398 
The Garden Magazine, August, 192i 
indoor use, as would not have been the case had more or more 
brilliant tints been brought into play. 
The Italian linens are particularly charming and come in all 
grades of material and all degrees of elaboration. They often 
consist of a long runner for the center of the table with doylies 
and napkins to match. This one runner has replaced the two 
crossed ones which so long held sway, and which were always 
so hard to keep properly straight and at right angles. Even 
more novel is a new arrangement of two long runners placed 
parallel to each other on 
either side of the table, con¬ 
nected at top and bottom by 
a small scarf which just 
bridges the gap between them 
and which continues the de¬ 
sign, thus filling the role of 
the useful but oldfashioned 
“end.” These runners may 
be used at the edges of the 
table or near enough together 
to leave a narrow border of 
wood beyond them, and may 
fall over the ends of the table 
top or come exactly to the 
edge. The effect is excellent, 
especially on a long table; 
the short table appears some¬ 
what fencelike surrounded by 
their achieved effect. When 
rightly used, however, they 
make a decided innovation in 
the table decorating world, 
and are among the most satis¬ 
factory arrangements which 
have appeared for some time. 
Variations of these types 
of decoration may be worked 
out by the woman who likes 
to make her own table linens, 
or her less fortunate sister 
who does not care to un¬ 
dergo the expense of elabo¬ 
rate embroidery and heavily 
woven materials. Such a 
woman may, of course, make 
such embroidery at her 
pleasure, but her efforts will 
probably be turned toward 
work less exceedingly delicate 
and less wearing to eyes and 
nerves. For her skilful fin¬ 
gers many very charming 
possibilities exist. 
Color may be used without a qualm for the outdoors dining 
room, and napkins and runners of plain gingham, blanket- 
stitched in a contrasting color, are cool and quaint. One such 
in mauve gingham stitched in apple green was easy to make and 
particularly charming. Cotton crepe in orange yellow with a 
black monogram in Chinese characters is also simple and strik¬ 
ing, and well adapted to tea if not to a more formal meal. Then 
there are the gingham sets adorned with tiny applique flowers in 
one corner—a mauve gingham iris with a checked petal or two 
may not sound alluring, but it really is—while cotton eponge, of 
the sort used for dress materials, is pretty and undergoes a 
tremendous amount of wear without being, apparently, at all 
the worse for it. 
Such table “linens,” if we may so designate a class which has 
come to include so many and 
such different materials, must 
naturally vary according to 
the form of festivity forwhich 
they are to be used. Obvi¬ 
ously the heavily embroid¬ 
ered Italian linens and their 
humble sisters of gay gingham 
are suitable for very different 
occasions; but we may, in ta¬ 
ble decorations as elsewhere, 
recall the old saw about the 
advantages of simplicity, and 
the lover of the dainty table 
whose pocketbook is small 
may in all sincerity console 
herself with the reflection 
that charming effects lie 
within her power as well as 
within that of her more 
wealthy neighbor. 
The tea table may be form¬ 
ally set, or tea may be served 
upon the tea-wagon, that so 
serviceable assistant, espe¬ 
cially in the servantless house. 
The set table, of course, affords 
better opportunity for artistic 
effect, and is really more con¬ 
venient, since it will accommo¬ 
date the plates of sandwiches, 
cakes, and other titbits which 
make up the menu, and obvi¬ 
ate the overloading of the tea- 
wagon or the employment of 
additional accessories, such as 
the “curate’s delight.” The 
set table is somewhat more 
formal in effect, and a formal 
tea is apt to be regarded bv 
the guest as a higher compli¬ 
ment than the informal one. 
Often, especially in the case 
of Sunday night supper, both 
methods may be combined with success by using the tea-wagon 
for the transportation of hot viands and other such essentials, 
and the informally set table for actual use, since the wagon, 
while excellent within its limits, has decided limits when sub¬ 
stantial food is to be served. 
BANDS OF COLOR A NEW NOTE IN LINENS 
A hemstitched lunch cloth and napkins edged with the palest 
apple green or maize forms a delightful background for the in¬ 
formal luncheon or tea table, indoors or out. (Linens by Mosse) 
!]|||||II!IlllIIII!!IIllllllllllliailllIIIM 
WHAT SEPTEMBER PROMISES THE READER WHO IS BUILDING A GARDEN HOME 
W HETHER your garden is already established or just being made this fall you will want to set out some DAFFODILS OF THE BETTER KIND 
sympathetically described by Stillman S. Berry who has watched these “really great flowers” lift their spring banners of gold and orange and 
ivory for seasons past in his own garden. HOW TO PLAN A SUCCESSFUL HERBACEOUS BORDER is one of the perpetual puzzlements of 
gardening to the happy solving of which Elizabeth Leonard Strang, Landscape Architect, brings a trained judgment and much common sense. And 
since seeing is oftentimes believing, Mrs. Strang’s text is supplemented by one or two elucidating sketch plans. Most of us have to “count our pennies” 
and certainly all of us want to invest them to best advantage, so if you are moving into a new home this autumn or planning to freshen up worn rooms 
do not miss Margery Sill Wickware’s practical suggestions about FURNISHING ON A BUDGET nor THE WHENCE, WHENS, AND WHY’S 
OF WALLPAPER by Amy Richards Colton. 
These are only a random scattering among many subjects of appeal now made possible by the additional pages of text and enlarged scope of the 
September issue (see page 422) which, under the expanded title of GARDEN MAGAZINE & HOME BUILDER, will supplement the customary 
horticultural material with topics of special interest to men and women who are creating for themselves a refuge from oresent-day worry and scurry, a 
little place of peace and beauty—a “garden home.” 
