Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1904-10-06
saint Maru's Beacon
Making Home Cozy For winter.


to meet different seasons. Her
rooms must look freshed and newly
cleaned and fiower-like in the
Spring; cool, a bit empty and shad-
owy in summer, and with the be-
ginning Of cool weather, there is a
striving for cherfulness, bright
colors, warm looking draperies and
a general turning OF chairs toward
the fireplace.
Curtains and rugs are brought
out from their Summer storehouse,
an old chair is recovered with some
warm Autumn tint, carpets are
secured, wood work cleaned and
oiled, tenders are frightened and
the little ornaments, curios and
books are wiped and put in fresh
places as though new gifts were be-
ing shown.
And q woman who wants an air of
great coziness with but little effort
has palmstand ferns about her liv.
ing rooms. Towering plants are
usually agreat deal of trouble. They
fret about temperature and are rude
about steam heat, and whimsical
about cold draughts. But yard
ferns and the simple "fan palms"
are hardy, or nearly so as fir trees,
and require no especial allowance Of
sun, just a good drink every morn
ing and what an air Of charm and
luxury they add.
A great deal OF Winter indoor
comforts depends upon the arrange
ment of rooms. With chairs facing
landscapes. with touches back in
shadowy corners. as one loves them
in the Summer, and with the center
table arranged formally with card
dish and few illustrated books and
vase, there is much chance for
honey" afternoons and evenings.
Wherever the heat is there will
the heart be, SO it is as well from
the start to have the whole room face
the fireplace or stove. or, cruel
thought. the radiator.
Have a large table directly under
o snowy light. and have books and
magazines and q work basket, and
newspapers on the table, and have
chairs around all ready for use, and
a couch near the fire with q piano
lamp ut the head. draw heavy cur
tains across the windows. and you
will more likely than not find all
the family together in that room
about every evening.
But the arrangement of q room is
just the final artistic touch in cozi,
ness. No room can be attractive
that is not eIquisitely, tygenically
clean, and housekeepers are realiz-
ing more and more that brushing
and busting are not sufficient to rid
a room OF the germ neighbors that
intrude these days in the most ex-
elusive homes.
Real cleanness must be antiscep-
tic cleanness and just q broom or
soap and water won't do il.
A houseeeper of much taste and
much experience has cleaned her
living room this Fall entirely with
BOrax water in different degrees
Of strength and temperature.
First of all, after the rugs had
been hung out of doors to freshen,
they we're rubbed over with not
borax water, two teaspoonfuls to a
basin of water. The result was as
though they had been in the hands
Of professional cleaner. Next the
wood work and hardwood floor were
wiped with the same solution, and
the floor oiled, and the windows
washed, too, and rubbed dry with
tissue paper
The value of this sort of cleaning
was not only in the new brightness
obtained, but in the fact that borax
is destroyer ofgerms. According
to the best medicine authority II is
O most successful disinfectant, and
yet the use of it does not injure the
most delicate skin.
The question of curtains was an
important one in this pretty home
room. The housekeeper quoted,
preferred ruffled muslin TO all others.
yet gave them up unhesitatingly
when doing over her sitting room.
The beauty of frilled white muslin
is naturally in its snowy freshness,
and the price of snowy freshness is
perpetual laundry work, so she Sc
lected soft Madras gauze, a maize
ground with a wide scattered figure
in Indian red and dull yellow, gain
ing an effect at once cheerful and
and artistic, for little money and no
trouble.
No woman can enjoy her sitting
room who is fretted with much care
OF it. If there are heavy velvet
carpets and upholstered furniture
and elaborate wash curtains, the
thought OF the work they involve