Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-02
HOW TO FURNISH HoME-A FEW
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.

barking in the business of housekeeping
write to editors asking how TO furnish 6
home. Strange as it may seem, they never
apply to lawyers, physicians, blacksmiths
or railroad presidents for such information
1t may not be generally kHown that one o.
the first duties of an editor ia to acquire 9
thorough knowledge OF the art Of house
furnishing. There are strong grounds fol
the belief that the failure of the graduates
of the Yale school of journalism to obtain
remunerative editorial positions on our
leading journals is owing principally to the
fact that the studies OF the class did not in
clude the important science of house-fur.
nirhing.
Editors, however, when gratuitously i'm.
parting instruction on this subject, are
prone to manifest too much extravaganza
in their ideas, evidently presuming that
the parties who desire the information are
rolling in quite as much affiuepce as them.
selves. The suggestions herewith append,
ed are plain and practical, and designed to
fit salary OF not over 81, 500 year.
In furnishing home, respected madam,
the first and most important requisite is to
get the home. Saould this suggestion be
ignored, it will be almost impossible to
act upon those which follow with any ap-
preciable degree of success. Having pro.
| cured the home, the next step is to i'm
prove its appearance and give 1t an air OF
comfort. The floors should be covered
! with material called carpet, manufactured
expressly for this purpose. 1t is
desirable to have a few chairs in
each room. These will be found very
convenient to stand upon when driving
| picture nails in the walls or MASKING mos
| quitoes on the ceiling Also for the women
folk to hastily mount when a frightful
monster in the shape of a mouse invades
the room.
| A desideratum is wooden continuance
in the dining groom denominated table.
A dining.room is very incomplete without
this piece Of furniture. Its usefulness will
| become apparent at the dinner hour. Upon
this table are placed dishes and eataOles,
and by drawing up and sitting upon the
chairs before mentioned, the family are
enabled to partake of the viands before
them with amazing ease and airy freedom.
| To recline upon the floor when satisfying
the demands of hunger is fragrant viola
| ton of the rules Of etlquette-Outside of a
Chinese dwelling or an Indian wigwam.
In the absence of heater In the base
| ment, an iron implement technically termed
stove will prove very enjoyable during
| the late fall, winter ana early spring
months. By building fire in the stove
the temperature OF a room may be main
tanned above sixty degrees throughout the
coolest weather the Manitoba wave market
| affords, Some writers on home adornment
| advise against having stoves in the house,
on the ground that they provoke strife be.
tween man and wife, both of whom, it is
alleged, insist upon getting up first in the
| morning to build the fires; but dutiful
and loving husband will always gracefully
submit to the better Judgment of his wife
! In such q controversy.
The front windows may be provided
with blinds or shades. These not only
shut out the sunlight, which fades the
| carpets, but serve admirably TO exclude
| the prying eyes of the neighbors across the
way. Don't hang too many cheap cromos
on the walls. 1t is better to have one
really good picture by Maissonier or Bon,
guereau, or some otner foreigner who
charges $4,000 Tor nine by twelve can.
vas, than to own seventeen OF. paintings
with rich gold frames" costing three dol
| lars and fifty cents apiece.
If your grardmother's gift on your wed,
i ding day was one of her mothers old blue
china tea.pots with cracked waist and .
! fractured spout, don't outrage all the can
ons of the Beautiful in Art by utilizing it
on the tea.tabIe. 1t should have prom.
inent place on an ebony cabinet in the
parlor. Your esthetic friends will call it a
sweet piece of bric.s- brac, though sensi-
| bic persons may call it by its right name
"old trash" Sensible persons, however,
are glsring failures as esthetes, and their
| remarks should be treated as the idle wind
A bedstead in each sleeping. chamber is
| regarded by many persons as indispens-
| able. When spring mattress Is placed
upon bedsCead, Its adaptabilIty for Sleep
/ Ing purposes is Immensely enhanced. Even
| a not over particular man takes advantage
! OF the repose anu solace afforded by such a
i bed when he comes home at miinight-
sober. The bedroom should also be fur
nished with bureau aud two or three
| chairs. 1t is customary, before retiring at
night, to garuish the back of one of the
| chairs with SIG worth of store hair
| and TO pile enough wearing apparel on the
! others to bury them ont of eight. The
| bureau generally contains four recepsacies
| called drawers, and if the number was
| forty seven they would all be crsmmed so
! full Of one thing and another that it
| would be utterly impossible for an ordi-
nary man to open and shut them without
| in1ulgIug in language never found in books
| OF religious character. After thirty-four
unsuccessful efforts to close a drawer so
| that a shirt sleeve or rUlfle3 something
will not be left hanging outside, as il IN
| tended as a sample OF the goods within,
! he gives it a vicious shove, and lets it go
az that,
| Whether your boudoir is provided with
a mirror or not Is simply matter Of taste,
Mirrors are tolerated in good society, but
of course they are for ornament and not
foI use
The mantel-p piece is a feature of the par.
Tor that will permit Of the display of a
nice taste in its adornment Besides
sifording q very convenient rest for the
husbands feet when he is sitting on his
spine In an easychair, smoking cigar and
reading the daily paper, it also invites him
to deposit cigar stub behind vase, where
his wife fiuds 1t and makes few energetic
remarks on the evils OF smoking.
You might worry along without a piano
and still retain the respect of your next
door neighbors. But If you possess no
more talent for music than fife and drum
corps, you viii decide TO have a
piano; and in purchasing the instru-
ment don't select one Endorsed by cele-
brated prima donna as 1.-THE best" Such
piano is too numerous, and to own it
would necessitate large outlay of money.
It would also monopobZs too much space
in each room in the house.
a few other triaing matters are neces-
sary in furnishing home, such as Rsrais-
canes waHb-%ubo a Oupen Anuerolliuu min
an esehetic barrel OF flour, a medieval
scrnhbing brush, ETC., IL procuring which
you may consult Your own taste and the
plethoricness of your husbands pocket
book.-[J. II. w, IN Harper's.