The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1901-03-08
BOOKS FOR THE home.
How Space May Be EcOnOmized in O
Library in a Small
Home.

In these days, when the cost of
books has so decreased that anyone
a difficult matter to decide what to
do with the literary treasures of the
household, says the Washington Star
Bookcases of the plate glass front
and carved case sort are expensive;
indeed, the cost of their housing de-
ters many people from surrounding
themselves with an accumulation of
volumes and leads them to join the
great army of nomad readers the pa
irons of the public libraries.
The uses of public libraries are OBJ
vious. Many books are useful merely
for reference that are SO expensive
that ordinary readers do not care to
buy them. Then, again, there is
ephemeral fiction, which is only inter-
esting because talked of at the mo-
ment, and not worth boarding.
Every library, even the best ones,
when book shelves become crowded,
should be carefully gone over and
books that are of no further value
taken out and sent to the hospitals
or given to friends who will appre-
ciate them. Old magazines are just
as well as not disposed of to the deal
err in secondhand literature, for in
the public libraries of the large cities
all the leading magazines may be
found in bound volumes.
To-, - ii 10
the number of books contained in the
family library in any intelligent
household, the quantity of books will
be found to increase from year to
year in a way that there is no ac-
counting for.
For those who dwell in rented
apartments the janitor of the house
will, as a rule, if awarded a generous
fee, be ready to go out to the near
est lumber dealer and buy some
smooth boards and holdings, with
which a series of low shelves to go
about the walls may be easily made.
If he is ingenious and bit of a car
penter he can so put together the
high bookshelves that the crosspieces
may be removed and the framework
'unscrewed when the family moves.
After they are built the shelves
should be gone over with furniture
stain and varnish. Some of them may
be fitted with brass rods and rings,
from which curtains may be hung.
This will give variety to the appear
ance of the receptacle and serve to
protect the books themselves from
the dust. Silken curtains of plain
shades make the most artistic draper
les, although some of the cotton fab
RIGS are very artistic, too.
In suburban dwelling occupied by
the owners of the house there are so
many obvious possibilities for fitting
up an expensive library that it seems
superfuous to dwell upon them. The
book shelves, which are finished in
white enamel, are headed by an or
nate molding, along the base of which
the coat-of-arms of revolutionary an
cestors is seen. Portraits and prints
in narrow frames hang upon the
wall in narrow space between the
top of the bookcase and the ceiling.
Walls and ceiling are simply dressed
in quiet tones.
The bookcases are open ones and
lit close to the wall and are not re-
movable. Above the simple white
enamel mantel there is white
framed mirror, and the wainscoting,
what little there is of it, is also enam-
eled in white. On the mantel shelf
stand few pieces of blue china and a
clock.
The shelves of the bookcases are
admirably graded to the sizes of the
books they are to contain. In the
handsome bookcases such an economy
OF space is impossible, since all the
books of a size cannot be slipped
into shelves that are only an inch
or two higher than they. All the en-
cyclopedias or bound volumes of mag
azines can have their particular cases
in the homemade shelves, and a card
over them can specify their class.
The furniture is simple, yet, it must
be admitted, it is costly. The chairs
of the Chippendale order are of old
oak, highly polished. They are I'M
usual in design, and in this case were
heirlooms in the family. The tables,
too, of carved oak, have been handed
down in the family for more than a
hundred years. The cushioned chair
by the fireplace and the cloth-covered
81 table on which stand the books in use
are more available to average people.
The floor is covered with handsome
rug and matches in general tones the
upholstering of the chair and the lit
tie settee.
Altogether, the interior, which
was designed by a famous furnisher,
is one that can be easily copied by
people of limited means.
Children's Nightwear.