St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-12-10
THE WICvvAM NOW IN FAVOR
Women Have Fancy for Dens Fitted
Up with Indian Work as
Furnishings.

Aue ueu udS TAKEN ON q NOFtn Amer
lean Indian cast, which is quite as dec
orative as the oriental scheme, so long
n favor, only in another way, besides
being much more stimulating to one'7
patriotism, says the New York Tribune.
The western plains are rich in objects
OF beauty and interest, and it is part Of
the Indian cult Of the day, which has
hitherto expressed itself in beadwork,
Navajo blankets and collections OF
Alaskan baskets and Mexican pottery,
to gather all these and other harmoni-
GUS objects from other parts of the world
into one room, and call it "the wigwam."
Manifestly the imitation of armor Of
the coy corner of blessed memory is
out of place in wigwam. Tin harberds
and helmets never were very convinc.
ing, anyway. But the true things
the real things-the things that are
saturated with life, especially outdoor
life, are appropriate. Skins, blankets,
antlers-one would naturally make q
good deal Of these, breathing as they do
OF long days in the saddle and short
nights under the stars Whether they
were Indigenous would be unimportant,
SO long as they were handsome and in
teresting.
AS the "wigwam" is to be used as sit
ting, sewing or smoking-room, when-
ever fancy dictates-and in the modern
city fiat fancy is obliged to dictate va
riety of uses for most of the rooms-it
must contain bookcase. Let it be low
and filled with books of travel and adj
venture and the light pick-me-ups that
summer and such room would suggest,
and with good gazetteer and such books
OF reference as may suggest themselves.
And let the bookcase run around two or
three sides of the room, if possible.
There is nothing that furnishes like
books, be the room, Indian, oriental.
colonial or only hard old black walnut
and horsehair.
One girl who taught raffia basketry
all last-winter to class in an uptown
settlement, had happy idea for the
decoration of her wigwam. She bought
half a dozen great hunks of raffia at q
seedsman's, then colored them with veg
etable dyes soft, rich blue. green, terra
Gotta, tawny orange, tobacco brown
and purple. Then she separated the
hanks and tackled them upon her walls,
high up, in sort of fringe all around
her wigwam, one color melting into an
other in a charming manner Every
woman who saw it wanted to go right
home and do room like it for herself.
This same girl has made some ador-
able baskets in rattan and raffia, and
these she naturally disposed of to good
advantage in conspicuous points of the
wigwam. A steamer chair with . a
beautiful gray wolfskin thrown over IL,
an open fireplace filled in summer with
greenery, but ready for business when
the cold weather shall set in, and couch
with a Navajo blanket flung across it,
give character to what is really a de-
lightful room, and all the more delight
full from the fact that there Is probably
not another exactly like it in the coun-
try.
Some girls go in for gathering Indian
beadwork. They hang splendid belts,
bags and necklaces around In confusion.
and the effect is nightly decorative.
The queer Indian headdresses OF
animals teeth. feathers, ETC., are al
ways acceptable, but hard to come by.
A hammock is convenient and appro-
pirate property for the wigwam. In
short there is nothing in birch bark or
beadWork that will not fit in admirably
to the red mans room, if one only has
taste in her selection and knows how
to dispose of her trophies.