A Better Room for the 
Children 
SOME NEW SUGGESTIONS TO MAKE THE CHILD’S 
ROOM PLEASANT—PICTURES AND CASTS THAT 
ARE EDUCATIONAL AND BEAUTIFUL AS WELL— 
WHAT THE FIELD OF JAPANESE PRINTS OFFERS 
BY He t tie R II o d a jM e a d e 
Two little plaster figures that are 
really companions for the child 
Photographs by Herbert E. Lawson 
“Some things stay and let you play, 
Others get up and run away” 
N owhere better than in the nursery 
can that which will delight as well 
as educate he combined. The things by 
which a child is surrounded in his child¬ 
hood. objects, thoughts, and jicople, leave 
their indelible impression upon his con¬ 
sciousness. How important it is, then, that 
the children's room receive our earnest 
attention. How often all the cast-off pic¬ 
tures. ornaments and furniture are put into 
the children’s room and the children have 
had to take the leftovers. 
Instead of making the children's room 
the "catch-all” of the house, let us remem¬ 
ber that it can he made a very delightful 
schoolroom where we may collect those 
things which will unconsciously tend 
towards developing in the child a love for 
the beautiful. At a very early age the 
child can begin his or her acquaintance with 
the things which will tend toward cultiva¬ 
tion. The best of pictures, hooks, toys, 
furniture of correct proportions, groups of 
objects of harmonious colors should find 
their way into this room that can be a fairy¬ 
land of delight to the child and a retreat of 
real pleasure to the parents. 
Of late years, so many delightful things 
have been created for the child’s room that a few can be spoken 
of here. 
Some of the artists in clay modeling have modeled reliefs and. 
statuettes of child-life that are simply radiant with the spirit of 
childhood, be it in thoughtful, happy or mischievous mood. One 
of these statuettes is called The Chums, and 
represents a little coat and cap clad fellow 
hugging to himself a Teddy Bear. Every 
aspect of the little statuette is delightful, it 
is so true to life. Another is called Bashful 
Boy, and, indeed, to face the embarrass¬ 
ments of life does seem altogether too much 
for him. Miss Betty is the statue of a little 
girl with her doll hanging at her side. The 
Student suggests a man of stern aspect and 
hoary beard; it is a little fellow going 
grudgingly to school. None of these small 
figures is more than six inches high, and no 
child could fail to love them. While they 
could not he handled safely by a small child, 
the mother can weave stories around these 
delightful little people that would make ver¬ 
itable playmates of them, and at the same 
time their fine art would be making its im¬ 
pression upon the mind of the small owner. 
Bas-reliefs illustrating some of Robert 
Louis Stevenson's delightful Child's Garden 
of Verses have also been modeled by these 
artists of child-life. The Wind shows a lit¬ 
tle breeze-kissed girl, wondering at the mys¬ 
tery of the ever-blowing breezes, and illus¬ 
trates the lines from the poem of that name. 
These plaster casts are valuable for acquaint¬ 
ing the little folk, almost from babyhood, with these poems that 
will delight them all their lives. 
Another suggestion for the decoration of the child's room is 
the use of inexpensive Japanese prints in a frieze arrange¬ 
ment around the room. Two styles of prints that can be 
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The spirit of Stevenson’s Child’s Verses 
is in this cast entitled “The Wind” 
The love of animals that is so strong in children is heartily appealed to by some of the Japanese prints that show the animals in a very lifelike and 
realistic manner 
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