The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1891-02-06
Dumpn'B Hprlp.
Selecting rurn,tarc.

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to come II, In making choice Of her
first furniture, and in all additions to
that choice, she takes into considera-
tion the fact that she will have to dust
and wipe with damp cloths each arti-
Gle from time TO time, especially II she
lives on this dusty coast, and makes
aelections accordingly. There are
many styles of furniture which In
clude in their ornamentation hand
some carvings with deep creases or
veneerings of scrool-saw work that ii
il almost impossible TO keep clean,
though many hours are spent In the
effort weekly. It Is not necessary to
buy these to have handsome furniture.
Styles sufficiently ornate can be
selected which have no deep ereases
nor difficult angles for the housewife
to reach, and very few who have never
tried 1t have any adequate compre-
hension OF the amount of labor they
may save themselves by paying heed
to this simple matter without saerific-
ing particle of beauty and finished
ness in the appearance OF their homes.
II the young husband has any In
genuity at all about him and Is in
dustriously inclined he can save many
dollar by buying few simple tools
and making good many articles OF
furniture himself Myself and hus-
band began our housekeeping days
on farm. We had not much Of this
worlds wealth but were, OF course,
full OF faith in our strong arms and
healthy bodies. had helped my
mother do the housework since was
old enough and had acquired an i'm
ices and angles that had cost many
an hour Of weary toll In keeping the
furniture clean. When we went to
the furniture store said: 1.-THE first
and most important aim, TO which /
am ready to sacrifice everything else,
is to get something that can be easily
kept clean" Though the house ON
the farm where we began life was a
large one we did not fill it with furni-
tnre. We got a comfortable set for
the Kitchen and dining-room and one
bedroom set Ny husband said he
could make a bedroom set that we
could use and the one we were buying
would then do for the "spare bed
room," and we could fit up cosy
front parlor later on. For the present
that must remain closed. He had
bought the farm for half cash, and il
had required close calculation on our
part to stock it and furnish the house
without getting in debt. We had
enough money left to have furnished
that front parlor quite handsomely,
but my husband said: 1--WE can get
along without that for while. III we
furnish it we will have to run a bill at
the village store for the necessaries OF
life until we have something to sell.
We can get our goods cheaper for cash
and that will save us many dollar in
the year" / reluctantly consented,
and gave up the present realization
of the cosy little parlor 1 had been
pieturing to myself am glad / did,
for we had dry year and our little
hoard of coin carried us through and
saved our sacrificing any of the stock
which my husband had selected with
so much care and the increase from
which has paid the last dollar for the
dear old homestead.
My husband bought a few carpenter
tools-saws, planes, bits, etc, and a
load of clear redwood lumber The
tools he said he would need in keeping
buildings, fences and implements in
repair. The boards were damp as
they came from the yard, but they
were stored away near the roof of the
stable and in couple of months OF
summer weather were as dry as so
much tinder and my husband, who
had never been a carpenter, much less
cabinet maker, began the presump-
tuo1s task of making bedstead, all
of redwood. He sawed and planed
and hammered during odd moments,
and 1 nagged him about the "homely
redwood rattletrap" he would have
and told him he might keep it in the
barn-I would not tolerate the thing
in the house.
He had it in shape at last, and had
to confess, as it stood there by his
bench, smooth, close jointed and
sandpapered, that it was a very fair
looking piece of carpenter work, but
still I insisted we could not have a
plain redwood bedstead in the house.
He said nothing but produced a bottle
,abeled mahogany STAIN" This
was like red dye, apparently mixed
with water, containing no oil, and he
poured some out in bowl and applied
it with paint brush. The effect was
marvelous The grain of the red
! wood, which / had not noticed before,
stood out as if painted in colors, but
with a perfection no painter could inn
itate. The dye sank deep into the
softer parts and made them dark
almost black-while the harder por-
ton of the grain absorbed but little
color and remained light in shade. 1t
was dry almost as soon as it was laid
on, and my husband went over it with
very light sandpaper and left it till
next day. Then he went over it with
linseed oil, laid on, as before, with a
brush, and it looked rather dull and I
was somewhat disappointed. Still
another day, and he produced another
bottle, labeled "orange shellac, and
he applied the contents of this with a
piece of cloth, rubbing it rapidly, but
it dried so quickly that there were