House and Garden 
Free Advice on Decoration 
T 
HE unprecedented growth of the Correspondence Depart¬ 
ment of “ House and Garden ” has necessitated the opening 
of a new Department which will be devoted to the interest 
of those who are building, decorating or furnishing their homes. 
Beginning with the new year “ House and Garden” offers its 
readers a House Finishing, Decorating, Furnishing and Purchas¬ 
ing Service which is complete in detail and thoroughly practical. 
Full color suggestions for the exterior of the house will be supplied 
with recommendations of proper materials to obtain the results. 
For the interior, the treatment of standing woodwork and floors, 
the selection of tiles, hardware and fixtures will be considered and 
specifically recommended, with the addresses of firms from whom 
these goods may be obtained. Samples of wall coverings and 
drapery materials will be sent and selections of rugs and furniture 
made. When desired, the goods will be purchased and shipped 
to the inquirer; the lowest retail prices are quoted on all materials. 
This Department of Decoration is under the direction of 
MARGARET GREENLEAF, whose successful work as an inte¬ 
rior Designer and Decorator is well known. 
YOU ARE A DEAD ONE IF YOU CAN’T COME BACK 
WITH A GOOD TOAST 
In the SKULL TOAST BOOK 
are 200 witty toasts 
and 150 clever pictures 
(count ’em) 
Book made in shape of a skull 
Limp Leather, $1.00 
In Cloth, 60c. 
6 X 7% inches. 
Sent postpaid on receipt of price 
THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., PHILADELPHIA 
interesting monument of the first Napo¬ 
leon, which ought to be preserved. The 
cottage is about five versts from the 
fortress of Novogeorgievsk, in Russian 
Poland, and it is asserted that, in i8o6, 
the Emperor passed an entire day and 
night within its walls, while supervising 
the passage of the Narev by his army. 
Napoleon, in fact, made the house his 
headquarters. At that time it was 
owned by a Polish peasant, named Afek, 
of whom the present occupant—known 
by the villagers as “ Afek-Napoleon”— 
claims to be the great-grandson. Above 
the entrance the following inscription 
has been cut: Palais de FEmpereur, 
23 Decemhre, 1806. Inside, on a block 
of black marble, is another inscription 
in Larin: Napoleo M. Imperator Rex 
Hastes persequens. Htc hostem exit 23 
Xhris, 1806 in Okunin. The origin 
of these inscriptions does not appear to 
be known, but the tradition of the 
Emperor’s stay has always been piously 
preserved in the Polish peasant’s family. 
Boston Herald. 
INCREASING USE OF THE PENNY-IN- 
THE-SLOT GAS METERS 
/^AS meters of the “penny-in-slot” 
sort have not yet made much 
progress in this country, but in England 
they are both popular and successful. 
Meanwhile, as the Engineering Rec¬ 
ord points out, Americans are feeling 
the effect of these machines in the shape 
of a decreased demand from London for 
our kerosene. The new meters, it is 
said, have already caused the abandon¬ 
ment of oil throughout a large part of 
the English metropolis, where it w^as 
used up to a very recent period. At any 
rate, one company there has 80,000 of 
the machines in profitable operation, 
and none of them is used by persons for 
whom it was practicable to buy gas in 
any other way. And the more conven¬ 
ient source of heat is used for cooking as 
well as for light. Prior to the introduc¬ 
tion of the prepayment meters Sunday 
was, in London, a day of small gas con¬ 
sumption. At present there is an enor¬ 
mous demand, betw een 12 and 2 o’clock 
on that day, when thousands of dinners 
are cooked upon gas-stoves, and so great 
is the call upon the service at that hour 
that it has been difficult to get sufficient 
gas through the mains to meet the 
demands. Another excellent result from 
the point of view of the operating 
(Continued on page 14 .) 
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