The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-11-26
THE FAMILY HEARTHsroNE.
One Room in a Home Which Should BE
Furnished Most Comfortably.

The FAMILY HEARTHSTONE.
One Room in a Home which Should BE
Furnished Most Comfortably.
No room in the home so perfectly typS-
fes the communism of family, the true
uniting in diversity Of the individuals, as
the sitting room. 1t is the center of the
social life of the household. 1t is mothers
room" There she is oftenest found in her
moments of leisure, ready to hear, to SYM
! pathize, to console and to advise. Here
the father frolics with his children, here
they listen to song and story read aloud;
here the troubles of the day dwindle and
disappear or are softened and lessened by
united sympathizing and soothing sur
! roundings; here nuts and mild jokes are
cracked and rosy apples and fragrant or
anges lend their flavor and juicy richness
| to the homely scene, while without the
wind blows, the rain falls or the snow flies
To make this room the ideal hearth
stone, its furnishings should contain ele-
ments that appeal to the tastes and pur-
suits of each Of the mem bers of the house
hold. There should be room, if possible,
| for favorite chairs and for shelves or book
cases, and tables for each ones choice of
books and papers, and for undisturbed cor
and footstool, or portion of a drawer or
| a curtained shelf. Places where the studi-
Gus, the ambitions or the thoughtful can
work out their pet projects or keep safely
their treasured plans and possessions,
ready for the sudden inspiration or the in
dustrious mood. which quite as often seizes
one amid the family chatter as in the soli-
tude of ones own room.
SaoY1ra oil this will TaO1iro nnDcidor.
able outlay as well as much unselfish
thought on the part of the homemaker.
The outlay, however, can usually be modi-
fed, adding purchases from time to time
as family growth and taste may show them
to be desirable. Indeed, the true furnish
ing of such a room, after a certain point,
must be matter of growth. Given the
bare bones of chairs, carpets, tables and
curtains, the rounded form and vigorous
expression of the sitting room must grow
out of the mental and moral life of the
family, grow out of that social, intellec-
tual and spiritual food on which the fam
lily feeds. OF course furnishing selected |
with this aim in view will be as varied as |
families are, for what expresses comfort |
and gives help and solace to one family |
would be tiresome, inane or comfortless in |
others.
Each home writes its own history sooner
or later in its furnishings and arrange
ments. Even straitened means-that oft
berated foe of family luxury-cannot pre-
vent the telling of the tale. Year by year
slips by, purchase after purchase is made,
chapter after chapter is written. What we
most desire we bend our circumstances to
secure, and therefore the home does ex-
press IN the long run what we are and
what we feel. This being true, let us not
be impatient. Let us proceed thoughtful
ly, unselfshly and carefully, that our
home center may not express sordid lives,
ungenerous natures or narrow minds.
The home is for the family and not the
world, and there should never be a mo-
ment's hesitancy If narrow means compel
the furnishing Of but one room-a parlor
or a sitting room. Let the sitting room
come first 1t should never, on the other
hand, be the receptacle of broken down OF
useless drawing room furnishings. Good,
plain articles, which are yet honorable in
their strength and usefulness, can fire.
quently be put into the sitting room when
the stateo the family finances has allowed
something handsomer to be bought for the
drawing room.
Too often the sitting room receives but
rickety tables, cracked ornaments, spotted
upholstery and chairs whose springs are
warped out of any comfort giving proper
ties they may once have possessed. So in
bringing any furniture from the parlor to
the sitting room, let the housewife see to
it first that it is restored to strength and
rendered clean and inviting in all ways.
''The best is good enough for my own"
should be her watchword, not Anything
for US and our finest for our callers"-
Harper's Bazaar.