 as possible, so instead of paint or varnish we rubbed them 

 ourselves with a little linseed oil, which preserves the wood 

 and is yet not at all expensive. 



"And are you two lone women not afraid of sleeping out?" 

 asked a friend. "Not with Tim and Ann," we answered, 

 pointing to our two trusty dogs, and we did not add that we 

 often wished them a little less trusty, and that they would 

 not guard us in such an officious and noisy manner from the 

 tentative visits of a robin, or be so loudly furious with the 

 inquisitiveness of a harmless cat. The birds, too, as the 



summer comes along, seem to make it their business that we 

 shall not miss the best of the early morning, still one soon gets 

 accustomed to the out-of-door sounds, and they only mingle 

 in an amusing way with one's dreams. The lower berth has 

 a little dark green curtain — our only one — that can be drawn 

 should the morning light be too bright, as it is more exposed 

 to the light than the top one. 



We have now slept out through a winter — with blanket 

 suits and hot bottles — and the difference it has made to our 

 health is remarkable, and we are getting used to being asked 

 where we have been for a change. As the weather gets hot 

 we intend pulling our bed just outside and sleeping really 

 under the stars, but quite near our hut, so that should the 

 elements not approve we can always just push it back, the big 

 castors making it easy to move. 



I need hardly say we have grown very fond of our garden 

 room, and much of our working time and leisure has been 

 spent in it. Our friends, too, seem to have enjoyed the 

 spells they have spent with us out of doors, and with our 

 children friends our makeshift picnic teas have been quite a 

 success; altogether our garden room has been a continual 

 pleasure to us, and we only regret the years before we had it. 





