Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-03-30
PAPER ON THE WALL.
DRIVEN NEARLY INSANE gy
 WEIRD AND INTRICATE DESIGNS.

WEIRD AND INTRICATE DESIGNS. They Irresistabiy Attract the Eyes From
 Floor to Ceiling Headaches Result From
 the strain-Suggestions for Purchasing
 the Proper Wall Covering.
 It is a well established fact that chiI- dren are often haunted at night by the hideous objects they have traced in the patterns on the wall. Older persons are familiar with the fact that certain pat terms irTesistibly attract the eyes from floor to ceiling and from one corner of the room to the other.
 Endless headaches are the result of such straining of the eyes. The writer once occupied room, which had such a paper upon it's walls. It was a small room and the consequence was a sue cession of severe headaches that finally took the form of vertigo, and which were not relieved until a change of room was effected. The paper was very pretty, but the amount of activity displayed by the pattern, which seemed after a brief scrutiny to be literally alive, was impossible to endure.
 Elderly people may be loath to admit 1t, thinking 1t a weakness, but they are frequently subjected to much diseom- fort by walls that to the casual ob- server appear attractive. I know of one blue and silver paper that had to be covered by plain pepper-and-salt sur face before the mistress of the room could be induced to return to 1t.
 Papers are frequently one thing in the shops and quite another thing up- on the wall. In buying Q plain paper this discrepancy cannot occur.
 For bedrooms plain papers with a roughly finished surface are the best. These should be light and cheerful in c or, and can be relieved by a richer border and contrasting woodwork if desired.
 In hall richly figured paper may be used, but better results are invariably obtained by the use of a plain paper of some dark tone. 4 deep, old red is very effective. With this the wood work should be painted black and high ly vanished. The floors can be cover ed with mating or with dark carpet.
 On planning a room, the first consid- eration should be the walls, the wood work and the covering of the floor. Any room will have some architectural fea- lures that will assert themselves if it is not swamped in unnecessary nick hacks. The ends to be sought are, as in dress, simplicity, Ese, good color, and pleasing effect The fewer materials used the better. The trouble is that our walls are usually so offensive that in- stinetiyely we seeh to conceal them beneath pictures. photographs, fans and draperies which only serve to hold the dust and weary the eyes.
 4 good wall needs very few pictures. A plain wall will set off the few en- cravings to which ene may cling to es- cape monotory. But if one has the courage to do without pictures alto- gether in a bedroom one will save ones eyes from detecting that this or that frame is hanging out of plumb, and will keep them for the parlor where they belong. It may require some heroism to simplify the bedroom in this way, but the result will more than compensate.
 There is a space, 8 freshness, a sense of cleanliness obtained in this way that cannot be achieved by all the deeora- ton that could be crowded on the walls. Simple muslin curtains at the windows, clean mating on the floor. a plain wall with pretty border, a white iron bed with brass trimmings and linen sheets-these things togeth- CT make a bedroom that must be ac- knowiedged faultless by the most fas- tidious taste.
 Yet these things could be purchased for half the price of the useless decora- tions with which we constantly dis figure our homes
 Railroad Women in Norway.