Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-17
Beautifying the washstand.

washstands are not so inviting for dis
play of ingenuity as dressing tables, but
| they are necessary, and now that the ighi
| open stand is substituted for the cumber
some closed thing we used to know, there i:
| no reason why it should be blot even in
the most beauty-loving eyes. A light stand
of oak or of painted pine, perfectly open
below and just large enough to hold the
toilet set, is what our girl should have.
The toilet set should be of some light and
daintily decorated ware. Some of the most
sprays in Dresden designs, or with dull
pink or blue all over patterns on a white OF
ivory ground.
The window draping is sure to be source
of pure delight to every, girl whose sweet
fortune it is to have windows to drape. They
can be made so very pretty at SO little cost.
Whatever draperies are used should be
light, so that plenty of sunshine may filter
through them.
One of the daintiest little rooms that any
girl ever laid her head down to sleep in, had
curtains of cotton Japanese Grape in dull
yellow draped on brass pole set down
about foot and half from the top of the
window. Across the upper pane, which was
left bare, was a piece of fsh-net in its
natural color smoothly stretched and fas-
tened with tiny nails to the wood work at
the sides. All the cotton grapes make beau
tiful window curtains, and white muslin
finished with simple rufle of ball fringe,
and draped straight from the top is always
pretty.
Minor Fittings OF the Room.
Of course there should be divan or
something on which a girl can throw her.
self for few minutes rest, without disturb
ing her bed. Of making divans in these
days of feminine household ingenuity, there
is no end. A cot bed frame with mattress
covered with cretonne is perhaps the
simplest. A thick wadded comfortable
placed directly upon the springs of the cot
will answer admirably for mattress But
an ordinary husk mattress can be bought
for 50 or So.
One lounging chair in which she can
"cuddle" any girl must have. And girl
can make almost any chair comfortable if
it is only big enough no matter if it hasn't
wide willow chair is good lounging chair,
and cushions of cretonne will make of it
the coziest little nest that any girl ever
curled up her toes and fell to dreaming IN.
So, too, will steamer chair with bright
rug folded lengthwise down it.
A little, low chair, without arms she
should have, the kind known. among girls
as q shoe-and-stccking chair, and one or two
others beside; simple, all OF these, and light
in color and structure.
Table for Lamp and Books.
By the head of the bed there should be
little stand, just large enough to hold can
die or night lamp and glass of water, per-
haps; and there should be larger table for
books and papers and the things that make
a room lovable. A desk, too, if that can
be- Mahogany is rich, but its dark tone is
not so much in keeping with the brightness
of the room as oak or cherry.
And as for the smaller things, the trifes
that are dearest to the heart Of its happy
occupant, who can tell of these? There
will be gay little bits of color on the walls
in picture or hanging. There will be hand
fuls of friendly faces grouped about on
walls or mantel. There will be bits of
glass and china painted by her own deft
fingers, or others that love her, and needle
work and mirrors, and surely wide rack of
well-read books and little white cabinet,
perhaps, with irregular shelves that hold
choice bits of bric-a-brac. 1t will be full
of dear, whimsical, pretty, helpful trffes,
this room of hers, because it is the nook of
a dear, whimsical, pretty girl. And be-
cause her whole heart and part of her whole
soul have passed into it, through love of it.
HELEN WATTERsoN.