Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-08-05
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A VALUABLE SECRET.

A VALUABLE SECRET.
French Women Know How to Give q
Home u "Cared-For" Look.
French taste is so proverbial that it
requires no comment. The curious way
in which it pervades every little partic-
ular furnishing must strike even the
least casual observer abroad. Such
bright, CHEEKY aspect everything has,
such a cared-for look, SO different from
our gloomily Indifferent house-fronts.
The houses are like the women-they
can hardly be called pretty, but their
charms are set off with such taste that
they are more attractive than if they
were regular beauties. 1t is not beau
tiful furnishing which creates this eff
feet in French homes, for though ex-
quisitely fine furniture can be had in
Paris, it is beyond the price of ordinary
households, and the moderate priced is
not nearly so good or so cheap as ours.
One charmingly CHEEKY apartment high
up in a New York fat house possesses
all this dainty coquetry, and its secret
really lies in the arrangement of flow
ers in the different rooms. The mis-
tress of this bower is little French
woman, and to a visitor the other day
she proudly exhibited her "salon gar
len," as she calls her window boxes and
her other floral treasures. A perfect
bank of brightness hid the stove, the
corners of the room were filled with
blossoms, and the windows were gay
with boxes of flowers. Now, the plants
themselves were common enough, and
probably cost but a few cents pot at
the Union Square flower market, but
the blending was exquisite and the ar
rangement novel. 1t would take too
long to describe the graduatedstands in
the corners of the room, except to men
ton that the wire supports were COW
cred with long trailing creepers, so
that they looked like banks of verdure,
The window boxes were particularly
interesting, because the possessors OF
extensively decorated rooms dislike
the 'mess" produced by flowers in
masses. This objection cannot hold
good against the window boxes, for
they can be carried out bodily to be
trimmed and watered.
Now, outside window boxes are pref
ty enough from the street, but not at
tractive from the interior of the room.
Madam had discovered this and had
ordered boxes to fit the inside sills.
The outside lodges were fitted with
some of similar shape, but of commoner
material, which the weather could not
affect. Those in the interior of the
house matched the furniture, and were
of unpublished satinwood, with an orna-
mental molding of darker wood. \
accompanied tin fitted the inside, but
the popularity of construction consist
ed in the satinwood rails behind. These
were securely fastened into the boxes
themselves and strengthened by two
cross rails. All the bars terminated IN
little knobs of black wood, and the
boxes had feet of the same. This sounds
very simple, and so it was, but the
boxes were beautifully made and well
finished. Any carpenter or handy
man" could make such boxes, but, in
stead of satinwood, any light wood
could be substituted, though they look
better and last longer if not polished.
The ornamental beading only requires
to be stained to resemble ebony, and
such holdings, in various woods, can
be easily bought. The boxes must be as
perfect as possible, because they arepart
OF the furnishing of the room. They
need not be light wood if dark is pre-
ferred as walnut, oak or Honduras ma
hogany look equally well.
Just at present the inside window
boxes described above are riot of pink
sweet peas, which run up and over the
rails in the most luxurious profusion.
They were sown in pots and transplant
ed into the earth of the window box,
for it is astonishing how well sweet
peas grow in warm and sunny room.
Flies, for come reason, hate the flow
ers and avoid the room in which they
are growing. This is decided advan-
taga for an invalid's sitting room, or,
indeed, for any place in warm weather.
Pots Of pink, white and red roses fill the
the front of the box, with theirpots sunk
in the earth. One color or harmony
is more effective in window box than
a mass of varied tints. Nasturtiums are
hardy, beautiful and inexpensive, and
there are dozens of other hardy flowers
suitable for either the trellis work or
the box itself.
These boxes are not alone summer
ornaments. In winter variegated ivy
can be coaxed and twisted along the
trellis work, while pots of green plants
can fill the box. In the spring yellow
tulips and acacias can take the place Of
the green things, stin keeping the ivy
background during the chilly weather,
but in summer the pots of ivy must be
taken out and replaced by Towering
creeper.-N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.
The Uses of Responsibility.
Every mother should remember that