1900 
359 
A Transformed Farmhouse. 
Part I. 
Marcia stood in the door of the “best 
room,” surveying L thoughtfully. She 
had been graduated from college the 
week before and was going to teach in 
the village in the Autumn. Meanwhile, 
she was expecting a class-mate to visit 
her, and She was trying to look at the 
farmhouse with another’s eyes. The 
best room was dark. Marcia raised the 
window with difficulty. The blinds also 
stuck, as though their hinges had rusted 
fast, hut the light streamed in at last. 
Marcia sat down and looked about her. 
She saw a brown ingrain carpet, a wal¬ 
nut table with a marble top, on which 
reposed the family Bible and a green 
worsted mat, a sofa and six chairs, hard 
and slippery in stiff black haircloth; a 
narrow wood mantel with an ornament 
of waxen fruit under a glass shade, and 
walls of stainless whiteness, on which 
hung cuts of Washington’s death-bed. 
Grant’s family, a framed wreath of im¬ 
mortelles from the coffin of her mother’s 
aunt, and a couple of dhromos, "Asleep” 
and “Awake.” 
“Strange I had forgotten how hideous 
this room is,” she murmured, “but I 
have really never seen it lighted before. 
And then the best room of all our neigh¬ 
bors is just like it, and until I went away 
from home I had no other to compare if. 
with. It is a perfect nightmare!” 
She studied it for some time, and then 
passed out into the room behind. This 
was really the dining room, but as there 
were two kitchens the family usually ate 
in the larger and better one and cooked 
in the one beyond, and used this as a 
sitting room. It, too, was darkened, but 
she threw open the blinds and surveyed 
it. It was papered, and had a rocking 
cihair and a lounge, besides its dining 
room furniture; a pocket filled with 
newspapers hung on the wall beside a 
walnut bookcase. Marcia went back to 
the front of the house and turned the 
key in the hall door. It creaked noisily 
and yielded with reluctance. The door 
opened stiffly on its unused hinges. 
Marcia looked out into the little porch. 
She had never sat there. The family 
used the side piazza familiarly and this 
seemed strange. A honeysuckle climb¬ 
ed over it, and a sweet briar bush 
crowded against one end. 
“Here is some comfort, any way,” the 
girl murmured to herself. The air of 
the hall was cliill and pungent with long 
dead odors, yet the stairs gave a certain 
dignity with their slender white balus¬ 
trade topped by a shining cherry rail. 
Marcia left the door open and went up 
to the bedrooms. They were four in 
number. First the guest room, stiff and 
somber with an old-fashioned bed, bu¬ 
reau, dull carpet and four chairs. Then 
her mother’s bedroom; it was equally 
uninteresting, with walnut furniture, an 
elaborate patchwork quilt on the bed, 
and a few family photographs in oval 
walnut frames hung high on the walls. 
Marcia turned away with a shiver. Her 
own room came next, and here was a 
difference. True, the furniture was 
painted yellow, but her college acquisi¬ 
tions of pictures, flags, pillows, bits of 
silver and memorabilia of all kinds gave 
a cheerful air. “That’s not so bad,” she 
said. The room over the kitchen was 
used by the various “hired girls” who 
came and went. It, too, was stuffy and 
dull. 
Marcia went slowly down stairs to the 
front porch and sat for an hour with 
pencil and paper in her lap. When din¬ 
ner was over the tanner and his wife 
came into the dining room. The day 
was warm and they were glad of a rest. 
Mrs. Noble took up her mending-basket 
and rocked leisurely. While the farmer 
stretched himself on the lounge. Marcia 
drew a chair up to the table and be¬ 
gan resolutely. 
“Father, I want to talk something over 
with you and Mother. You see, I am 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER; 
through college now, and I’ve come 
home to stay, and I want some of the 
girls to visit me; you know Eva Wins 
low promised to come next month for 
the first one. Would you mind it I fixed 
the house up a little before she comes? 
Of course I don’t mean to make great 
changes, but here and there?” 
Mr. Noble looked bewildered. “Why, 
I thought we looked pretty well, didn’t 
you. Mother? We was painted inside 
and out not long ago, and the carpets 
ain’t old-” 
“Oh, Father,” said Marcia hastily, “1 
didn t mean to do great things. Will you 
trust me and just let me make the house 
a little prettier if I can? I’ve a hundred 
dollars I earned by tutoring this last 
year that I laid aside on purpose.” 
“I’ve got most as much egg money 
myself,” interposed her mother. “You 
shan’t spend a cent of yours. Your 
father was calculating to buy a parlor 
organ-” 
‘Oh, Mother, how lovely!” Marcia 
burst out. “Not the organ, for I don’t 
want one, but if I can have that money, 
too-” 
“Of course you can, child,” said the 
farmer smiling. “I guess you Shall have 
as much as you need to fix the house up 
if you want to.” 
Mrs. Noble smoothed down her apron. 
“Mrs. Root has got a new parlor suit 
of red plush, and an art square she calls 
it in the best room. I think we can af¬ 
ford as much as she can!” 
Marcia laughed. “We’ll do better than 
that. Mother. We’ll have a really pretty 
house, the prettiest one around, if only 
you will let me do as I like.” 
“Go ahead,” said the farmer compla¬ 
cently, as he composed himself for his 
nap. 
Haine’s Corners was two miles from a 
large village and 20 from the city. Mar¬ 
cia’s first trip was to the former, where 
she drove in the buggy, followed by the 
hired man upon a wagonload of furni¬ 
ture. The proprietor of the store was 
horrified to find that Farmer Noble 
wished to sell his walnut chairs and 
table, and three ingrain carpets. “Just 
as good as new,” he exclaimed. “What 
in the world-” 
“It’s just to please me, Mr. Stacy,” 
Marcia smiled, and before he knew what 
he was doing he had bought and paid 
for the entire load. The next day she 
went to the city and spent the money 
and more besides. 
It was not long before the farmhouse 
was transformed. Every door and win¬ 
dow was open wide, protected by wire 
screens. The front porch was adorned 
with easy chairs and a low table piled 
with magazines. The sweet breath of 
the roses filled the hall in the place of 
the former damp and musty odors, and 
its walls were hung with an apricot in¬ 
grain paper, which softened the light 
and made its width apparently greater. 
Marcia had hesitated whether or not 
to permit the dull ingrain carpet to re¬ 
main here, but had decided to do so, lay - 
ing over it an odd, bright square rug 
she had found in an auction room for 
a small sum. There had been a queer 
collapsible hatrack suspended by pegs. 
This Marcia discarded. In its place she 
took her grandmother’s long mirror 
from the dining room wall and hung it 
up, turning it sidewise. The old gilt 
frame looked a little worn, but the effect 
was good. Beneath it she put one of her 
purchases, a simple, narx*ow table of 
good shape; the hair cloth sofa from the 
best room, stood across the end of the 
hall, but so altered by an Italian blan¬ 
ket thrown across it and two large, 
bright pillows that one would not recog¬ 
nize it. She sighed delightedly as she 
looked around, when She had put on the 
last touch; she decided on a final tour 
of inspection and ascended the stairs.— 
American Kitchen Magazine. 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs.Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
Two Home Suggestions. 
A Crazy Rug. —I nad numerous pieces 
of Brussels and Moquette carpeting, also 
one good-sized three-cornered piece of 
beautiful Axminster. No one of these 
was large enough fo- any use alone, save 
the Axminster. I wanted a large rug 
for my little reception hall, so I sewed 
these pieces together crazy fashion. It 
was not an easy task, but doing a little 
at a time I accomplished it in a few 
days. I lined it with burlap, and bound 
all around with strips of dark green 
broadcloth. It contains 21 pieces, and 
is very pretty. 
Improvised Curtain Stretcher.— 
Where one has no curtain stretchers for 
drying curtains, a very good substitute 
is the old-fashioned quilt frames. Those 
I saw in use were neatly wound with 
Strips of White cloth, and the curtains 
tacked here and there to this cloth. 
Three curtains (lace) were tacked on 
one side of the frames, then frames 
turned over, and three put on the other 
side. When the curtains were dry and 
taken from the frames they looked as 
well as if dried on a patent arrange¬ 
ment. MRS. FREDERICK C. JOHNSON. 
Suggestions iu Metal Cleaning. 
If your silver spoons have become 
stained by medicine, you will need sul¬ 
phuric acid to remove the stains, says 
the New York Sun. Pour a little of the 
much-diluted sulphuric acid into a cup 
and place the spoon in it, letting it re¬ 
main for a very short time. Then, the 
stain having disappeared, wash the sil¬ 
ver in hot water. 
After rinsing in water, silver articles 
as well as all gold and silver ornaments 
are best dried in warm boxwood dust 
kept in a drawer or box with a tightly- 
fitting lid. All superfluous water may 
first be removed by swinging the object 
briskly through the air. This boxwood 
dust is what jewelers use to dry orna¬ 
ments that have been washed in either 
water or benzine. After cleaning your 
jewelry, put u in the boxwood dust and 
shake 'the box containing it until no par¬ 
ticles adhere to the gold or silver ar¬ 
ticle. 
For silver lace powdered magnesia is 
the best cleanser. Where the lace is 
much tarnished, the magnesia may be 
put on in the form of a paste and 
brushed off when quite dry; in the or¬ 
dinary way tne dry magnesia may be 
used. The use of cyanide of potassium 
should be forbidden entirely. It Is a 
most efficient cleansing agent certainly, 
but it is also a most deadly poison, and 
should not be handled except by experts 
in its use. 
Sweet oil applied with a flannel cloth 
is the very best thing known for clean¬ 
ing articles of bronze. Rub the bronze 
with the oil until the dust and dirt are 
removed, then polish it with a piece of 
chamois skin. 
Young Girls 
How easy it is for young 
girls to go into the “decline.” 
They eat less and less, become 
paler and paler and can 
harldy drag through the day. 
They are on the steady down¬ 
ward course. Iron does them 
no good; strychnine and bit¬ 
ters all fail. They need a food 
that will nourish them better, 
and a medicine that will cor¬ 
rect their disease. 
Scott’s Emulsion 
is both of these, elegantly and per¬ 
manently combined. The Cod-Liver 
Oil makes the blood richer, and 
this gives better color to the face. 
The hypophosphites of lime and 
soda act as a strong tonic to the 
nerves. Soon the weight increases, 
the digestion improves and health 
returns. 
At all druggists; 50c. and $ 1 00 
SCOTT & BOWNE, Chemists. New York 
There Is every good 
reason why 
Si Jacobs Oil 
should cure 
RHEUMATISM 
NEURALGIA 
LUMBAGO 
SCIATICA 
for the rest of the century. One par- 
amount reason is—it does cure, 
SURELY AND PROMPTLY 
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Exceptionally pretty wash goods for 
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Department C, 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 
COE’S 
KCZKMA CUKE, J$1 at druggists. 25c. 
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SAVES YOUR BACK. 
Carpet laying— hardest and most 
disagreeable work of house-cleaning 
time—is made the easiest by the 
Positive Carpet Stretcher 
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Works perfectly, stretching the carpet to 
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