oXiuet tui3 ftctoriol BfXanie iSamjuoLnian. 
“ 0, May, wliat a cosy room,” said my friend Stella 
Moore, as I led her to my own special sanctum, on the 
occasion of her first visit to me. 
We had been room-mates at a celebrated seminary, 
and had left school just one year before this time. 
Our situations in life were very different. She was the 
only daughter of a wealthy city merchant, while I was 
the child of a country physician, and had numerous 
brothers and sisters. Although we were intimate 
friends, it was with some misgivings that I invited her 
to spend a few weeks of the summer with me, for my 
home, though pleasant, was plainly furnished. I 
wished much to have my own room pretty and cosy, 
and lay wondering many a night how to accomplish it. 
At last a plan came to me, and only confiding it to my 
mother, I set about it, and now, as it is all complete, 
perhaps some of the readers of the Cabinet would 
like to have a description of it. 
It contained two large windows ; it was a few feet 
longer than it was wide, and there were two doors. 
My first move was to purchase a white straw matting 
for the floor; next I papered the walls with pretty 
gilt paper, touching the top with a blue and gold bor¬ 
der. At my window I hung plain, full white muslin 
curtains, looping them back with blue ribbons, and 
hanging over them lambrequins of delicate blue chintz. 
Then came a hold move. I went to a furniture deal¬ 
ers and purchased an unpainted bedstead, dressing- 
case, commode, two chairs, and a rocking-chair; at a 
paint-shop I bought some very delicate blue paint, 
and by dint of much patience, painted and varnished 
my sot myself. When perfectly dry, I relieved its 
very blue look by ornamenting it with lovely land¬ 
scapes in decalcomanie. So far, very well; but I 
needed a table and two more chairs. In the attic I 
found an old stand with two drawers, just the thing for 
my purpose, but it was a woeful sight. I, however, 
with soap and water and sand-paper, washed and 
rubbed off much of the dirt and old paint. I then ap¬ 
plied several coats of my blue paint, and with a cloth 
of blue flannel pinked around the edges, and braided 
with gold braid—behold a charming stand. On this I 
placed my writing-desk, my albums, and my few 
choice books. For my chairs, a barrel with the top 
sawed off, so as to form an easy back, and nicely cush¬ 
ioned and stuffed, made a comfortable seat, and when 
covered with chintz to match my lambrequins, was 
very pleasing to the eye. For the other, I got an un¬ 
painted camp-stool, painted it blue, and an old bit of 
tapestry carpeting, nailed on with brass nails, did 
admirably for a seat. 
Thus my principal furniture was complete. Now 
for the ornaments. I took two pieces of wood about 
two inches thick and circular shape, put a broom- 
handle through the centre of each piece about two and 
a half feet apart; I covered it with chintz and tied a 
band of blue ribbon round the belt. Around its top 
were pockets of the chintz, with blue bows, and on it 
stood my basket of work. Over my commode I hung 
a curtain of white rubber cloth, pinked round the 
edges, and ornamented in the centre and each of the 
four corners, with sprays of flowers and grasses in 
decalcomanie. The commode was covered with a 
white cloth, and mats, crocheted in cotton yarn over 
lamp-wicking, were under the bowl and pitcher. Two 
small mats of the same were on the small shelves. 
Under the mantel stood a box covered with chintz ; its 
cover was put on with hinges, a broad knife-plaited 
ruffle finished the edge. This was a pleasant seat, 
being nicely stuffed, and also a convenient receptacle 
for soiled clothes. The mantle itself was a piece of 
plain board painted blue, and set on iron brackets. 
Around this hung a curtain of Java canvas, white, on 
which was worked a broad, handsome pattern with 
the shades of blue worsted; its edge was a shaded blue 
fringe. On the mantel stood two hollow wood frames 
(sawed by myself with a friend’s bracket saw), holding 
photographs of two friends. These frames rested on 
two rose mats made of blue and white split zephyr. 
In the centre was a Parian vase filled with autuum 
leaves made in wax. Over this hung a picture of 
Evangeline in a gilt frame, which no one would guess 
was very much worn, for it was covered with straw- 
colored tarlatan prettily fulled over it. My dressing- 
case held a toilet set of white honeycomb canvas, 
worked with blue worsted in Grecian pattern, and 
consisting of a large mat. two small ones, and a cush¬ 
ion. A handkerchief box, made of pieces of glass, cut 
to fit each other, and bound together with narrow blue 
ribbon, a hair-pin basket, long and narrow. A hair 
receiver of silver paper, embroidered with blue floss, 
and lined with blue silk, hung from one knob, and 
from the other a watch-case of blue velvet embroidered 
with a raised pattern of beads. My pretty trinkets, 
gifts of friends, were scattered around, with here and- 
there a picture; most of them drawings or paintings 
of my own. Several brackets were fastened on the 
walls; one bore a cross of wax twined with ivy, an¬ 
other sea-shells and moss. Hassocks made of odds 
and ends of sillr and worsted goods pieced together, 
offered easy resting places for the tired feet. The 
straw matting was relieved by mats made from old 
coffee-hags, and worked in various patterns suitable 
for canvas with bright colored Germantown wools. 
Ellen C. Weight. 
MY GUEST CHAMBER. 
A large chamber with throe pleasant windows, two 
looking south and one west, curtained with plain white 
shades. On the floor a carpet decidedly the worse for 
wear, hardly a square yard guiltless of a darn, a cot¬ 
tage bedstead of dark stained wood, a bureau of ditto, 
surmounted by a small, dull looking-glass, a wash- 
stand of the same gloomy color, and three straight 
cane-seated chairs with one rocking-chair; a table of 
the hour-glass description, covered with white, and 
standing at the head of the bed, completed the list of 
furniture. 
This was my guest chamber, which I had just 
entered. We were poor and could not afford to spend 
money save for those things which were absolutely 
needful. 
A bad debt, as my husband had always considered, 
of fifty dollars, had been paid to him the night before, 
and he had given me half of it, to do as I pleased. 
As a result of my cogitations, I bought a dollar’s worth 
of white paint, into which I stirred a very little lamp¬ 
black, making a light French gray. With this I painted 
all my furniture excepting the bedstead. I wished 
for a French bedstead, and by going to a manufactory 
obtained one, unpainted, for four dollars. The man 
of whom I bought it cautioned me to shellac all the 
knots in the first place, as otherwise they would make 
their appearance through the paint. I put on three 
coats of paint, and no one could have suspected what 
was underneath. After it was all dry my John took 
a small paint brush, and after putting more lampblack 
into the paint, and making it very dark, he drew 
lines, straight and curved, where they were necessary 
to give a finished look. 
I had bought a dollar’s worth of decalcomanie 
pictures, groups of flowers, of three sizes. The largest 
I put on the bedstead, one on the inside of the head- 
board, two on the foot-board, one inside and one out¬ 
side, and a medium-sized one on the lower part of the 
foot-board. On each large bureau drawer I placed a 
medium-sized picture, and a small one on each small 
drawer, also one at the top and bottom of the looking- 
glass. For the wash-staud I used medium-sized, and 
on the top of each chair a small one. I then varnished 
all the furniture, and with immense piide regarded my 
work. It was an experiment, and I had felt so doubt¬ 
ful of success that I had chosen to do it first; now, 
however, with renewed courage, I set about consider¬ 
ing what I could do for the rest of the room. The 
ceiling was clean and white, so was the paint, and the 
paper was likewise respectable, being delicate in tint, 
with an unobtrusive small figure, so I merely got a 
cheap blue border—I had decided on having a “blue 
room ”—and that part of the work was over. 
Twenty yards of white straw matting, at twenty- 
five cents a yard, made me a carpet. I had once 
heard of putting wall paper on the floor, giving it one 
or two coats of varnish after it was down, and was 
tempted to try that economical arrangement, but re¬ 
frained, not having much faith in such a carpet. 
When bright colors were worn for dresses, I pos¬ 
sessed a blue, all-wool delaine of a light and exceedingly 
bright shade. I had not liked to wear it for years, so 
it had hung undisturbed in the attic. Now 1 thought 
that I saw an opportunity of utilizing it, as there was 
a good quantity of material in it; so I took it, bought 
ten yards of curtain lace, which is very wide, for thirty 
cents a yard, to put over it, and made my lambrequins. 
I lined them with old white cotton, putting between 
the lining and delaine thick brown paper, through 
which the sun could not shine and fade the blue. I 
made my pillow shams in the same way, finishing 
them around the edge with a narrow plaiting of tarla¬ 
tan, as I also did the lambrequins and a splasher for 
my wash-stand. Next, I got John to make me a 
rough table, with a frame work at the back four feet 
high, and rounding over at the top. I covered this 
plainly with the blue delaine, and over it fulled the 
lace, excepting on the top of the table, where I drew 
it smoothly across. For two dollars I bought a good- 
sized looking-glass with a white pine frame, which my 
husband fastened on the back of the table. I pasted 
gilt paper nicely over the pine, and arranged the 
draperies to fall over in such a manner that it looked 
like a gilt frame—which it surely was! My supply 
of delaine was exhausted by this time) else I should 
have liked to make a barrel chair, upholstering it like 
the toilet table, but I drew consolation from the re¬ 
flection that lace would hardly make a durable chair 
covering. I bought, for a dollar and a quarter, a 
pretty towel rack, a bracket for a dollar, and with an¬ 
other dollar, a pretty little Parian head to put on the 
bracket. I still had about five dollars left, with which 
I purchased two photographs and one chromo, un¬ 
framed, black walnut molding enough foi the frames 
of the photographs and gilt for the chromo. John 
made the frames himself, and very creditable frames 
they were too. And now, when I had added a few 
finishing touches, such as a toilet cushion and mats, 
hair-pin drum, cornucopia, etc., my work was done, 
and the room which had been a source of such dis¬ 
satisfaction to me, had become the pride of my heart, 
for without a single costly article in it, the effect of the 
whole was very pleasing. Kate Hillard. 
