Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-04-04
PAPER ON THE WALL.
PATIENTS DRIVEN NEARLY INSANE BY
 WEIRD AND INTRICATE DESIGNS.

They Irresistably Attract the Eyes From
 Floor to Ceiling Headaches Result From
 the strain-Suggestio for Purchasing
 the Proper Wall Covering.
 It is a well established fact that chil- 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 irxesistibly attract the eyes from floor to calling 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 q room, which had such a paper upon it's walls. It was small room and the consequence was a suc- 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 it a weakness, but they are frequently subjected to much diseom- fort by walls that to the casual ob- server appear attractive. I know fone blue and silver paper that had to be covered by plain pepDeT-and-sait sur face before the mistress of the room could be induced to return to it.
 Papers are frequently one thing in the shops and quite another thing up- ca the wall. In buying a plain paper this discrepancy cannot occur.
 For bedrooms plain papers with roughly finished surface are the best. These should be light and cheerful in color. and can be relieved by 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. ! deep, old red is very effective. With this the wood work should be painted black and high Iy vanished. The floors can be cover ed with mating O with dark carpet.
 On planning @ room, the first eonsid- 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. Rse, good color, and pleasing effect. The fewer materials used the better The trouble is that our walls are usually so offensive that fn- stinctiYely we seek to conceal them beneath pictures. photographs, fans and draperies which only serve to hold the dust and weary the eyes.
 A good wall needs very few pictures. 1 plain wall will set off the few en- cravings to which one may cling to es- cape monotony. 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, 3 freshness, a sense of cleanliness obtained in this way that cannot be achieved by all the deeoFa- tion 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-tAese things togeth- CT make a bedroom that must be ac- kRowledged faultless by the most fag- 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.