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“ ORDER IS HEAVEN’S FIRST LAW.” 
“Dear me, there goes the door-bell! Girls, quick, 
help me put this room to rights. Sarah, take the 
bread-pan into the kitchen, and Mattie, do arrange 
the books and papers on that table.” So nervous little 
Mrs. Watson bustled about, trying to do a dozen 
things in a few minutes, and, as a consequence, the 
front door was not opened until the visitors had rung 
twice, and were getting to be impatient. They were 
two young ladies and their brother from a neighboring 
house, who, knowing that the Watson’s had a young 
lady visiting them from a distance, had come to call 
upon her. 
It being a cold winter’s night, and no fire in the 
parlor, of course the callers must be shown into the 
sitting-room, which, it must be confessed, had a deci¬ 
dedly upset appearance. Little Charley, the five year 
old, had been building houses and then tearing them 
down, so that his blocks were scattered in every direc¬ 
tion about the floor, ready to trip up the unwary. 
Mr. W. had taken off his boots and set them carefully 
behind the stove, while he replaced them with his 
slippers. One of the boys had been whittling, and 
the chips had flown hither and yon. Some one had 
brought in a quantity of stockings to be mended, 
thrown them into a chair, and there they still lay. In 
fact, the chairs had to be cleared of their contents 
before there were enough for the use of the company. 
The sewing machine had almost disappeared under¬ 
neath an accumulation of unfinished work, an open 
piano was strewn with sheet music, and so on, ad in¬ 
finitum. 
But who does not know how soon even an orderly 
room will become disarranged after the family has 
taken possession of it for the evening? And in this 
case the room could not have been called tidy when 
they came in from supper. After the callers had been 
seated, and introductions given to the visitor, Miss 
Laura Ellison, Mrs. Watson felt called upon to apolo¬ 
gize for the disorder by saying it was the family room, 
and it was impossible to keep it tidy at all times. 
This created rather an uncomfortable feeling all round, 
most certainly to the hostess, and to the callers them¬ 
selves, who could not, most assuredly, in the face of 
the disorder, make any disclaimer to Mrs. Watson’s 
words. 
However, the conversation soon became general, and 
Mrs. W. having busied herself in picking up one 
thing and another, took Charley up stairs to bed. 
Mr. Watson had betaken himself to his newspapers, 
and before long, the young people had some music. 
Then the callers took their leave, and, after lingering 
by the fire a few minutes, Mattie proposed retiring. 
“ For see, girls,” said she, “ it is after ten o’clock, and 
I for one am sleepy.” 
So without doing anything towards righting the 
still disorderly room, she started upstairs, her sister 
and their guest soon following. But while preparing 
for bed, she remarked, “ I don’t know when I have 
been so mortified as I was to-night, to think that 
Louisa Ward and her brother and sister should come 
in upon us, and find us in such a heap! How do you 
manage, Laura, at your house to always keep every¬ 
thing in such nice order? If we could only have a 
fire in the parlor, and use it evenings, we never should 
be caught so ; but father thinks it is a great waste of 
fuel, and that is why we moved the piano into the sit¬ 
ting-room. Of course, in the evenings we do have a 
.warm parlor, we are sure not to have any callers.” 
“ It used to be just so at our house,” replied her 
friend, “ until at last 1 took the matter in hand out 
of sheer desperation, and by seeing to things myself, I 
generally manage to keep the sitting-room ready for 
company at any time. But it was only by constantly 
picking up and putting away, and by “line upon line 
and precept upon precept ” to the boys, that I could 
get them to look after their own things and put them 
away when they were through with them.” 
“ Well, to-morrow I will take some lessons from 
you, if you are willing,” said Mattie. 
“ Certainly,” Laura replied, “and, excuse me, Mat- 
tie, but I noticed both nights I have been here that 
you did not close the piano. Now, that is one of the 
things which mother required of me when we first 
bought ours, to see that it was closed every night, 
and at the same time, I put the cover on the sewing 
machine and lock it down.” 
“ That is a good idea,” said Mattie, “and to-mor¬ 
row I will begin to be orderly. But I am too sleepy 
to talk or even to think any more.” 
True to her promise, Mattie began after breakfast 
the next morning her task of “arranging things.” In 
the first place she attacked the sewing machine, fold¬ 
ing up and putting in a large wash-basket in the 
closet all the unfinished work. After fastening down 
the cover she looked around to see what to do 
next. 
“ If mother did not have to have so many plants,” 
sighed she. “ They take up so much room, and there 
is not a window loft to look out of.” 
Here Laura came to her rescue by saying : 
“ Why don’t you get your father to make a box to 
fit before one of the windows, and fasten it upon legs 
like a table; then you can put in a layer of earth, and 
set the flower-pots in it. You would be surprised to 
see how many plants could be crowded in. Mother 
had one made, and we like it better than any plant- 
stand we ever had.” 
Mattie doubted if her father could be prevailed upon 
to make one, but said she would see about it. 
Just then Sarah said, coming in from the kitchen 
with a woful face : 
“We shall have heavy bread again to-day. It did 
not get a good start last night, for it had to be put off 
in the cold when the company came, and it has not 
caught up. But I have got to bake it whether or 
no before dinner, and trust to luck to do better next 
time.” 
Mattie looked at Laura, and said : 
“ That is another objection to turning a sitting- 
room into a parlor. A bread-pan standing behind the 
stove is a rather unsightly object, is it not ? But when 
the fire is out in the kitchen, what can we do ? ” 
Laura replied : 
“ That very thing puzzled me, too, for some time 
until I invented a crocheted cover for it. Mother 
mixes her bread in a large wooden bowl, and we draw 
down the cover, (it is scarlet and black), and then we 
have a cane-seated stool which we put behind the 
stove, and after the bread and its cover are placed 
upon it, it looks quite ornamental. The only trouble 
is, I have to watch when strangers are present for fear 
they should mistake it for an ottoman, and sit down 
on it! ” 
“ Well,” exclaimed the girls, “ you are a genius. 
Who would have thought of that but you, Laura ? ” 
“ Why,” she replied, laughing, “ I had so many 
times been mortified by that dingy looking bread-bowl, 
that I tried to think of something to hide it. And 
I made another knitted cover, smaller round, but 
longer, like a bag, to slip over the jar which mother 
uses to mix our buckwheat cakes in.” 
“ I will make one for mother for Christmas, if you 
will show me how, Laura,” said Mattie. 
. “ With pleasure,” replied Laura, “ and if you have 
any flower-pots that look shabbily, I can show you 
how to make some pretty covers for them out of bed¬ 
ticking and blue or scarlet worsted braid.” 
So Mattie was fairly started in the good work of 
keeping things in order. Her sister Sarah was her 
mother’s assistant in. the kitchen, but Mattie’s health 
never having been strong, she was spared any heavy 
I work, and had been considered the “young lady of 
leisure” of the family. But her new object of interest 
took up much of her time, and she did not rest until 
she had taught her brothers, what her mother, with 
all her desire for order, had failed to establish, and 
that was, that each one was responsible for bis own 
belongings. She looked up a pretty box for Charley’s 
| toys and blocks, which she deposited in a corner of the 
closet, and taught him to put his playthings there 
when not using them. 
Finding she could not prevail upon her father to 
help her in the matter of a plant-box, she saved up 
her money for a month, and then had one made to or¬ 
der. Mrs. Watson was much pleased, aud in “ the 
new departure ” all the family found themselves more 
comfortable. 
Mattie now has a house of her own, and it is as neat 
and tidy as one could wish to find. Mrs. M. H. 
HOME-MADE LOUNGES. 
Many pretty and useful articles can be made for 
home comfort and adornment, if one only knows how 
to go to work. Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, in the 
Christian Union, gives some instructions about mail¬ 
ing lounges and brackets, which we copy for the 
benefit of our readers: 
Very pretty and comfortable lounges can be manu¬ 
factured at home with very little trouble or expense. 
| If the husband or sons have any spare hours, or skill 
with saw, hammer, and nails, they can snatch leisure 
j moments, now and then, and make the frame; or, it' 
they are not skilful, a carpenter, in an hour dr two, 
could make it, and give it a proper shape to suit the 
part of the room where it will be put. After the slats 
are nailed on, if there is any place near by where a 
few springs can be obtained, they will make the 
lounge much more comfortable. Over the springs cot¬ 
ton batting, hair, or moss, should be laid, then a thick, 
strong canvas or bagging, that the springs may not 
wear the outside cover. When this is nailed down 
smooth and tight, taking care that the stuffing is 
spread on evenly, without lumps or hard spots, put on 
the cretonne chintz or woolen outside cover, and nail 
it down strong. Finish by nailing with brass or black 
nails, a gimp and fringe plaiting or ruffle to cover the 
edge, and you have a neat lounge, quite as comfort¬ 
able as most that you buy. Three large, square pil¬ 
lows, filled with feathers, hair, moss, or “excelsior” 
(a kind of poplar shaving made expressly to pack 
furniture in), and covered to match the lounge, are a 
great convenience for a straight lounge, placed, as it 
should be, close to the wall. 
Pretty and very useful corner brackets can be shaped 
and made without difficulty, and covered with em¬ 
broidery, damask, or reps. Round the shelf or bracket 
a piece of the same material with the furniture cover 
or lambrequin may be cut in points, or scalloped and 
finished with heavy fringe. These pieces are often 
beautifully embroidered on Java canvas, aud the 
brackets, when finished, are quite ornamental as well 
as useful. Leather work, or pine cones, varnished, are 
often worked up into very fanciful brackets, and are 
quite strong and durable. 
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