The hearthstone; or, Life at home

Old furniture re-covered in cretonne often makes the most comfortable and desirable of articles. Some housekeepers can, with the aid of a good cutter, upholster their own furniture; but it is more economical to have the work done by an artist. The best twilled cretonne is the cheapest for sets of furniture, but where only one or two articles are to be covered, the smooth and less costly kind can be made to answer admirably. Irish tapestry is preferred by many to cretonne, and the difference in cost is so little that the choice can be left to one's taste. Exquisite colors are offered in cretonnes, and there are many pretty and dainty ways of using it to advantage, in re-covering sofapillows, trimming mantels and wall brackets, and in applique work for tidies. A border for a mantel-piece always repays one, and, when made of macreme lace, is very showy. It should be made up over either cloth or velvet, to suit the taste of the maker, and the Vandykes of the velvet should be about an inch, or a little deeper, beyond the lace. These pretty articles of adornment are made up of a variety of materials, most frequently in cloth, but for a parlor-mantel, are most elegant composed of macreme lace and velvet or plain plush. The drawing-room fire-place should always be concealed in summer, for it is rarely handsome or pleasing to look at, and one of the most successful ways for doing this is to arrange silk curtains of a color to accord with the prevailing shade of the furniture of the room. These curtains should be edged on each side with fringe or lace, and then looped up with ribbon bows. This is a great improvement over the ordinary paper screen or iron front, and if the interior is neatly papered it will be a feature of the room. Unbleached cotton and bunting are both much used for curtains. They are bordered with one broad, or two or three narrow rows of pink, blue or crimson silesia. For bed-rooms the silesia is more suitable than lace, but unless care is used the colors will fade, particularly if the sunlight is admitted, as it ought to be in all rooms. Turkey-red silesia wears the best, but those desiring the pale rosecolor or blue, which is a far handsomer trimming for spring or summer curtains, can renew it without much trouble if it does fade. Rings and rods for these curtains can be made by any carpenter, o{ stained pine or of walnut. The latter are the handsomest if not the most economical. The time spent in making trash in the way of so-called fancy articles is immense, and the homes made unattractive with the varieties of tidies, mats, foot-rests, rugs, and other fancy work, are far too numerous. The money taken up in such purchases is [illustration: page number 54] scarcely less in amount where the articles are purchased readymade than where the materials are purchased and the work done at home. The work-basket is filled with crewels and sticks and crochet-pins, and .there is a continual reminder of valuable hours spent in worse than idleness in many homes where there are young or middle-aged people. Old people knit, and sensible articles of clothing are the result of their handiwork. Young people make anatomical curiosities in the shape of animals and insects, and create arabesque designs in the most unnatural way imaginable.