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NOTES FROM A FAMILY SITTING- 
ROOM. 
The Florae Cabinet is a welcome guest in a 
certain old-fashioned house that has neither a brown- 
stone front nor plate-glass windows, but that is, in 
the truest and best sense of the word, a comfortable 
and pleasant home. 
Many newspapers and books are scattered here 
and there over the premises ; to he sure a substantial 
bookcase is the legitimate receptacle of the latter, 
hut its contents overflowed long ago. 
An intermixture of works in prose and poetry, on 
religion and politics, fashion and floral topics, hears 
witness of different tastes, and of that kindly tolera¬ 
tion which must be exercised where one person has 
an individual liking for that in which another may 
see no beauty or use whatever. 
In the sitting-room a little bird swings to and fro 
in his gilded cage. Just now he is looking out up¬ 
on, and no doubt longing to make a more intimate 
acquaintance with, the vines that lend to his window 
a touch of the vanished summer. 
To the writer he is different from all other birds, 
dearer and more familiar than all the rest of his fea¬ 
thered tribe. He has always been tenderly cared 
for. Some day his little life will probably come to 
an end in the claws of some ferocious cat; but such 
an end to his existence will cause lamentation and 
heartfelt sorrow. 
This same sitting-room has a cosy and homelike 
appearance. It points to neither formality nor disor¬ 
der, and is hardly suggestive of either poverty or 
riches. The carpet is ingrain and of Eastlalie de¬ 
sign. There is in it a blending of scarlet and oak 
and wood colors and brown. It asserts its cheerful¬ 
ness by night as well as by day. It is a blessing to 
have a carpet that lights up well. 
-j There are chairs of several designs. One is large 
enough for a “ sleepy hollow,” another a pretty 
modern cane-seat ladies’ rocking-chair, another a 
folding-chair, with a pattern of green and white on 
the scarlet ground-work of the Brussels carpet that 
forms the seat and back. 
But let me not omit mentioning what was an old- 
fashioned splint-bottomed rocking-chair, which by 
reason of time and use fell into the hands of a col¬ 
ored man, who offered to reseat it with corn-shucks 
for a moderate compensation. He returned the chair 
with a much more durable seat than the one it had 
been furnished with in its first estate, and its appear¬ 
ance was also a good deal more satisfactory to the 
eye. That was nine years ago. It has been in con¬ 
stant use ever since, and still there is no sign of its 
wearing out. 
Here and there are tidies of home manufacture. 
These are made of white thread or knitting-cotton, 
some of them in square, others in wheel crochet. 
One wants a tidy that will wash, in a sitting-room. 
Ours are for use as well as for show, and the material 
of which they are constructed is so easily washed that 
it is possible to see a head lean against them a dozen 
times a day without fear and without reproach. 
Two rustic frames, made of gnarled and twisted 
grape-vine branches and roots, are hanging on the 
wall. They are varnished so as to show the natural 
color of the wood, and were the gift of a friend, who 
fashioned them himself. In one is a basket of cher¬ 
ries and in the other a bunch of the broad leaves and 
delicate blooms of the lily of the valley. A large 
picture of “ Apple Gathering ” hangs in the centre of 
the wall; on either side of it a little bracket supports 
a Parian vase that is just now filled with a winter 
bouquet. 
Over the clock that ticks on the mantel is one of 
Prang’s chromos in a somewhat elaborate frame. 
The gray tints in the cross rather tone down and 
soften the coloring of the moss rosebuds, pinks, 
pomegranates, and nasturtium leaves that, in vivid¬ 
ness of hue and variety of form, are near akin to 
nature. 
A motto tells ever more the comforting assurance 
that “ The Lord will Provide,” and several family 
pictures are hung in various places, while last, but 
not least, an engraving of “ Erin Farewell ” turns a 
beautiful, sad, pathetic face away from home and 
country. 
A sewing-machine occasionally lends us the “ mu¬ 
sic ” of its voice. It is a Singer. 
A large home-made rug before the hearth bears 
witness of dresses whose form and substance came 
to a worthy end in long strips for the rug-needle, 
that reproduced them in new and geometrical pat¬ 
terns. 
A bright fire blazes in the grate. The coals throw 
a glow of condensed cheerfulness into the room. 
Sometimes those same coals are of practical use in 
HOUSE DECORATION. 
making toast. For that purpose wood may as well 
hide its diminished head. 
And now let me turn from the extension table 
with its scarlet and black cover, the lounge of black- 
walnut and Brussels, the lamps, match-boxes, and 
other et cmteras, to the last article I shall mention in 
the room. It is the desk on which this document is 
written. It sits in a cat-a-cornered nook by one of 
the windows. It is a costly little affair, to its 
owner a sanctum, and a place for almost everything ; 
so that it would put to the blush the miscellaneous 
collections of the pockets of half-a-dozen of the aver¬ 
age boys of the period. On its top shelf a bust of 
Psyche raises its pure head and shoulders from the 
mass of flower-like petals, whose pedestal is hidden 
in a mossy mat of autumn colors, while on either 
side a clear glass bouquet-holder sits, engraven with 
fronds of fern. Ah! home, sweet home. Thou art 
a very sanctuary of cheerfulness and calm. Within 
thy sweet seclusion is peace of mind, and love that 
knows not any shadow of turning. Dear reader, if 
your home is not so sweet and pleasant to you as the 
one of which you catch a casual glimpse upon these 
pages, let me urge you to take heed of the parting 
admonition: Make it so. 
L. G. Patterson. 
It was at the Battle of Edge HiH that Sir 
Jacob Astlet r made his remarkable prayer: “ 0 
Lord ! thou knowest how busy I must be this day : 
if I forget thee, do not thou forget me. March on, 
boys.” 
I cannot hope to say anything new on the sub- 
1 ject of house decoration, and yet 1 would offer a few 
suggestions that may prove acceptable to some one, 
more especially to those whose means are limited 
and their income small. An ingenious and taste¬ 
ful woman cannot afford nor will she be content to 
live without fancy articles about her, when so many 
can be made so cheaply. She may not have means 
to purchase rare and costlj 1 ornaments that her more 
I wealthy neighbor or friend may have, but yet with a 
little skill she need not relinquish all hope of grati¬ 
fying her taste or love of the beautiful. Nothing 
i adds more to the cheerfulness of a room than a win¬ 
dow garden filled with nice plants. With a little 
care any one may succeed with Geraniums, Fuchsias, 
and Begonias. No one plant is more easily cultivat- 
! ed than the Geranium, both single and double sorts. 
They thrive under the most common culture, only 
needing air, sunshine, and water judiciously used, and 
they will repay you with an abundance of bloom, 
! and make cheerful the dreary days of winter. And 
then the wreathing vines add a grace and elegance 
to pictures, curtains, and walls that nothing else can 
do, and there are few things more suitable for deco¬ 
rating our homes in winter than the beautiful trail¬ 
ing moss and running vine mixed witli the brightly 
tinted autumn leaves. With a little taste in arrang¬ 
ing them about your rooms, they will add loveliness 
and grace even to what was lovely without them. 
And then a Wardian case filled with Coleus plants, 
exquisite Ferns, and lovely moss is a very beautiful 
object; it does not need the sun and will thrive even 
at a north window, and all the care it requires is a 
sprinkling of water once in four or five weeks. The 
result will be a perfect mass of green, of graceful 
Ferns mingled with the beautiful foliage of the Co¬ 
leus plants. 
Pictures most certainly should adorn our walls, 
and beautiful mottoes may be made in spatter-work. 
Select a few graceful and delicate ferns; take a 
piece of cardboard, a tooth-brush, a piece of wire 
screen, some india-ink, and small pins, or needles. 
: Arrange your ferns on the cardboard and fasten 
them with pins; put a little water in a, saucer, 
and rub the ink until it becomes the desired shade; 
then hold the screen parallel with the ferns, and 
after just touching the brush to the ink, rub it 
carefully across the screen ; continue the process 
till it becomes very dark. When the ink is perfect¬ 
ly dry remove the pins and take off the ferns, when 
the form will appear. Brackets may be made and 
covered with handsome lambrequins in applique or 
worsted work, and for variety a shelf may be made. 
Cover the top with red opera flannel; work on can¬ 
vas a strip about two inches wide, in some hand- 
1 some pattern, with scarlet and white. Get at the 
furniture store scarlet fringe to finish it, and tack the 
whole witn fancy tacks. It is very handsome, and 
an ornament to a room. Many pleasing ornaments 
! can be made for the decoration of our rooms with 
I very little trouble, and when done make the whole 
combination delightful. 
Mrs. E. D. Allen. 
I Rutland, Jefferson Co., N.Y. 
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