, 1876-07-14
A Cheerful AoSm-

~ taste. are all thrown away. A dark
-oono cannot be cheerful; and it is as
rnwholesome as it is gloomy. Flowers
Iii not blossom in it; neither will peo-
rle. Nobody knows, or ever will know,
kov many men and women have been
[illed by dark rooms.
UGlorify the rooml Glorify the roomr
SIDNEY Smith used to say Of morning,
hen he ordered every blind thrown
o1en. every shade drawn up to the top
II the window. Whoever is fortunate
snoueh to have a southeast or a south
~est corner room, may, if she chooses,
live in such floods Of sunny light that
s;ckness will have hard work to get
hold of her; and as for the blues, they
lii not dare to so much as knock at her
door.
Second on my list Of essentials for a
cheerful room I put-color. Many a
nom that would otherwise be charm
;n0 ia expressionless and tame for want
n bright color. Don't be afraid of red.
tits the most kindling and inspiring of
oolors. No room can be perfect with
out good deal of it. All the shades of
Scarlet or Of crimson are good. In an
Autumn leaf, in a curtain, in q chair
ooyer. in o pincushion, in a vase, in the
binding of book-everywhere you put
Il It makes q brilliant point, and gives
pleasure. The blind say they always
think red must be like the sound Of q
trumpet; and I think there is q deep
ruth in their instinct. It is the glad
dest. most triumphant color every
where.
Next to red comes yellow; this must
be used sparingly. No bouquet of
flowers is complete without q little
touch Of yellow; and no room is as gay
without yellow as with it. But q bou-
ouet in which yellow predominates, is
ugly; the colors of all the other flowers
are killed by it, and q room which has
one grain too much Of yellow in it, is
hopSlessly ruined. I have seen the
whole expression Of one side Of q room
altered, improved, toned up, by the
taking out Of two or three bright yellow
leaves from Q big sheaf Of sumacs and
ferns. The best and safest color for
walls is delicate cream color. When
l say safest, I mean the best back
ground for bright oolors and for pic
lures, and the color which is least in
danger Of disagreeing with anything
You may want to put upon it. So also
With floors; the safest and best tint is o
neutral gray. II you cannot have o
bare wooden floor, either Of black wal
nut, or stained TO initiate it, then have Q
plain gray felt carpet. Above all things,
avoid bright colors in . carpet. In rugs,
70 lay down on plain gray, or on q
dark brown floor, the brighter the col
ors the better. The rugs are only 30
many distinct pictures thrown up into
relief here and there by the under-tint
either set or otherwise, Of bright colors
jeuFneying up and down, back and forth,
breadth after breadth, on Q floor, Is al
ways and forever ugly. II oneis so I'M
fortunate a. TO enter on the possession
Of . room With such o carpet Is this, or
with o wall paper Of o similar nature,
the first thing to be done, il possible, is
70 get nd Of them or cover them up.
Better have ten-cent paper Of neutral
tints, and indistinguishAble figures on
the wall, and have bare floors painted
brown or gray.
Third on my list Of essentials for
making rooms cosy, cheerful and beau
ttul, come books and pictures. Here,
some persons will cry out:
But, books and pictures cost great
deal Of money"
Yea, books do cost money, and so do
pictures; but books accumulate rapidly
in most houses where books are read at
all; and il people really want books, it
Is astonishing how many they oontrive
70 get together in 0 few years, without
pinching themselves very seriously in
other directions.
As for pictures costing money, how
much or how little they cost depends on
what sort Of pictures you buy. As I
aid before, you can buy for six shil-
iings q good heliotype-which is, to all
lntents and purposes, as good Is an en-
gravino-of one of Raphael's or Cor
reeggios MadonnAs. But you can buy
pictures much cheaper than that. A
japanese fan is . picture; some Of them
are exquisite pictures, and blazing with
color, too. They cost anywhere from
two 10 six cents. There are also Japan
ese pictures, printed on coarse paper,
some two feet long and one broad, to be
bought for twenty-five cents each; with
dozen Of these, dozen fans, and say
loIr good heliotypes, you can make the
walls OF small room 80 gay that 0
Strangers first impression on entering
II will be that it is adorned for o fesL-
val: The fans can be pinned on the
walls In endless picturesque combina-
uons. One Of the most effective Is to
pm them across the corners of the room,
~ overlapping rows, like on old-fash-
loned card rack.
Fourth in my list of essentials for q
cosy, cheerful room, put order. This
= . dangerous thing to say, perhaps;
put it is nv honest conyickion that aIln-