1807.] 
AMKRicAN ACTiircnji/njuis'r. 
331 
HD'USEH(D)1!D„ 
(J yor oUf^r JJ'‘iin.\<>lU sM " Jiitukei " pages.) 
Dashes at House-Keeping with a Free 
Pencil. 
ritIZK BY JH:‘3 HVA M. COLL1N3, UOC1IE3TER. 
THE PLAY-KOUM MADE OYEIt. 
.Tomiic thinks she is ^ettin^ to be too large a girl 
to liavc a jiluy-rooiii any longer, and quite surprised 
me a few days ago by asking if I could not help her 
convert it iuto a spare bedroom for her. Little 
Fig. 1.— 1‘LAY-KOOM CONVERTEp. 
consin Helen is eonilng to spend her vacation here, 
and prol)ably that was what put the idea iuto Jen¬ 
nie’s licad ; but at that moment tlie little black-eyed 
lady did not occur to me, nor did the possibility of 
bestowing any of our friends there seem very feasi¬ 
ble, so I could only echo the last of her sentence, 
*• l>eilro<>in for me,” as Miss Bct-y Lavender would 
have done. The play room is six feet by nine, or 
would l>c of those dimensions, only that achimney 
oecupii- a third of one end of the room, protrud¬ 
ing eighteen inches into the apartment, which 
inake.‘ it appear even smaller than it is in re;rllty. 
It was originally a large closet, but had been from 
time immemorial, so far as I am concerned, given 
ui> to the little girls for a play room, and liad now 
for Years bclotiged exclusively to the baby. And 
so the bjiby wanted to convert the play room iuto 
a spare room. ‘"Well I ' 
what next?” Where¬ 
upon little si.ster ex- 
]>1.lined her-elf. It 
would make such a 
nice little room.ju.st 
large enough for Ilel- 
ta—and herself—and 
very likely the spare 
rooms will all lie in 
requisition f>r larger 
coinj'any, especially 
while the boys are at 
home. She is sure 
she and Helen will 
like the room all the 
Jennie declares is just the thing, 
securely fastened over cleats with 
froct, and a cloth over 
the top, fig. 2. Over the 
toilet table and near the 
window we hung a case 
for combs and brushes, 
made of pasteboard and 
covered with tissue paper, 
fig. 3. I tell Jennie she 
and Helen will have to be 
very neat, or they will 
make a deal of washing, as 
It is a hoard 
a curtain in 
4.— BOOKC-VSE. 
Fig. 5. 
Fig. 2. —TOILET TABLE. 
better for its small size, and it will seem like keep¬ 
ing house In earnest to have the room where she 
h.as alwavs pretended to live, for her own. Dim 
vi-ioiH of the p..<sibillty of having to kike one of 
the children into my room had been hovering in the 
di tan< e for --v.-rd days, but this disposition of 
the jil ’.y-room dispelled them at once, though I 
should never have thought of it. Ralph was, as 
usual, our right hand man. He brought down the 
oldest cot-bed from the garret, and by shortening 
it half a foot, remove^ 
a large rent in the foot 
of the canvas, and made 
the bed fit in the short 
way of the room, so Jen¬ 
nie has still a pas.sagc way 
from the door to the win¬ 
dow, tig. 1, besides the 
Fig. 3.—TOILET CASE, each side of the 
chimney. In the space back of the door, Raliih has 
put up a number of hooks, and by hanging a cur¬ 
tain in front of them, it makes quite a le.-pecUblc 
wardrobe. For the other space, the one near the 
window, Ralph has contrived a toilet table, which 
everything in the room is white—beet, window cur¬ 
tains, wardrobe, and toilet table. Jennie thought 
she wanted a place for a few books, so we hung a 
little shelf, fig. 4, at the foot of her bed, op¬ 
posite the ” Lord’s Prayer,” which hung over the 
head of it. Then she thought “ nothing was want¬ 
ing but a light stand which would not take up any 
room.” Ralph has suited her exactly, llg. 5, and 
has made the bottom of the stand so much heavier 
than the top, that It will not easily tip over. The 
room is cunning enough. The small red and white 
squares In the matting look brighter than ever be¬ 
fore, and the view from the window is lovely either 
in winter or summer, as it looks off down one of 
the most beautiful valleys in the world. 
Two little sets of hands to keep out of mischief 
this summer! Jennie has a box at the bottom of 
her wardrobe, where I am to put work for her and 
Helen, as I come across anything that will answer 
for them, the only conditions being that no work 
placed in the box can be under¬ 
taken before the article under way 
is completed, except by permis¬ 
sion. Jennie, and I believe children 
generally, likes the plan of being 
obliged to decide for herself, and 
then of being held to her own 
decision, even though some different course may ap¬ 
pear more attractive. Grandmother has taught her 
that little girls who are driven about by every passing 
fanev, almost always grow up into wavering, weak 
minded, silly women, while it is the privilege, the 
ri-ht the duty of each little girl to grow into a noble, 
l^Tautiful woman. It will be entirely optional with 
the children whether any work in this box shall be 
commenced or not, but if begun, it must be finish¬ 
ed unless there is some very good reason why it 
can not bo done; therefore the pro’s and con’s 
must all be considered beforehand. This jiiccc of 
thick Bristol-board, six inches by eight, will make 
them a transparency to hang in their window. If 
I draw the design lightly with a pencil, they can 
cut it upon a board with a penknife, wherever it is 
marked, l>cnd 
all the points 
out, and p.aste 
a narrow ril> 
bon around the 
edge, fig. 6. 
Jennie called 
us last evening 
to see how the 
moonlight 
shadowed the 
grotesque fig¬ 
ures in the 
window cur¬ 
tains over the 
bed and wall 
The cross_ 
among the ^ 
leaves will ^ 
form an agree- ^ 
able variety, 
Here is a bun¬ 
dle of bright 
Fig. 7.—BAG. 
Fig. 6.—TILANSPARENCr. 
carabdc and silk for linings to muslin ’^gs, which 
have long been waiting to be made. I wiU rol 
the white cotton yarn with this parcel, and put it 
into the children’s work-box. A patk-rn m he 
roll fl'^ '1, ''ill show' them what this is intended 
for ’and please them better than verbal instruction. 
It ’seems a little sad to sec the play-room thus 
“couverted,” as Jennie calls it. I really almos 
wish I could have dressed the little iieople’s 
dolls for one more Christmas, in the iday-room ; 
but after all, Jennie is right; it is only tlie'])lay- 
room still in a different dress—not very materially 
different, because suddenly clothed anew. Heal 
changes arc slow in their growth, neec.-sarily, be¬ 
cause growth requires time. The little room will 
be the play-room pi’obably for some time to come, 
brothers! do not hastily wrest 
the play room from the chil¬ 
dren. It has a mission to ful¬ 
fill. It teaches them by con- 
sbmt practice how to make 
the most of every thing; to 
cover over neatly the most 
outlandish shapes; to make 
homely things pretty, and to 
sec all the naughty traits in 
themselves in their true light, 
ns they are reflected in their 
imaginary little ones. The 
lessons learned in the I'lay- 
room, more than elsewhere, 
are industry, patience, gentle¬ 
ness, economy, and accuracy, 
while the taste is cultivated, 
and affection sacredly cherish¬ 
ed. No matter if the hun¬ 
dredth attempt is still rude and 
unsuccessful, it is yet a step in the right direction. 
A suggestion now and then xvill not be lost. Ihe 
chiurmay be taught, but the le.^sonscan be learned 
only by itself. The most beautiful painting was, 
in its first stage, a mere daub, and so the child, in 
its first endeavors, can not be expected to fore¬ 
shadow the ingenious woman, Avliich, in a con¬ 
genial atmosphere, its mature growth may unfold. 
Leaves from the Diary of a Young House¬ 
keeper.—No. IX. 
PRIZE ESSAY BY MRS. LAURA E. LYMAN, STAMFORD, CT. 
Sept. 7th. _On our way home from our delight¬ 
ful visit to Mr. and Mrs. George, I expressed to 
Edward my unbounded admiration for a larmers 
life, such as we saw it in their establishment, and 
I thought over in my mind some improvements I 
mio-ht make in housekeeping, and especially m the 
care of my milk, cream, and butter. The secret of 
Mrs. George’s splendid success in the production 
of butter is, that she has every facility for preserv- 
in<>- nearly a uni orm temperature in every part ol 
he! dairy establishment, the year round. Since 
coming home I have endeavored to imitate her so 
tar as the arrangements of my house vill, a^ ye , 
permit I have no ice chamber for keeping my 
cream in as she has, but talking the matter over 
with Edward, he suggested that in one corner of the 
cellar the soil is damp and cool, and that a little 
pit might be made there to answer the purpose. 
So he Wok his spade and made a little hole 
about eight inches deep, where I place my cream 
iar and fill it round with the moist, cool earth, so 
that I can preserve it at nearly a uniform tempera¬ 
ture My last churning shovved the difference; it 
was as good Sept.'mbcr butter as I ever saw^ 
have also put less milk in a pan than 1 used to, 
and find the cream rises more pertect y. 
Sent. The past rveek has been a very busy 
one The apples and tomatoes are rii>eniug lapidly 
and must be cared for in their proper.timc; so, 
early and late, Sue and I have kept our knives m 
motkm, and in the evening Edward has kept the 
paring machine running. Instead of the old inode 
of qilirtcrlng »..<! «rl„s thorn, • .:« ""b “‘"‘"j'' 
them in thin pieces, uniform in thic mess, is a bet- 
lei'mid morJ expeditious way of preparing them. 
As apples, when dryln',^vcry readily absorb llavois, 
I have observed the utmost care m keeping them 
where they could acquire no taint Edwaul made 
me a scaffolding of hemlock boards upon u Inch 
spread some old sheets that were perfectly clean, 
and laid over the apples some 
serve them from the contact ot .nsects ol all ivinds 
These hot days of September I thougutbest t 
improve in drying tomatoes, in imitalion of dnei 
N. 
