54 
THE LADIES' FLORAI CABINET. 
tial part of the meal came in the second course, roasted 
boar, beef, fowl of all kinds, lampreys, with vegetables, 
bread and cheese. The third course included tlie des¬ 
sert, consisting of fruits, pastry, confectionery and 
wines. 
Let us visit the home of the Roman matron late in the 
afternoon, as the family sit at meat. A Roman house 
was a very different affair from a modern English or 
American one. It was usually two stories in height, 
with a pillared court in the middle. Above the main 
entrance was engraved the owner’s name in gilt letters. 
Most of the houses contained two atria, two trielmia, 
four ala; or wings, a calidarium, frigidarium and tepida- 
rium. These were the living rooms and were on the 
ground floor, the sleeping chambers being in the second 
story. The rooms, with one or two exceptions were 
not large, and were built around a court that was open 
to the sky. Columns, paintings, statues and mosaic 
work ornamented nearly every room. 
The first atrium was over the cellar, to which one 
descended by a score of stone steps. In this room con¬ 
gregated the male servants of the household, the 
charioteer, the sedan-bearers, and the bodyguards, if 
the master was fortunate enough to be a patrician. 
' The second atrium was a larger room and had a peri¬ 
style. In the center was a spacious marble basin where 
a fountain of water played. Here the mistress and her 
maidens often sat in the mornings to spin or embroider. 
The calidarium or inner court corresponded with our 
parlor. It was situated in one of the wings and had a 
fountain. One corner was dedicated to the Lares and 
Penates, gods who presided over the hearth and house¬ 
hold. The walls of the houses were very thick, their 
usual thickness, even when they separated only small 
rooms from another, being three feet. The floors of the 
lower rooms were laid upon a number of short pillars 
formed of square tiles placed near to each other and in 
rows ; over these were laid larger tiles. On this floor¬ 
WINDOW-GARDENING 
A babe, weather-stained little school-house, with 
decaying sills resting on four sandy ridges that served 
for under-pinning to the dilapidated ‘old building. 
Warped clap-boards flapped from its moss-flecked sides, 
where the walls had “sprung” or settled a little nearer 
mother earth. 
Not only the school-house, but its grounds and sur¬ 
roundings were as dreary as absence of all thiugs beau¬ 
tiful could make them. A steep sand-bank loomed on 
its right hand; at its left, an Alder swamp stretched over 
many acres. In front, the dusty country-road wound 
past, and in its rear was a sheep pastuie, with rocks 
and tall Mulleins that alone broke the monotony of a 
level, sandy plain, on which even red Sorrel and wild 
Barley could find no footing, so wild was its soil. 
Such were the surroundings Hetty Mason looked out 
upon as the “up river” stage dropped her one May 
morning at this school-house door, she having engaged 
to teach that district’s summer term of twelve weeks. 
ing was laid a thick mass of well-made cement, and on 
this again was placed the tessalated pavement. 
In the larger trielmium the family ate their meals. 
In the early days of Rome sitting in chairs or on stools 
was the posture, but in the time of the empire couches 
were introduced from the East, which, however, only 
the men used, the women still using chairs. The table 
was made either quadrangular or round, and the 
couches were placed so that each person reclined on 
the left arm. Each couch had three pillows on which 
to support the arm and back in reclining. Table-cloths 
did not become fashionable till the time of Augustus. 
No forks were used. Among the wealthy the dishes 
were often of embossed silver, and Some of them were 
large enough to carry in a boar to the table whole. 
The Roman matron had her indoor amusements for 
the family and friends, consisting chiefly of games of 
chance played with dice. The favorite game was called 
latrunculi, and had a warlike aspect in the method of 
playing. A table was checkered with two colors, and 
upon nearly every square was placed a counter or 
figure. These men were thirty in number, and divided 
equally by two colors. The game was played by two 
persons, each having fifteen men. Each party had a 
king, who was never moved except on urgent occasions. 
The rest of the men were moved in attitudes of conten¬ 
tion, and when those of a king had all fallen into the 
hands of his enemy he was considered conquered, and 
the game is won by the other. 
The educated women were all fond of writing letters 
to their friends and copying books. They were the 
chief teachers of their children in the art, although 
there were writing schools for boys. Paper, pens, ink, 
penknife and stylus could be seen in every house of the 
citizen classes, for education was compulsory. The 
paper was made from the papyrus or Nile plant, and 
the ink from soot mixed with gum and the liquid of 
the cuttle-fish. F. M. Colby. 
/ 
IN A SCHOOL-HOUSE. 
Over its sunken threshold she found things no less 
bare of comfort and beauty. Narrow, straight-backed 
desks, hacked, worn smooth, and hacked again by gen¬ 
erations of children; dingy, plastered w r alls with laths 
plainly visible in patches where the yellowed plastering 
had peeled away,-and three staring windows at right 
and left, as guiltless of curtains as the warped black¬ 
board was of paint. 
‘ ‘ What a comfortless place in which to pen little chil¬ 
dren !” Hetty thought, glancing about the room. ‘ 1 1 
am glad I brought that package of flower-seeds with 
me,” she added, wisely nodding her head at a dirty 
window, through which the hot sun blazed on to the 
heads of the little children in its range. “Sunlight is a 
blessed thing, but too much of it, especially in one’s 
eyes, is not so blessed.” 
Hetty noticed with pleasure that many of the pupils 
had wild flowers lying on their desks. A fragrant mass 
of Lilac blossoms crowned the rusty stove, and a row 
