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HOUSEHOLD ARTS. 
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There are many “ arts’' of the household to •which 
a thorough and skillful housekeeper must give atten¬ 
tion, if she would also he a home-maker. Home-mak¬ 
ing begins in the kitchen; and the woman who can¬ 
not manage her kitchen properly may grace her parlor 
like a princess, but the happiness of lier family rests 
on a precarious foundation. Opening the kitchen- 
door often reveals the temper of the family; for, if 
order and economy reign there, we may safely assert 
that the family is comfortable, nerves are not “ out of 
tune,” and that the necessary cares and duties of the 
house, and even its drudgery, shall not diffuse their 
unpleasantness beyond its walls. Let the routine of 
daily work go on without interruption as far as possi 
ble, that the methodical workers may not be “put 
out” and the mistress be saved much daily planning 
and talking. Let every useful article have a place for 
its own, so that every member of the family can find 
(in the dark, if necessary) the broom, dust-pan, 
poker, coal-hod, hammer, wrapping-paper, matches, 
lamps, strings, and tacks. Any woman can with a 
gimlet put a hole in a broom-handle and a stout string- 
through the hole; and there should be a box, in some 
concealed corner, where the family can put, and can 
find when wanted, broken shoe-strings, stout cords, 
tapes, braids, and strips of leather. These are often 
useful for various repairs and in supporting plants, 
shrubs, and grape-vines. Cotton twine may be wound 
in a ball when undoing packages, the paper to be 
folded smoothly and put in its place, till called for. 
Put away whole newspapers in a ban-el, in shed or 
cellar; all refuse pieces in another, to save time and 
handling when whole papers are wanted. Cover 
shelves and the bottoms of drawers which are used for 
food and kitchen utensils with papers, neatly folded. 
This will save much cleaning. Arrange kitchen furni 
lure to save unnecessary steps. Articles which can 
wait to go up-stairs or down-cellar lay down till you 
are obliged to go. Teach children and servants to 
avoid unnecessary steps in their labor and to make 
every motion count. The value of such habits cannot 
be computed. “ Load both ways ” is a good motto for 
liouseworkers. Let your brain serve your hands; 
your thought go before you. This makes your labor 
interesting; and when the mind is a co-operator you 
are no longer a drudge. Housekeeping becomes a 
fine art. I will not touch upon cooking, which in it¬ 
self is a profession. Excellence in that art is largely 
made up of, first, the ambition to be a good cook; 
then comes, naturally, a discriminating taste; study 
of results; attention to those small variations which 
affect results; judgment; practice. These things are all 
necessary and have an importance, to which rules and 
recipes are secondary. This art merits a separate 
paper; so let us go on to the dining-room. Keep the 
dining-table always set, if possible. It saves a great 
amount of time and labor. In summer a netting can 
cover it, to protect from flies; in winter, if exposed to 
dust, a white tablecloth may be laid over it. A home¬ 
maker should be fastidious about her table-linen. Get 
good, heavy, handsome cloths, and then take good care I sent some of the two-quart ones to the shop and had 
of them. As washing, and particularly ironing, wears ! them cut in %-inch strips, within one inch of the bot- 
heavy linen (in the folds), be choice of their purity. ; tom (he did not charge me, as it took him but a few 
Put napkins or even towels (white) under the children’s minutes, with his big shears); then, with a thick wire 
plates; and under the carver’s plate, reaching under the 
edge of the platter, put a mat of enameled cloth. Put 
table-mats (they can be crocheted easily and cheaply of 
coarse cotton) under all dishes which come from the 
stove, and place plates under pies and puddings; Doing 
this, your cloth, excepting accidents, will keep clean 
enough for anybody to sit at for two weeks. The 
heavy, handsome folds will be undisturbed and much 
labor and linen saved. This is economy for poor peo¬ 
ple, rather than to buy cheap, sleazy linen and wash 
two a week, as many do. The same rule will apply to 
stockings and shoes. Many buy cheap ones and wear 
old ones all the time. It is cheaper to buy good ones 
and take good care of them. This illustrates the ex¬ 
travagance which keeps poor people poor. Heavy 
linen need not be starched. Ironed quite damp, it will 
be stiff and smooth and the folds less obstinate than 
when starched. Besides, starch makes them wear out 
faster, to say nothing of the additional labor. Care 
should be taken to darn the first small holes with soft 
cotton. When worn out, they may be cut up into 
napkins and put under the children’s plates and chins. 
A sponge and towel should hang where the children 
can reach them, and the children be taught to use them 
after eating. They will not need teaching if the habit 
is formed when in their high chairs, never being re¬ 
leased from them till they are washed. I know chil¬ 
dren who think they cannot get down till they are 
sponged off, though large enough to descend ad libitum. 
A tape can be sewed to the sponge, forming a loop to 
hang by. A family of little ones can be easily cared 
for by having a small salver on a side-table, on which 
around the top, I fastened them in shape of a basket, 
giving them a curving slope. The end of each strip 
was securely bent over it, which made them quite firm. 
The next move was to paint them. We usually have 
a pot or two of paint in the cellar—mere remnants, 
which we keep in condition by covering with oil; and, 
as a brush is close by, plunged in a can of water, it is 
but little trouble to use it on short notice. 
For my baskets I took some mineral paint, that was 
left since we built our back picket fence. It is a 
brownish red, very dark. After giving the tins two 
coats and letting them dry, I wanned up my glue—I 
am never out of this convenient article—and lined 
them with anything that would best hold water. For 
one I used the old serge tops of my gaiter boots; 
another the crown of an old felt hat. Green moss 
from the woods is very pretty. When completed, I 
filled them with light, rich mold and set my plants. In 
one I planted a German Ivy. Being small, I coiled it, put 
a Dew Plant in the center, and some Creeping Charlie 
(Love Entangled) around the edge. In another I have a 
Smilax, with a neat little frame, and Sedum around 
the outside, the green falling down below the ends of 
my shelf. And I assure you they are very orna¬ 
mental. Last summer I had them hanging dotted all 
over my porch; which, together with other vines and 
flowers, made it a pretty little parlor in the afternoon, 
being on the east. 
I have made a long digression, for I was going to 
speak particularly of my sitting-room, the most home¬ 
like room in the house, especially since we have moved 
into winterquarters and considered more our comfort 
keep a bowl of water, napkin, and sponge. This goes I and coziness than display. Notwithstanding, some 
far toward teaching habits of cleanliness to children. 1 ornaments on the wall we think tend much in that 
They will soon hate to be dirty; consequently, avoid direction. In one corner we have hung all the family 
much nastiness. No one but a mother can caress a j portraits, and we have quite a little picture gallery. As 
child with dirty hands and face, and everybody will' these are more prized by ourselves than others, we 
like a clean one. ^ have given them our choicest place. 
Some pretty winter flowers and grasses are in a cor- 
I nucopia made of shells and cones, with a design in the 
1 center and bordered with the leaves stripped from the 
How beautifully the first beams of the rising sun 1 CQnes . all secured with putty, in which a little limber 
dart into the windows of my sitting-room ! They ; wag mixed, and varnished handsomely. Near it is 
come with all the ease and freedom of guests sure of a i a group of sma] ] engravings, framed in pasteboard by 
MY SITTING-ROOM. 
hearty welcome. They have often entered thus, and 
the green leaves of plants arranged on the shelves 
seem almost to laugh as they raise their tiny cell-lids 
and drink in the life-bestowing freshness. Pretty blos¬ 
soms take on a deeper hue and the twining vines grow 
longer. 
I am very careful to keep the earth in my flower¬ 
pots moist and light—stirring it frequently around the 
edges, but not disturbing the rootlets of any. My 
stand is in the form of steps, far enough apart to ad¬ 
mit the light between them; so that, by placing the 
smaller ones in front, all may be accommodated. 
clusters of acorns; the groundwork of putty covered 
with clover seed. These are, of course, varnished and 
are really pretty. 
Over one door is an arch made of autumn leaves, 
pressed and dried and then dipped in hot water on 
which some white wax was floated. And ab#ve an¬ 
other is a motto “ There is no Place like Home,” 
worked by my youngest daughter. We have also had 
presents of handsome brackets and vases; but the glow 
of the room is retained most, in a day of clouds and 
winter darkness, by a large oil painting representing a 
sunset scene of mountain, lake, and forest. The deep 
I have exercised some skill in the manufacture of green shadows in the water, and the water, and the 
rosy-tinted mounds, the grassy slopes, and light skiffs 
are so suggestive of a summer evening that we almost 
forget the outdoor elements. 
pots—if I may call them so — and many of them have 
been much admired. One kind is made in this wise; 
I had a quantity of old fruit-cans (which are not very 
easily wasted); so it seemed, best to appropriate them. 
Kate K. Warrbll. 
