•lufHripi iowi3 Pictoriiett 3HE 
ome ^omjmiiioii. 
[To this Article was Awarded Second Prize for House¬ 
hold Topics. ] 
I think I hear some gentle reader exclaim: What a 
homely subject! Granted; hut then you must admit 
that it is a useful one. Yes, from Miss MacFlimsey’s 
dainty hag of silk and beads, for gold and silver coins, 
to the coarse gunnybag of the old woman fishing up 
rags from the gutter, all have their uses. One bag has 
been made notable by Dickens: that of Miss Flite, filled 
with important documents and always carried by that 
slightly unsettled person. How could our grand¬ 
mothers have got along without their black silk bags, 
that held their handkerchief and caraway or dill on 
Sabbath days and knitting-work when visiting? Even 
lawyers carried their briefs in a bag. But there are 
bags and bags. It is of bags as conveniences in the 
household that I wish to write. Those who have plenty 
of closets, drawers, shelves, and hooks in the house—of 
course, they won’t need to read this; but there are many 
who live in rented houses, and especially those in some 
portions of the West and South, where carpenters seem 
to think that if they build a house with four walls, di¬ 
vide it into rooms, and put on a roof, their duty is 
done. No closets, shelves, mantels, or hooks. If you 
live in such a house, and don’t know where to put all 
the things that accumulate in a family, especially 
where there are children, then I want to tell you ho w 
a friend of mine managed. She left a house where she 
had plenty of closets and cupboards, and moved into 
one consisting of three small rooms and a bit of a 
kitchen on the ground-floor and two chambers and 
small store-room above. No closet excepting a small 
one in the bed-room, a small dish-closet in the dining¬ 
room. No mantel in the house. She used the front 
room for parlor and sitting-room; the next for dining¬ 
room and kitchen (bed-room opened out of this), doing 
the rough work in the small kitchen. Of course, there 
must he somewhere to put things; so she set about 
making bags and boxes, and, with the help of her hus¬ 
band and two little girls, made over thirty. Now don’t 
laugh, and I will tell you how she made some of them 
and what she put in them. Let us begin in the rough 
kitchen. Here are several bags, all made alike, of 
striped bed-ticking, gored toward the top, both edges 
bound together, and, instead of having a string run in, 
hung by two stout loops at the top. A slit six or eight 
inches long made in the middle of the front, faced; and 
a button and buttonhole fastens it, to prevent the con¬ 
tents falling out. One is for clothespins; one for pa¬ 
pers, bags, and twines; one for scouring-cloths, win¬ 
dow-cloths; one for rags. As there is no sink, a table 
has to do the duty of one, and a box, painted drab, 
with a hinged cover, lined with tin, holds the iron 
kettles, etc. A similar one holds the wood. Another 
holds the ironing-sheet and bosom-board, the latter cov¬ 
ered like a bag, to slip oil when soiled. A small box 
on the shelf over the stove holds kettle-holders, which 
are made with covers like a bag, so as to slip oil to wash. 
One more box holds stove-blacking, scourables, and so 
on. A large dry-goods box, stood on end, filled with 
shelves, makes quite a cupboard for tins and baking- 
dishes. One thing more—not a bag or box, but very 
handy—is an old machine-table. Where the machine 
part had been was a large hole, of course. This is 
covered with a thin board; another is fastened on the 
bottom and casters put on. When there are hatter- 
cakes to fry or any cooking requiring a number of 
dishes, there you have them together, and it can he 
trundled anywhere without effort. 
Let us step into the dining-room. Under one of the 
windows is along box, on casters, with hinged cover, 
covered with furniture-patch, stuffed on the top like a 
cushion, put on plain on the sides, and finished with 
a box-plaiting on the edge of the cover. Inside it is 
lined with paper and divided by a partition. One side 
holds face and dish-towels, the other table-cloths and 
napkins. Another made like this holds pieces and 
cut work, and various boxes for buttons, extra spools 
of silk, thread, yarn, braid, etc. The sewing-machine 
stands near; for this room is used for sewing, as well 
as for eating. Behind it hangs the scrap-bag, made of 
red yarn and white cotton, and over it the newspaper- 
holder. In another place is a letter-case. 
In the entry-way leading to the stairs from this room 
is a large pocket made of bcd-ticking, bound with scar¬ 
let braid and feather-stitched on the white stripe with 
red yarn. It has four places for slippers and rubbers. 
A similar one, only smaller, holds gloves and mittens. 
A painted box holds boots. Opening out of the din¬ 
ing-room is the bed-room. Here is a trunk, covered 
with cretonne, laid in side-plaits on the body of the 
trunk, fastened top and bottom with small tacks; the 
top stuffed like a cushion, with a box-plaited rufHe to 
finish it. This is used for extra bed-clothing. A 
long box, on casters, covered with the same cretonne, 
holds sheets and pillow-slips. Inside the closet-door is 
a large shoebag or pocket, made of buff holland, bound 
with scarlet braid. Above it one of same material, di¬ 
vided into four pockets, holds patterns for cutting 
clothes for each one of the family. The window has 
a lambrequin, made of the same cretonne as that on the 
trunk. The curtain is a yard wide, unbleached cloth, 
open in the center, and a stripe of the cretonne stitched 
on each edge. On the bureau are toilet-mats, boxes, 
and other things too numerous to mention. 
The room opening out of the diningroom, used for 
parlor and sitting-room, is made comfortable and pretty 
by home-made things, that do not cost much time or 
money. When my friend moved into the house this 
room had bare white walls. She coaxed the landlord 
to cover them with some plain drab paper, with a nar¬ 
row scarlet border. Then her husband put up a pine 
shelf on bronze brackets, for a mantel. She covered 
it with scarlet merino; made a lambrequin of the 
same for the front, cut in three scallops, lined with 
stiff cambric and trimmed with woolen fringe to match. 
Made lambrequins in the same way for the windows. 
Put them up over full white muslin curtains. There 
are two boxes, on casters, with hinged covers, stuffed on 
top and covered with scarlet merino. Outside they 
are Ottomans; inside they hold pamphlets and papers. 
An old-fashioned three-legged light-stand is covered 
with scarlet merino, lined with stiff cambric and trim 
some Begonia Rex. The pot is not a pot at all; but a 
med with same fringe as the mantel. This stand is 
placed across one corner of the room. On it is a green 
moss mat; on the mat a flower-pot; in the pot a hand- 
three-pound lard-pail, with handle taken off, a piece of 
cardboard fitted to the bottom, silver perforated paper 
fitted around it, worked with Romankey pattern top 
and bottom, and a figure on front. The top is cut in cas¬ 
tellated points. Above the table is a bracket, made of 
pine, covered with drab merino; and the lambrequin on 
the front is brightened with leaves of scarlet velvet, ap- 
pliqued in satin stitch with silk of the same shade as 
the ground-work, finished with cord and tassels. On 
it is a handsome China bowl, past usefulness on ac¬ 
count of a crack in one side (the whole side out, of 
course). It is filled with a thrifty Madeira Vine, that 
climbs around a picture above it. In front of one win¬ 
dow is a plant-stand. An old sewing-machine table the 
foundation, a box for the top, a board screwed on the 
bottom for another box to rest on, finished with cas¬ 
ters. The whole stained black-walnut color. Maderia 
Vines and German Ivy are planted in the lower box. 
Coliseum Ivy and Maurandya around the edge of the 
upper box, and in the center scarlet Geraniums and 
white Petunias. From the top of the window hangs a 
deep glass dish, enclosed in crocheted scarlet worsted, 
filled with Maurandya Vine. On each side flower-pot 
brackets hold Ivy and Madeira Vines. I have only 
room to mention the gray and scarlet carpet, furniture- 
covers of scarlet and gray cretonne, table-cover of drab 
ladies’ cloth, embroidered in appliqued work, fern- 
holders, newspaper-holders, etc. Up-stairs in the lit¬ 
tle girl’s room are boxes, covered similar to those down¬ 
stairs, for clothing. A bottomless cane-seat chair, by 
fitting a stout bag inside, makes a nice place for shoes. 
Where the seat should be is a board, covered, stuffed, 
and trimmed, with a flounce nearly reaching to the 
floor. The toilet-table across one corner is made of a 
clean flour-barrel, with a triangular piece of board fit¬ 
ted to it, rounded on front, covered with cretonne, a 
full curtain to reach the floor, finished at the edge of 
the hoard with a box plaiting. This barrel is nice to 
put clothes in not used often. A looking-glass is fastened 
above the table and draped with the cretonne. In the 
opposite corner is a wash-stand, made in the same man¬ 
ner; only the top of the table is covered with marbled 
oil-cloth and a splash-cloth of the same behind it. 
But I am at the end of my paper and your patience, 
I fear; so I will stop right here. 
M. J. W. P. 
A Clear Complexion. —If once a week or twice 
you will take warm water and a little white Castile 
soap, with soft flannel rub it carefully on every part of 
the face, then as carefully off with clean water; and 
if every morning you will use this same flannel—not 
with one hasty flourish, but with gentle rubbing for a 
minute or two—you will see improvement in the clean¬ 
liness of your complexion very soon. 
To Prevent Mildew on Preserves.— Take the 
white of an egg and wet slightly both sides of a piece 
of letter-paper sufficiently large to cover over the top 
of the preserves snugly. I have kept them free from 
mold and spoiling two years. 
