The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-11-04
Cheerful Rooms,

Cheerful Rooms,
We are so influenced by our surround
ings that it is very desirable they should
be as pleasant as possible. 1t is not
always in the power of the householder
to live in the locality she prefers or to
! change its features to suit her tastes, but
she may so furnish and arrange the inte-
riOr of her house that it will be charming
and restful. The charm of cosy home
resides inherently in the mistress and not
in what the furnisher and upholSterer
can do to make a house comfortable.
If fine mirrors and velvet carpets and
pluSh-covered furniture and elegant
carvings made happy homes what bless
edness would reside in a furniture store.
Not till loved faces have been reflected
in mirror is it made at all precious to
u.s. not till footsteps for which we fOndly
listen have pressed the carpet is its in
animate web dear to us; not till chairs
and sofas have been consecrated by hold
ing the forms of our friends do these
sOulless objects, however costly, have to
us other than mere commercial value.
Unassociated with human feeling and
sympathy the most expensive and elab-
crate interiors are like roses without
scent, like marbles without life. Every
thoughtful person knows all this well
enough, but for all that we are too apt
to fancy that possessions like these bring
happiness, while we suffer to lie unused
such as are at hand and potent to yield
abundant pleasure.
One of the chief requisites for cheer
full room whether in palace or cottage is
sunshine. In the hot summer time n
north room is endurable, but in winter
we love those rooms best where the sun
comes earliest in the morning and fingers
longest in the evening. In such room
should the family life pass. And in its
Sunniest corner should be the invalid's
chair, the grandmother rocker, the
babys cradle. ''..t F..
In rooms into which the sun never
shines recourse must be had to various
devices to make up, so far as may be,
for this grave lack. A sunless room
should have bright and joyous color in
its furnishings. The walls should be
warmly tinted, the curtains give rose
ate glow to the light that passes through
them. An open fire may diffuSe the sun
shine but lately imprisoned in oak or
hickory, or ages ago locked up in an
thracite. Ferneries and shade loving
plants may contribute their gentle cheer
to the room and to suggest quiet forest
hooks.
Not less requisite than sunshine to the
comfort of rooms is order and neatness.
This should be impressed upon every
part of it. There is a certain neglige
look to all attractive rooms, certain evil
dences of personality and individuality,
but these are as far as possible removed
from disorder and carelessnesS. A book
left lying on the table, bit of needle
work on the window-sill, an open piano,
may indicate the tastes and occupations
of the inmates without suggesting that
there is not a place for everything in that
room. There is such thing as being
too neat and too nice to take comfort in
everyday life, and this is anything but
cheerful. And then there is such thing
as being so disorderly and negligent that
comfort and cheer are impossible. 1.-THE
house-mother cannot rest while there is
finger mark on the paint or spot on
the window panes, she may make neat
room but her splint will keep it from ever
being cheerful. If she has no care for
the clocks of things her failure will be
equally sure.
A bird singing in the window, an
aquarium on the table in some corner,
plants growing and blooming, domestic
pets moving about as if at home, these
give life and brightness to an apartment
and afford constant opportunities for the
pleasantest occupation and companion
ship. Books people room, and pictures
on the walls, if selected with taste, are
ever fresh sources of enjoyment. You
may gauge the refinement and cultiva-
ton of family by these infallible tests,
unless they have been selected by some
outsider. Bits of embroidery, OF SCROLL
work, and a thousand tasteful devices
may contribute to the charm of a room
and make it irresistibly attractive. The
room in which one lives takes on the
complexion of and prevailing states OF
mind OF the occupant. If one is sunny
cheerful, tasteful, these qualities will be
impressed on his surroundings, and you
will know him by them just as you would
know crab by its cast off shell. There
are lovely rooms in which there is no
one piece of fine furniture, one bit o.
elegant upholstery, but where the taste
OF the occupants has found beautiful ex.
preston in calico and ingram and WOOD
engraving and such resources as boun.
teous nature bestows on us an-ferns
and flowers and sunshine and domestic
pets.-N Y. Tribune.
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