The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-07

any shop at any price, from Ply Ups Will
the accent on the up
TIL woman who goes into a shop and
buys a couch carelcssly pay for 1t by
many a day of discomfort. The couch Is
So short that the feet of the longer mem
bers of the family insist upon dangling
over and kicking out at the ends. Inc
cover is made of material that does not
stand sunshine or too much pressure. The
springs are of the yielding sort which
proceed to sag down in the spots where
the most people have loved to sit.
If it is a box couch and opens up or
has a drawer that pulls out in order that
one may put ones clothes into the open
ing the hinges prove themselves treach-
.erous and cranky and the place is too
small to put anything in comfortably or
too lily fitted up inside to allow use OF It
as it is.
One woman who dotes on dtvans tells
me she has had five in the last winter,
selling each one as she got tired of it, or
found its grievances too great for her pa
tience.
I know what tina experience in couches
is. It seems almost necessary for every
woman to own a divan today and a little
looking into the matter with care will
bring about a better bargain.
Never take the first couch you see be-
cause its cover is pretty. Never take 1t
until you nave stretched yourself out on
it. and found whether you feet weren't
on the floor when u head was on the
cushion, and see that, if you wanted to
sit down on it. it was neither too low
nor too high.
Be sure you are right then go ahead
with a divan. If you don't, you will md
that it has more malicious tricks for in
.conveniencing you than any piece of fur
niture intended to Be comfortable.
I have a one made after years of dis
comfort with the ones / have bought, and
I find the plan a most excellent one. A
carpenter made me a box, six feet, ten
long, and three feet nine wide. The lid
opens by an easy spring, leaving a most
capacious wardrobe in which to stretch
ones clothing.
This box was covered with plain denim
fastened on with large brass-headed nails.
On the top was a mattress made of the
best cotton tufted and bound with green
cord. There were no springs and the top
of the box under the first cover wa heav-
lily padded.
1 found four huge claw feet of mahog-
any, on which I had this great box adj
justed, and a couch cover, whatever price
my purse permitted, finished the affair
The c~onveniences of this divan are as
follows: There are no springs and it does
not sag in places. IL a hollow commences
to appear in the mattress it can be shift
ed, shaken and take UP a new position.
The denim being stretched over the
box without pleating or ruffling keeps
out the dust. and can be more easily
Leaned.
The mahogany claw feet are the sub
stantial basis, to say nothing of their
beauty. The lack of heavy springs, much
tufted cotton, makes the lifting of the lid
child's play. There is a little lock insert
ed In the lid which keeps ones best
clothes put away without fear of being
stolen.
AS many pillows as wished can be heap
ed upon the top. and yet the longest per
son stretches out most comfortably.
1t is decidedly the most comfortable
article of furniture in my sitting-room,
and its capacious depth looks so attrac-
tive 1 half make up my mind each night
to sleep on it and try what the
New York students call Bohemianism-
that is, sleeping in your sitting-room, and
making your bed over into a divan in the
morning to present a respectable appear
ance.
The comfort about Philadelphia is that
one rarely has to resort to this cramping
life. There is more space here to breathe
in thar New York will ever own. But for
those comfortable afternoon s~iestas,
which almost every woman who is busy
wants, 1 know of no more comfortable
divan than the one planned after ones
own requirements.
The prettiest, daintiest and most ppe-
thing salads of the present day are those
made of flowers, says What to Eat"
Very few really dainty lunches are given
nowadays without being graced by a
salad of fragrant blossoms; no well-sup-
piled afternoon tea table is seen without
such a salad. The fancy for these bios
sonny and odorous salads crossed the
ocean from it's English birthplace last
year this season it has become thorough
III Americanized and also improved upon.
The nasturtium salad is deservedly the
favorite.
To make it both the leaves and BIOS
SONS are used. one or the other predomi-
mating according to the degree of pun
gency fancied. The flowers themselves
are the most biting, the leaves more deli
cately favored. The taste of either is
not unlike that of every ethereal mustard
AS a tonic the nasturtium salad is de-
cidedly good. a fact worth remembering,
with the e~nervation of the sultry summer
days full upon US. Nasturtium pickles
were known and revered Of our grand
mother for this very purpose. The fresh
leaves and blossoms are far better than
the seeds, especially when the latter are
treated with vinegar and spices. A salad
of nasturtium leaves and flowers is an adj
mirable appetizer for a jaded system or
wearied frame, and the daintiness and
beauty Of the dish adds much to its eff
fectiveness.
To make such a salad take as many of
the fresh blossoms as will line and bor-
der a low. roomy, salad bowl, choosing a
cut glass receptacle If possible. Arrange
the leaves around the outer edge. with the
blossoms alternating with and leaning
against them. Throw a few more leaves
and flowers into the bottom of the bowl,
heap with chopped celery, cold beans, po-
fatoes, peas or green vegetables and pour
m~ayonnaise dressing over all. When serv-
ing see that each person receives several
each of the "a and flowers.
Meat salads are~equalIy good, treated in