The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1879-03-27
How to Choose a Carpet.

How to Choose a Carpet.
Nonsense!" exclaims Mrs. alright,
as she reads this heading; "just as if
every housekeeper did not know how to
choose carpet! Let her tell us how
to procure the money to buy one, and
We'll thank her for the information!"
All! my friend, perhaps you do know
just how 10 select a pretty, durable and
excellent carpet, but does it follow that
Mrs. Furry, your next-door neighbor,
understands the secret? And then it is
an easy matter to select a carpet, if you
can replace it the next year with an
other, should your selection prove I'M
satisfactory; but if you must exercise
economy as well as discretion and taste,
then comes Z" the tug of war"
French moquette and English brussels
are the best carpets to wear, and will
give the greatest satisfaction. Aubus-
son, Administer and Turkey are equally
good, but their price is of course high.
Tapestry brussels is not as desirable as
a good three-ply or an ingram, because
when the gay figures wear off there is
nothing left but hemp, which is far
worse than an Atwood ingram of good
quality. A poor, "slimpsy" carpet is
not worth the making and putting down,
except in rooms that are only kept for
visitors and used on rare occasions and
even then a handsome Chinese mating
is to be preferred. And in choosing the
mating the best quality is the cheapest
in the end, for one that costs 60 to Is
cents per yard is far more desirable than
one that can be had for IS or 40 cents
OF course the expense at first is higher,
but then we must consider the expense
of making and putting down; and bear
in mind that after two years. wear the
more expensive carpeting is often of
more value than the cheaper one when
first laid upon the floor.
Again, in purchasing drugget or
floor cloth, three yards square, you may
have to pay from SIG to $l8 for the
handsome quality, while hempen one,
stamped with quite as pretty a pattern,
can be had for 81 to SO. Now, do not
take the cheap one. For a year it may
look well, but by. the next autumn it is
worn and shabby, while the expensive
one is as good as the day it was laid
down, and it will outlast three of the
cheap patterns.
Sometimes we can come across bar
gains and buy carpets of excellent quail
ity at q low price; but unless we are ex-
perienced shoppers, it is never well to
trust to our own Judgment in such mat
tiers, and it rarely happens that we can
purchase; such articles below their real
market value, except at auctions, and
even then we are very likely to be taken
in. 1t is far better way to go to the
carpet-rooms of some we'll known deal
er, and then make our selections ac-
cording to the depth of the purse.
The most durable carpets are closely
woven and thick, yet soft and pliable !;
and in real English brussels the colors
can be distinguished on the wrong side,
but in the tapestry" there is nothing to
be seen but hemp.
The beauty of a carpet is quite as i'm
portant as its durability, and it should
be of kind that will not tire the eyes.
Most of us purchase a carpet hoping
that it will last several years, and de-
string it to be appropriate for all sea-
sons. Now, the gorgeous designs that
fill the carpet-rooms, and adorn the
floors of elegant houses, may be very
beautiful, but unless we can change
them frequently, one soon tires of such
styles. Far prettier for use and CON-
fort are the delicate and intricate trac-
iDgs, the wondrously blended and ex-
quisitely beautiful colors of the Persian
patterns. In many of them there seems
to be no regular pattern, but the artist
weaves in the lines and shades appar-
emily in an indiscriminate way. The
combinations differ in every few yards,
and If we look at it for years It never
wearies us, for the eye continually sim
giles out some one design that is $50
pretty" Such carpet is perpetual
joy, and we never call it "that old
thing" but always feel respect for it :;
long association makes it part of the
family, and, while breadth lasts, it
possesses much value in our eyes.
But II we can not procure so expen-
sive and elegant carpet, let us take
the next best, and choose small figur-
ed three-ply, Kidderminster, or ingram.
They are to be had in tiny, crinkly,"
messy figures, and are more durable
than those of larger designs in squares,
octagons and diamonds, for the threads
Irvine in and out of each other in close
network, and resist the wear and tear
of many feet far better than the larger
designs. =" Sophie Honaespmn," in
Country Gentleman.
The biggest boy in the school at Tat
tell, Md, disobeyed the mistress, who
attempted to punish him. He knocked
her down and went home. His father
returned with him to the school, put a
whip into the teachers hands, and told
| her to chaStiSe him all she wanted to.