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A LABORER’S MODEL HOME. 
A cottage in a New England village, standing 
amid its flowers, vines, fruit-trees, and garden— 
tasteful and attractive without and within. Though 
the abode of laboring people, there are many spare 
moments found in which to make home pleasant. 
Health being a paramount consideration, every 
apartment is light, sunny, and well ventilated. 
Each room is inviting and homelike, and the family 
enjoy the freedom of the whole house except in the 
bitter cold of winter. Our little lady objects even 
to the name “ parlor,” and hers is always “our sit¬ 
ting-room,” not in name only, but in reality also—a 
place of cosey comfort and rest. 
Window-blinds being only in anticipation for 
them, the windows have only shades, in order that 
the room may be partially darkened in the bright 
summer days. The woodwork is white, the paper a 
gray. A light, cheerful carpet covers the floor— 
roses and leaves strewn on a light ground-work of 
rustic branches. The furniture is not a parlor set, 
but consists of light, movable articles, selected for 
comfort and convenience. A w'alnut book-case is 
filled almost from floor to ceiling with works of the 
best authors—poems, histories, books of travel and 
reference, stories from the pen of Dickens, Irving, 
Hawthorne, Miss Muloek, Miss Alcott, and many 
others. On the walls are several fine steel engrav¬ 
ings, lithographs, and paintings—pleasant scenes and 
faces we love to study and remember. The beauties 
of each are seen, not in contrast with inferior ones 
beside it, but in harmony with proper surroundings. 
The mantel holds a few select articles of decora¬ 
tion, and has a beautiful picture above it. On a 
walnut bracket is a large bouquet of dried grasses, 
pressed ferns, and immortelles, renewed every fall. 
Above the pictures are autumn wreaths in winter, 
and in summer twining vines of living green. A 
portfolio contains a collection of chromos and litho¬ 
graphs ; while the children are selecting pretty wood 
cuts to arrange in a similar manner. 
In the dining-room is a large base-burner, which 
heats the adjoining lodging-rooms, and, through a 
register in the ceiling, a large chamber above. One 
window of this room is devoted to plants, and is a 
veritable bit of fairy-land. Here are three hanging- 
baskets, a four-pot bracket at each side, and below 
the window-sill a shelf one foot wide, covered with 
marbled oil-cloth closely tacked to the sill and fall¬ 
ing a foot below the shelf in front and at the ends. 
A piece of oil matting protects the carpet beneath. 
Then, after placing a shallow tub in front and hold¬ 
ing up the ends of the cover, all the plants may be 
showered and the water let into the tub. This is 
done every night after sunset, keeping the plants 
clean and healthy. There are many vines and 
drooping plants, and by tasteful twining and looping 
every ray of sunlight is utilized and the window be¬ 
comes a bower of beauty. None but thrifty speci¬ 
mens are found here; when one grows sickly or ob¬ 
stinate it is removed to the hospital shell at one ot 
the kitchen windows. The pictures and book-shelves 
are twined about with vines growing in water. 
taro. 
In the children’s room a cabinet contains speci¬ 
mens of minerals, sea-shells and mosses, stuffed 
birds, butterflies, etc. Many of their toys and keep¬ 
sakes find a place here instead of occupying the 
mantels. The children always wash and dress in 
their own room, take a pride in keeping it tidy, and 
many are the sacrifices they make to purchase arti¬ 
cles of necessity and comfort for their little domain. 
They are dressed plainly, in warm, durable, sensi¬ 
ble garments, and if they ever wish to have nicer or 
more fashionable clothing, they are sure to change 
their minds after a pleasant talk with mother, in 
which their thoughts are gently led to better things. 
In their school life thej^ have the daily help and en¬ 
couragement of their parents; are taught that learn¬ 
ing should not end with school dr.ys, that a hurried 
acquirement of many branches would result in a 
mere smattering of each, with, perhaps, loss of 
health and an early grave; while a thorough know¬ 
ledge of the common studies will furnish a, firm foun¬ 
dation upon which to build in after-life. Not being 
hurried with their school duties, they have time at 
home to practise needlework and many housekeep¬ 
ing arts. They love their home and its duties, and 
if they are sometimes impatient or fractious the disci¬ 
pline they receive is always quiet and secluded. The 
mother’s ready tact prevents the obtrusion of family 
annoyances upon her visitors, and they are never 
entertained with cross or unruly children, and made 
to feel that their coming is untimely by hearing fret¬ 
ful words, witnessing punishments, or listening to a 
recital of petty trials. 
Many little methods of saving work are practised. 
The food is plain and wholesome, the apparel neat 
and unpretending, and all practise the rule of leav¬ 
ing things in their proper places, thereby knowing 
where to find them. The washings are made as 
small as possible, and many articles, if well aired 
and folded, need no ironing, such as woollen under¬ 
wear, colored shirts, brown towels, etc. This saves 
hours of time for the mother to spend with her chil¬ 
dren, her books, and her flowers. Time is a bless¬ 
ing we would all do well to economize; all that 
we spend foolishly is so much lost for ever. “ I shall 
not pass this way again,” the Quaker said who did 
not wish to neglect any kindness to his fellow-men. 
Some may wonder how this laborer’s family can 
afford so many comforts. But in economizing time, 
living simply, and dressing plainly they save money 
with which to purchase enduring pleasures. These 
parents began their married life with a very few of 
the most necessary articles, to which they have added 
from time to time whenever their means would al¬ 
low, always suiting their own taste and necessities. 
In having a certain independence and following their 
own ideas they have an individual home—one all 
their own, and not a mere counterpart of their 
neighbors’. D. W. M. 
155 
HOME LIFE. 
’ There is an increasing love in the hearts of the 
American people for tasteful homes, not always 
grand, but made easy and artistic by little rustic 
adornments and quaint devices. There is certainly 
something very delightful in building up one’s own 
home and yearly adding to its beauty and attrac¬ 
tiveness. I have in my mind at this moment the 
home of a young couple who started in life with 
only a hundred dollars, but with hearts full of love 
and courage. ■ Do not be shocked when I tell you 
that they commenced housekeeping with only two 
chairs, and when a third person was present one 
gracefully took a seat upon the bed. Yet, with 
womanly tact, the fair young hostess entertained 
her visitors in such a way that they departed im¬ 
pressed with the fact that love and happiness may 
exist in spite of very adverse circumstances. Years 
have passed, and, with added means and cultivated 
taste, that home is a paradise of beauty. The yard 
is tastefully arranged with grass-plats, flower-beds, 
and ever-blooming Roses of various kinds. Beautiful 
Japan Honeysuckle, with its white flowers, filled the 
air with fragrance, and the Jessamine’s orange¬ 
like blooms peeped in at the windows. 
There were shady nooks bright with the upturned 
faces of Pansies; beds of Verbenas, Geraniums, 
Abutilons, and Fuchsias with their drooping bells; 
and over all the humming-birds daintily hovering, 
made a picture so charming that each little human 
flower of that household daily felt the refining in¬ 
fluence of its beauty. Let us in mid-winter take a 
peep within. We find the cosey parlor, with its organ ; 
for music is one of the home enjoyments. There 
are shelves prettily arranged with books; there are 
shells, vases, and statuary. Upon the walls are 
paintings in oil and water-colors. But the most 
charming spot is the family sitting-room; here the 
children gather and friends love to linger. Shall I 
describe it ? Very little money has been expended ; 
the furniture is plain, and yet the room is wonder¬ 
fully attractive. It is large, with two south and two 
west windows. Between the two west windows is a 
table covered with books and prints. There are 
also a few plants requiring but little sun, ornamen¬ 
tal Begonias and foliage plants, and a silver basket 
filled with red and golden fruit. Above the table is 
a small shelf which supports a picture, and from 
which a cocoanut-shell is suspended filled with the 
Dew Plant. On each side of the picture is a vase, of 
Ivy. Over the mantel hangs a rustic cross richly 
wreathed with Kenilworth Ivy and the delicate Smi- 
lax. In one of the south windows is a stand of 
plants. Above it is suspended a hanging-basket 
with a handsome Coleus in the centre, Oxaiis. En«-- 
lish and variegated ivies. The other south window 
delights in a window-garden. It is filled with Roses, 
Geraniums, Crossula perfoliata, and vines of dif¬ 
ferent kinds. Above is another basket with a coral 
Begonia, the lovely pink Christine Geranium Vincas, 
and other suitable plants, all making such a bower 
of beauty as delights the eye and cheers the heart. 
Flowers lend a charm to the humblest home. Let 
us cultivate flowers for a twofold purpose: our 
own pleasure and recreation, and as part of the 
; training of our children, instilling into their hearts a 
love for the beautiful. The time will hardly be miss¬ 
ed from our more important duties, and great will 
be the compensation. Above all let us cultivate the 
sweet flowers of love and gentleness, which will 
adorn them more than all the appliances of wealth 
or art. j vr _ 
