The Washington herald., 1914-05-09

MANY A HOME
JUDGED BY GUEST
ROOM LINEN

There IL no detail Of her home IL
i which the excellent housekeeper take
more pride asd satisfaction than In he
weil-stored linen closet.
The drawers and shelves OF shining
napery for table use, the piles Of fresh
lavender perfumed sheets and pillow
cases, the monogramed towels for lava
i tory and bathroom use are ever a de
i light TO her soul. and she takes as much
| pleasure in counting over her linens and
| In noting their excellence and suitable
J ness as does her husband in handling
the folded papers in his desk pigeon
holes. or his safety deposit box, which
signify to him Investments in stocks
bonds, mortgages. and the like.
Naturally, the very cream OF the linen
closet finds its way to the guest cham
| ber and even when the supply Of family
lisen Is simple. though good, the guest
| room towels. sheets. and covers are apt
to be extra large in size, extra fine in
| weave, and extra dainty In ornamental
| ton
| Every housewife who prides herself
upon her hospitality has two or three
pairs of linen sheets for the guest cham
| Der. and, Of course. there are pillow
slips to match, possibly hemstitched and
1
initials Of the mistress Of the house.
And by the way, house linens must
Always be marked with the initials of
| the mostress, not the master Of the
domicile. The brides household linens
carry the initials OF her maiden estate.
II her name Is Margaret Louise Brown.
| for example. and she il marrying a man
named Richard Thompson Smith. her
towels, pillow slips, table napkins, etc,
will be marked NJ. l. B.
After four or five years. when the linen
supply must be replenished. she marks
the articles NJ. L. S.-not r. T. s.. her
husba nds letters: for the household linens
are presumed TO be the property OF the
mistress of the house.
In the guestroom. made ready for a
weekend gLest, should be plentiful
supply of towels.
Not guest towels, for these abomina-
tons which everybody really cordially
detests. but which, on account of their
cheapness and the ease of making them,
have obtained popularity for gifts and
bridge prizes-not guest towels, but gen.
erously large towels of fine linen buck
aback. or better still. of snowy. silky,
linen damask. should be supplied aplenty.
Washcloths must not be forgotten:
though many otherwise good housekeep-
ors do seem to forget them, perhaps
taking II for granted that the guest will
bring her own washc!oth as well as tooth
brush
And right here 1t may be said that in
large country houses, where guests are
luxuriously taken care OF, there is al
ways in the bathroom beside the sealed
package OF guest soap. a new tooth
brush. also in a sealed package. Guests
are so apt TO forget toothbrushes, and
the little attention in the way of a
new toothbrush will sometimes save the
occupant of the guestroom much dis
comfort.
There are beautifully woven wash
cloths with colored borders to match
bordered bath towels. and both towel
and the wash cloth may be embroidered
in cross stitch with the monogram or
initials of the housewife.
The bath mat may be white. with a
smartly shaped monogram in blue en-
broidered in the center: a washcloth and
bath towels to match have the same
monogram many times smaller, of course.
embroidered across the corner.
Especially handsome are guest towels
ornamented with needlepoint embroidery.
Very attractive towels of white dam
ask, or fine white linen huckaback have
hemstitched hens with a cross stitching
running design above in color and a
CTuss 10 UldlCIls JUST
above the border pattern.
Equally attractive towels OF huckaback
are scalloped and buttonholed at the edge
with a simple but rich monogram en-
broidered four inches above. Even the
simplest towel. IL Of fine material and
displaying a touch of hand work in the
shape of scalloping or initials, lends dis
tinction to a room.
Pity the unfortunate guest who finds
one linen towel and one bath towel for
a two or three days stay and is not
certain whether her towel supply will be
renewed daily or whether she must
economic and use only one corner of her
towel at a time.
Three beautifully ironed linen towels
and two bath towels is a satisfactory
provision. and every morning the maid
who does the room will replace all used
towels with freshly ironed ones.
guest towel may be of white linen
huckaback. scalloped and embroidered
by hand, the border being so arranged
on the towel that when the latter is
folded in three and ironed the pretty
wreath design will come outermost.
The well-equipped home has also a sup
ply of tray linens for use when a guest
has a meal served up stairs. These
linens include several traycloths with
napkins to match: and also a square
table cover with napkins to match for
serving luncheon on a small table up
stairs.
Some attractive new linens of this sort
are of plain white linen damask with
printed Cubist borders.
The tablecloth. yard square, has
three narrow bands of Cubist roses, each
band Of roses smaller than the last, I'M
til the innermost band shows roses no
larger than silver quarters, while the
roses in the outer border are almost
life-sized.
The roses are provided in Shades of
pinks with pale green leaves. and the
napkins have a border of the tiny roses
in similar shades.