Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-11-09
THE YOUNG IDEA.
BY MRS. TALBOT COKE.


seldom too lenient-of some of the chill
dren of to-day Csay girls of fourteen or
fifteen) on book illustrations and such
like. and going back in fancy to the
hopeless little woodcuts which alone
adorned the the fairy tales of our early
youth, We feel that the young idea has
been "taught to shoot with a ven.
geance.
But after all, when one comes to
think it, why not educate their taste?
Why should children learn that which
they will afterwards strive to unlearn ?
In some houses-too many houses
the nursery, the schoolroom, and chill
dren's bedrooms are considered quite
beyond the pale of decoration. "Ihey
only want to be clean and sweet" says
a prosaIc Materfamilas, as she covers
the walls with blood -curCling magen-
ta-and gray paper, lays a gaudy Brus-
sells carpet on the floor, with surround
of grey y-andwhite oilcloth, hangs the
windows and covers the chair seats
with "serviceable" black ground cre-
tonne, and looks proudly round ON
things and colorings no power on
earth would induce even her to admit
into the drawing room. But in what
sense would the nursery have been less
fresh" had the walls been adorned
with high dadC of inexpensive Ana
glypta painted greeny-turquoise
(white is charming IN theoretic nur-
sery, but shows kicks too much for
"workaday' oneJ? Above the dado-
L. G., some 3ft. Gin. high-lnstead of
the ordinary dado rail is a five-inch
shelf painted 20 match the room, ON
which may rest large toys, Noah's ark,
the big box of bricks, etc while here
and ere are boxed-in shelves to the
ground Zone set for each child, con-
cealed by an easily drawn curtain of
washable yellow Acanthe hDen, mex
pensive, but lovely in design and color.
The wind curtains are of the same
material, unless the room be a very
cold one, when heavy gold-and-cream
printed sneeting made mp into curtains
would he warmer and almost equally
decorative.
A large low divan stretches from
one side the fireplace to the corner, Its
mattress cushion and big frilled pillows
again showing the yellow Acanthe,
while the floor Is covered with a gold
Chrysanthemnm" art square, we'll
stretched to meet a two-foot border of |
plain brown linoleum.
l think most of us are now convinced !
that scrubbed boards, which retain the |
damp for many hours, cannot be con-
ducive to the health of delicate chill |
dren. OF course in all case parquet |
Is the perfect surround, and in these |
days of inexpensive yet good supply |
thereof should be commoner than it is |
however, is easily washed, |
inoffensive Gfn beautifully, and dries |
with great rapidity.
An imaginative reader can picture to |
herself the fresh artistic cheeriness of !
such a room, the coloring of which |
could be adhered to in an even less ex. |
pensive manner.
Of a schoolroom in days of yore l |
have a never-fading mind picture, |
though the original was not one in |
which Twas ever aught but a trembling |
visitor.
How charming could we make the
room to-day? 1 should first erect a |
large platform-carpeted like the room |
with a golden-brown DAISY carpet I |
know-to raise cosy basket chairs, and |
a pretty table or two for work or paint |
ing to convenient level for the win |
dOws, in the deep recess of each of |
which should further lie cosy, low |
seat with cushion and frill to the ground |
of gold Victoria cord.
The somewhat dark room-a stone |
pOrtico over Swallowed it-should be |
cheered by yellow paper with plumy |
pattern with faint blue-and- white |
ceiling, and the grained paint |
concealed by coat of golden |
brown panelled with rich lea
ther paper. Gold serge curtains over |
those of a bright gold muslin well |
known to my readers, cheer the once |
gloomy windows, while the "weeding" |
of the musty books shall make room |
for my favorite plan of arching in some |
of the shelves of the tall bookcase a.
recesses for china
The lesson table shall be covered |
with an Indian-red serge table cloth, |
each student having a small Japanese |
tray for her pen, pencil, and one of the |
inexpensive glass ink stands which one |
cannot pssibly upset
A frill of red-anj gold figured vel |
veteen cheers the mantelpiece, over
which is development of my over
shelf arrangement.
Surely bright, cosy, lovable room
such as this should have been the |
rtght of the yOung things who, save a
Vlslt-ss visitor too!-to the drawing
room, had TO spend most of their da, :,
and all their evenings therein. A
pretty schoolrCom is an incentive to a
girl to work for, paint for, carve for,
or whatever may be-the pastime of her
idle hours 1t is tie training school,
too, for making her own home pretty. |
should she marry.
Do not therefore 1T the schoolroom
be the asylum for the old carpet from
the drawing-roOm. 1t would fetch
more in Il sale than would buy a new
Brussels, for the smaller room. If it
must give resting place to the frayed
leather sofa and armchairs from the
hbrary, have them nicely recovered
with pretty tapestry. Let your girls
be proud TO show visitor their school
room, not ashamed even to let her see
its gaunt ugliness or its vulgar COM
and so help the young
idea TO shoot in the right direction. l
shall always hold that the love for and
the beautifying of our hearths and
bones is more elevating In the knowl-
edge of art and beauty interwoven with
1t, than the old world notions of girls
existence, ''noyelreading. dress and
Irritation"
The largest sample of gold quartz
aver minai a Mnntana r-aS faIyar 49,. l