Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-10-04
DROP THE UNNECESSARY.
Some Practical Hints Concerning House
Decoration.

Some Practical Hints Concerning House
Decoration.
A writer i'll an Eastern journal, upon
looking about after returning from sum-
mer vacation and preparing to engage again
in the life's work. says:
Now that we are taking up the real bust
ness OF living again, after weeks of COM
parative ldienesS. it is well to begin
moderate reform in the arrangements ofour
homes. The months or weeks of rest have
allowed us time to think, and to each one
has come revelation of the mistakes of
the past year. Now is the time to buckle
on our armor and reform In the first
place. having made study of nature, we
see how wisely she throws off superlative
adornments. The tree we admire so much
Tor Its graceful outline its peculiar adapta-
ton TO its surroundings, has dropped every
leaf except those necessary to its beauty.
Why do we not apply this rule of adapta-
ton to our home?
How many times during call on friend
are our thoughts disturbed by the multi
pl1city OF ornaments and consciousness of
the amount of time and strength used in
taking care ofthem No wonder women look
Old before their time, are worn out ner-
yously and untitled for the duties of their
position as wives and mothers Too often
they are housekeepers, not homekeepers
With the mistaken view that embroidered
curtains, table-cloths, tides and chair
covers, bearing the results of hours of mis-
placed time and INSTRUCTED energy, add to
the beauty and attractiyeneSs of the home,
women who are mothers leave the child
God has given them to the care of a hired
servant, and thus defraud the child of its
rights-a mothers undivided time and at
tention.
A room should only contain as many
pieces OF furniture as are necessary for use
in that particular room. Every piece put
III for the purpose Of producing an effect is
an evidence of the lack of true artistic in
stlnct on the part of the mistress Let
every piece of furniture in the room be
Just as handsome as the circumstances of
the family will allow, but avoid every at
tempt at ornamentation for the mere sake
of ornamentaion. Can anything be more
tiresome than a wall covered with garing
fans, brackets and cabinets filled with brio
a-brac, that you know is put out for show?
Some private parlors produce on the visitor
the same effect produced by visit to one
OF the so-called art-parlorS in our large
stores.
A cabinet containing rare bits of china or
glass or pottery is an ornament and a
means of education but cabinet filled
with plates and cups and saucers, that can
be obtained at any pretentious store, be-
longs properly in the dining-room, where,
in all probability, they would find their
proper places on the table.
Mantels loaded with ornaments are as
much out OF place, and are as great an evil
dence- OF poor taste, as an overturned
bonnet
No room is restful that appears crowded,
or suggests extra exertion on the part of
the housewife, any more than an over
heated, over-anxious hostess adds to the
comfort of the guests at a dinner table.
The mere business of living. the hurry
and rush necessary to accomplish the vari-
Gus objects we have in view, make quiet,
restful, healthful homes necessity of the
age.
Not only does this false idea of what Is
artistic destroy the true uses of a home.
but it absorbs the money that would be
otherwise used i'll purchasing those things
that would conduce to the moral and intel
lectual growth of the various members of
the family.
How much better that the children
Should have two magazines and dozen
new books i'll the year, than that the parIor
should have a lovely plush banner en-
broidered in impossible flowers, or that a
par OF Sinking Dresden figures should
adorn (?) the mantell
How much better to use the old cover on
the livinG-room tablef and cover the table
with good reading matter, than to buy
the new cover and by that means
give time for nothing-to-interest feeling
and yawns 10 creep in the home circle
In how many homes is the evening looked
forward TO with a feeling of dread instead
OF anticipation, because the plush and
china ornaments do not prove an endless
source of interest and conversation
Let the close Of the year find every book
shelf crowded and new shelves calling out |
for their proper adornment-good books