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HOW TO MAKE YOTJR ROOM LOVELY. 
“Mamma, I want to marry, and have just such a 
lovely room as Jessie Lennox has!” “Why, what 
has she got—bureau, table, chairs, and bed, like 
everybody else, hasn’t she?” “Oh, the pretty things; 
so tasteful, and doubly pretty, that she made them all 
herself. ” ‘ ‘ Tell me what they are ? ” said mamma, sew¬ 
ing away, while I throw myself down upon the lounge 
and begin. “Well, you know her husband cannot I 
afford expensive adornments, and so Jessie’s taste and 
fingers have made their room a little bower. She 
hasn’t a closet where she can keep ^ 
her soiled clothes conveniently— 
boarding, you know—so she took a 
common liour barrel and neatly 
tacked pretty, green paper muslin 
around it; then took white dotted 
Swiss muslin, cutting it in three 
flounces, gathering and basting one 
above the other on the green mus¬ 
lin, st) that the top one reaches the 
mouth of the barrel, and the third 
one rests on or touches the floor; 
then at certain distances, little knots 
of green ribbon were fastened; it 
gives the barrel the effect of a lady 
in a ruffled petticoat. The top of 
the cover was stuffed like a pin¬ 
cushion, and the dotted muslin 
drawn plainly over the green, and 
her initial worked in green in the 
centre. The cover was tacked to 
the barrel with two strips of leath¬ 
er ; then a broad box-plaiting of the 
Swiss on the edge, which stands up 
all around, hiding the fact of the 
cover, and the rest being separate, 
a loop of ribbon raises the cover; 
and in the barrel she keeps her 
soiled clothes, and calls it her 
Toilet table.’ The effect is at once 
airy and lovely, no one imagining 
its internal conveniences.” ‘ 1 That’s 
what I call useful as well as orna¬ 
mental,” put in mamma. “Hanging 
above it, in a graceful, rustic frame, 
was an elegant picture of Dickens, 
against a black background, with a 
light tinted border. I was in rap¬ 
tures; and would you believe it; 
she framed it herself. The photo¬ 
graph was taken from a magazine, 
and she cut it out as you would a 
paper doll, and with flour-paste 
fastened it in the centre of a piece 
of black broadcloth, bought a tinted 
mat, and there was the richest 
looking picture for barely nothing.” “ I could suggest,” 
said mamma, “that the tinted mat be dispensed with, 
and have the entire background of black broadcloth.” 
“Yes; that is so. However, underneath it was a 
fernery, made of a piece of card-board about eight 
inches square, cut so that this square piece was against 
the wall, and the front consisted of two narrow pieces 
ot the card-board, one at the top, the other at the 
bottom of the square, rounded out like the handle of a 
basket. These were perforated by a shoemaker’s 
awl, with perforations quite a distance apart, and 
straws pushed down, so that it has the effect of a 
: ,pfence. The straws ran up a little way above the holes, 
it'. 
and were cut in a point in the centre of top and 
straight across the bottom; then narrow green ribbon 
wound in and out through the straws, between the 
strips of card-board. It was filled with Autumn 
loaves and trailing, pressed vines, that twined over the 
picture above it.” “ Really quite tasty,” said mamma. 
“ In one window was an ivy in a fancy flower-pot; but 
it did not look well on the floor, and as a bracket was 
out of the question, she made a pedestal just large 
enough to hold it. She took two solid, round pieces 
of wood, one as large as the bottom of the pot, the 
other two sizes larger, sawed off an old broom handle, 
or some strong piece of wood, the height she wanted 
the pedestal, and nailed it in the middle of the two 
with hair-wire, and put together artistically and rus¬ 
tically; then fastened in the top was an oval, wooden 
chopping-dish, painted the color of the framework or 
vines, filled with earth, and hanging vines, that trailed 
over the sides, lovely Geraniums and basket-plants, 
just covered everything; but the prettiest part almost, 
was the handle, also of a grape-vine branch, grace¬ 
fully bent, with a tiny fish-globe pendant from the 
centre, holding - a tiny gold-fish to match, and the 
vines twining all around the handle so green and 
thrifty, it was lovely!” “She shows taste in culti¬ 
vating flowers,” again remarked mamma. “Oh, indeed, 
I forgot; on a bracket, was a flower-holder, which 
could also be used to, grow plants in. It was made 
of fine'twigs of trees', wired through 
the middle, so that it stood like a 
stand with a'slender waist. Tiny 
twigs were wired to the larger ones, 
making it very rustic. In the 
opening on top was a eoeoanut 
shell, with the mouth cut off in 
points, and the twigs running up 
above them ; it looked like a nest 
on a tree. The whole thing was 
varnished, and filled with flowers 
and vines, twined over the twigs 
above, and hanging over the sides. 
Then the slipper holder, jewel and 
shaving cases, mouchoir and glove 
boxes, hair receivers and tidies, 
made the room luxurious and cosy.’’ 
“I don’t see the difference,” said 
mamma, “why you can’t, have your 
room pretty, even if you are not 
married.” “Well, there is a dif¬ 
ference. A husband is so de¬ 
lighted, and thinks you are superior 
to other girls.” “Wouldn’t I be 
delighted?” said mamma, in injured 
tones. “Of course, you would, 
mamma; and we will go right to 
work, wont we?” G-race Sanford. 
The Children’s Frolic. 
blocks, making the larger one the base; then she 
took delaine the color of the prevailing tint in the car¬ 
pet, and stretched it smoothly over the top board, lay¬ 
ing it in side plaits on the lower block, tacking it un¬ 
derneath; then covered a piece of paste-board, about 
four inches broad, with the delaine, and put it right 
around the middle, like a belt, drawing it just small 
enough to be graceful, and it made a very pretty ped¬ 
estal. In the other window was one of those high 
standing flower-baskets, which I remarked to Jessie 
must have cost her enough to oblige her to economise. 
She laughed, and said it didn’t cost her one dollar. 
The framework was of grape-vines stoutly wired 
Bureau Tidies.—I would like 
to tell the ladies how to make a 
cover to prevent the tops of their 
bureaus from getting soiled. Get. a 
strip of Java canvas, just as long 
and just as wide as the top of the 
bureau that you wish to cover: 
hem the edges very neatly, and at 
the ends, crochet a heading and tie 
m a fringe of white cotton; then, 
at each end, embroider with what¬ 
ever colored worsted is preferred, a 
square, to represent a mat, and in 
the centre of each mat a bouquet 
of Roses and Pansies; now take a 
square piece of canvas, hem it, and 
place a fringe around it to match 
that on the ends of the bureau cover, and embroider any 
pretty design in the centre; and you have a cover for 
your pin-cushion, to be simply pinned over the top of 
any square cushion of the same size. Now you can 
keep your bureau tidy with but very little trouble, for 
as often as the tidies get soiled they can be removed and 
washed, and will look as well as ever. This will make 
very pretty, inexpensive sets for every-day use. When 
selecting worsteds, care must be taken to choose those 
that will harmonize with the furniture and carpets of the 
rooms where the covers are used. Yery pretty sets are 
made of straw-colored canvas, embroidered with blue 
or green worsteds. Mrs. E. Burr. 
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