toroi Boikiiei unci BPietorliol Some ftamjmruoru 
INGENUITY IN HOUSEKEEPING. 
When we first went to housekeeping, in the far-off 
West, ingenuity and taste, to a large degree, had to 
supply the lack of means in our little prairie home. 
The only house we could get had the regulation 
“ double parlors ”—two small, square rooms with 
folding, or rather sliding, doors between. Back of 
these was a small room which had apparently been 
used for a bedroom. 
Now, I know that many hold the idea that for per¬ 
sons of moderate means small rooms are much the 
cosiest. But my theory had always been that a 
large room could be made to look just as cosy as a 
small one, provided it were of the right shape. Ac¬ 
cordingly, I had the partition between the two par¬ 
lors taken out, making a long, narrow room, such as 
I desired. The sliding doors were put between this 
new room and the small one back, which was fitted 
up for my husband’s study. Over these doors, which 
were usually rolled back into the partition, I hung 
curtains of cretonne, which, when privacy in the 
study was not desired, were looped back. Oppo¬ 
site this door in the study was a window, on either 
side of which were the bookcases—filling nil the 
space on that side of the room. This window I filled 
with plants in pots and hanging baskets, which could 
just be seen from the parlor through the parted cur¬ 
tains. At the extreme end of the parlor, fronting the 
street, was a bay-window, which also added to the 
idea of distance, without detracting from that look 
of cosiness so much sought after. This I filled with 
plants, in pots, on brackets, in hanging baskets, and 
on a rustic stand of home manufacture. 
The carpet had a dark cream ground, with dark 
brown leaves, mostly ferns, scattered over it, with 
just the merest touch of scarlet here and there. A 
bright border added much to its appearance. I suc¬ 
ceeded in finding some cretonne which matched the 
carpet very well, both in color and design—ot which 
I bought a quantity. At the furniture store I pur¬ 
chased a lounge and two easy-chairs—one a “ patent 
rocker”—which were all upholstered with the excep¬ 
tion of the outside covering, which I put on myseli, 
using the cretonne. These, with the addition of two 
or three camp-chairs, which were among my wedding 
presents, completed this part ot the furniture of the 
room. Mv curtains were of Nottingham lace, pro¬ 
cured from a New York house lor $2.50 a window. 
Over these were lace lambrequins lined with scarlet 
cambric. 
There was no fire-place in the room, so I had an 
imitation mantel put up between the two windows on 
one side, and made a temporary lambrequin for it of 
the cretonne. When time permits me I intend 
making a handsome one in applique work. On the 
mantel I placed bouquets of Florida grass, pressed 
ferns, and autumn leaves, in vases made of old stone 
beer bottles, painted a, creamy white, ornamented 
with the embossed pictures so much used now, and 
then varnished. If T ever get near a pottery I shall 
have some vases made to order in some of the lovely 
Oriental shapes. A couple of easels made of wood- 
splints, a card-receiver, and a pair of bronze candle¬ 
sticks also found a place on the mantel. 
In one corner of the room was a shelf with lambre¬ 
quin in applique work; on it a cross covered with 
gray moss, and vine of wax autumn leaves. In an¬ 
other corner a bracket held a pot of ivy, which twin¬ 
ed about the pictures near by and sent out its luxuriant 
foliage to festoon and adorn the walls beyond. Un¬ 
der one of the pictures was a wall-pocket made of 
half an old tin dipper, fastened against a back piece 
of pine, the whole covered with moss and lich¬ 
ens, then filled with earth, and in it planted ferns and 
trailing vines. Up some of the picture cords I fas¬ 
tened pressed ferns, and around the brackets were 
also pressed ferns and autumn leaves. Behind other 
pictures I hung bottles of water containing Trades- 
cantia and other vines, which drooped about the pic¬ 
tures or found their way up the cords. In one of the 
windows was a hanging-basket which may be new 
to some. It was composed of a species of fungus 
found on old rotten logs—sometimes called “ touch- 
wood.” Three large pieces formed the sides, and 
three smaller ones the bottom. I filled it with some 
of the fine shavings which came round our furniture, 
and placed over the top a moss which dries and re¬ 
tains its color perfectly, filling with the moss also the 
crevices formed by the irregular-shaped pieces of fun¬ 
gus. In it I placed pressed ferns, which looked as 
though they were growing there, and you cannot tell 
until you have seen one what a pretty thing it is. 
I had nothing to hold my music, and did not feel 
able to buy a stand, so my husband and myself im¬ 
provised one. He procured some large canes (which 
grow abundantly near here), and by crossing these in 
various ways a handsome standard was made. A 
pine board was fastened on for a top, and covered 
with common coffee-sacking or burlaps. 1 took a 
strip of this same material, some seven or eight inches 
in width, embroidered on it in cross stitch a simple 
but showy border in two shades of scarlet German¬ 
town wool, fringed it on the edge to the depth ot 
about two inches, and fastened around the stand for 
a lambrequin. The cost was but a tew cents, and 
the stand is really more ornamental than one tor 
which I would have to pay three or four dollars at the 
furniture store. 
I will not weary you with a description of the other 
articles in the room, but pass on for a glance at the 
bedroom. The carpet was a light one, mostly 
scarlet and white. The curtains were of unbleached 
muslin, with a band of “turkey red” calico a little 
way from the front edge and across the bottom. The 
lambrequins of the same material, ornamented with 
a vine of ivy-leaves cut from the calico, edged with a 
fringe of the “ turkey-red ” cut with the scissors, as 
one would fringe a strip of paper. A table-cover was 
made in the same, style, with an extra group of leaves 
in each corner. Two “ barrel-chairs,” an “ hour¬ 
glass ” stand, and trunk were covered with red and 
white chintz. With the toilet-mats for washstand 
and bureau of Java canvas, embroidered with scarlet 
split zephyr, the hair-pin cushion, match-safe, glove 
j and handkerchief boxes, and other ornaments of per¬ 
forated cardboard and wood-splints, the room looked 
very inviting. 
| On the floor of the guest chamber I put some 
straw matting, relieved bv two or three rugs made of 
burlaps, embroidered with blue wool. The wash- 
stand and dressing-table were made of dry-goods 
boxes, covered with curtains of white swiss over blue 
cambric. Hair-pin cushion and other fancy articles 
were of silver cardboard. Curtains at the windows 
of white swiss edged with a fluted ruffle ; lambrequins 
of the same over blue cambric. On a shelf in one corner 
was a lambrequin of white drilling, ornamented with 
spatter-work. An “ hour-glass stand,” covered to 
match the washstand and dressing-table, a “ barrel- 
chair ” covered with part of an old blue worsted dress, 
with white lace tidy, a trunk and ottoman covered 
with the same material, and a few pictures and mot¬ 
toes of perforated cardboard embroidered with blue 
zephyr, completed the furniture of the room. 
I must mention just one more article, which, for 
want of room in the bedroom, found a place in the 
dining-room. It is a lounge made out of an ordinary 
packing-box, some six feet in length, with castors 
at the corners, and lid on lunges, cushioned and cov¬ 
ered with an old green dress. It is so very useful for 
laying in good dresses, which one likes neither to fold 
nor to hang up. Hannah Ford. 
PICTURE FRAMES. 
A Rustic frame, not atall common or common-look¬ 
ing, we made of black walnuts. Secure the nuts in a 
vise, and with a fine saw divide into sections of about 
an eighth of an inch thick ; then have made an oval 
frame two and a half inches wide (if made of light 
wood, cover with dark paper or muslin, as glue will 
not adhere to a painted surface); then glue a row of 
the pieces evenly around the outer edge, and an¬ 
other around the inner edge, slightly projecting be¬ 
yond the edge (the space between fill with broken 
pieces) ; then follow with two other rows nearer the 
centre of the frame, partly covering the first two; 
then finish with one row. This makes a very hand¬ 
some frame either oiled or varnished. 
Another frame was made in prison and presented 
to me by a keeper’s wife; the mat is a half-inch 
black-walnut board sawed an oval the usual size ; the 
centre of this is sawed out, oval top and straight 
across the bottom, for an album-sized photograph or 
small picture; this inner edge is cut in small points 
to give a nice finish; then a pattern was traced and 
left in low relief, while the whole groundwork was 
stamped with a nail. I think a fret-saw design 
would be just the thing; trace this upon the wood, 
as for sawing, but instead go over all the parts that 
were to be sawed away with a nail and small ham¬ 
mer, giving a slight blow, enough to depress and 
roughen the whole groundwork; this will leave the 
design raised and smooth. If there are leaves, they 
can be veined in the same way or cut with a knife. 
And now for the frame or outer edge; this is com¬ 
posed of pieces of the same kind of wood about three 
inches in length, one-half inch in width, one-eighth 
inch thick, cut in points on the ends and sides. In 
the centre of each piece is cut a slit an inch in length 
and wide enough to slip one of the others through ; a 
shoulder is left at one end of the slit to keep them in 
place ; the wood is thinned down from the shoulder 
toward each end, and joined by slipping one piece 
through another, keeping the shoulder ends all the 
time in one direction. When the wreath is long 
enough it is joined and the last piece secured with 
glue, then slipped over the edge of the mat (which 
must be bevelled to receive it) and fastened with a 
nail or two on the back; narrow strips are glued on 
I the back to hold the glass ; when varnished it is very 
I handsome. 
