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[First Prize for Best Article Household Topics.] 
HOUSE-FURNISHING WITH SMALL 
MEANS. 
Many young people nowadays, when they marry, 
board instead of going to housekeeping, under the im¬ 
pression that it costs less to board. I think this is a 
mistaken idea. If they are _ economically inclined 
they can get along better, and certainly be happier in 
a home of their own, 
even if they have to 
rent a small house, in¬ 
stead of boarding in a 
large one. There is 
my friend Kate Grant, 
who was married a 
year ago and went to 
housekeeping. Her 
father is a well-to-do 
merchant, and gave 
her a pretty French- 
roofed cottage for a 
wedding - gift, and it 
was planned to suit 
her idea's of conveni¬ 
ence. It is not every 
girl who is so fortun¬ 
ate, I know; still, any 
girl can make a great 
many things to beau¬ 
tify a home, even if 
she does not own a 
house. Kate had some 
money laid by, as she 
had taught school sev¬ 
eral years. Her hus¬ 
band had just started 
in business, and needed 
all his money to invest 
in it; so they wished 
to be economical in 
their furnishing. 
Kate set her wits at 
work to see how many 
pretty things she could 
make to beautify her 
house without laying 
out much money. How 
well she succeeded you 
must judge, when I 
describe them. But 
first let me describe 
the house. It stands 
back from the street 
about twenty-live feet, 
giving room for some 
nice flower-beds cut in 
the grass. The front 
door is in the centre of 
the house, with a cosy 
little porch covered 
with Woodbine and Madeira vine; and I must just 
stop to speak of the beautiful contrast of the Wood¬ 
bine, just turning red, and the Madeira vine, still a 
bright green, with its feathery blossoms. The par¬ 
lor is on the right-hand side, sitting-room on the left, 
a bay-window in each; the dining-room opens from 
the sitting-room. Now, I will begin with the front 
hall and tell you something about the furnishing. 
Here is a door at the right, opening into the parlor; 
at the left, into the sitting-room; at the farther end, 
into the dining-room. The stairs go up at the right 
side and curve around near the top. The walls are 
covered with plain drab paper; a gilt molding is put 
up next to the ceiling to hang pictures from ; then a 
plain green velvet border ; the same just above the 
base-board. The doors are painted a very light shade 
of drab, panels a little darker. The carpet is a green 
mossy pattern on a drab ground; stairs covered with 
the same with a narrow border. The narrow win¬ 
dows each side of the front door, have plain white 
Swiss muslin curtains. In every pane of glass is a 
The Children’s Hour. 
transparency, made by taking a piece of white tarle- i 
ton just the size of the glass, and fastening autumn ■ 
leaves and ferns, and then tacking them to the win-! 
dow at each corner with very small tacks. The tarle- '' 
ton does not show, and the leaves look beautiful 
through the misty curtains. There is a neat hat-rack, 
and a couple of rattan chairs cushioned with scarlet 
rep. On each side of the hat-rack hangs a pretty 
chromo; underneath each picture is a bracket made 
of pine wood stained and covered with cones ; on one 
a pot of Tradescantia, on the other Coliseum Ivy. 
Over the dining-room door is the motto, “ Welcome,” 
made of ferns in spatter-work. In the corner near 
the parlor door is a little table with a card-receiver on 
it, made in imitation coral work, of red sealing-wax. 
This hall looks very pleasant, and the carpet is the 
only thing in it that cost much. 
Let us enter the parlor. How pleasant it looks ! 
Carpet, curtains, and furniture, all seem to harmonize. 
Sit down in the easy chair and let us look at the sur¬ 
roundings. The room is about fifteen feet square, 
with a bay window 
on the north side, op¬ 
posite the door. At 
the right a window- 
facing east, and the 
mantle opposite the 
front window. The 
walls have the same 
drab paper as the 
hall, and the same 
gilt molding. J ust 
below this is a vel¬ 
vet border of a lovely 
shade of blue; under 
this is a narrow gilt 
beadiug for a finish, 
this is repeated just 
above the base-board. 
The paint is the same 
as that in the hall. 
The carpet is an Eng¬ 
lish Brussels; a light 
drab ground with fig¬ 
ures of blue, black, 
white, and a little 
golden yellow 1 , with a 
border to match. This 
w r as a wmddiug gift 
from Kate’s mother. 
At the window are 
plain white shades 
with drab tassels; 
over these, lace cur¬ 
tains looped back with 
blue cord and tassels, 
finished at the top 
with a plain gilt cor¬ 
nice. The lace cur¬ 
tains on the bay-w'in- 
dow r are put up next 
to the room. Half 
way up on either side 
of the casing is a 
walnut bracket; on 
it a drab flow r er-pot ; 
(Made so by a little 
paint, then a band 
of silver paper put 
around the top for 
ornament.) In it an 
English Ivy with tw r o 
branches, trained up 
at the side of the casing until they reach the cor¬ 
nice ; then across to the center where they cross 
and hang down, forming a prettier finish than a 
lambrequin, I think. The other window has a lam¬ 
brequin made of white tarleton, cut in three scallops, 
one large and tw-o small: then pressed green and 
bleached ferns pinned on, the edge outlined with 
pressed Hartford ferns. In the bay-window is a 
fernery, or greenery I should call it, as it is not 
under glass. It is made of an old-fashioned light 
