The Washington herald., 1914-02-19
WOMAN AND THE HOME
WHO'S WHO AMONG WOMEN
OF BIG. ACCOMPLISHMENT
Miss Louise Brigham Has Demonstrated That Wom-
an May Furnish an Entire Apartment With
Furniture Made of Packing Boxes.
Edited by JULIA CHANDLER MANz

lines. They are solidly built and will
last much better than ready-made fur
niture of ordinary expensiveness-
And-perhaps most important of all
they are comfortable and they are
cheap. The boxes she used In furnish
ing her own apartment cost from 3 10
so cents apiece. A total OF S10.47 was
paid for the lot. Probably they could
have been bought for less in some
cities. But even this sum. with a
slight extra allowance for nails, putty,
and stain for coIoring the wood is
ridiculously small when considered as
the cost OF furnishing u five-room fat.
Think what IL would mean to thou
sands of young couples IL they could
furnish a little apartment for less
than $50! And II the two young folks
made the things together. working on
them at spare times. every article
would be endeared TO them by thou
sand associations.
There are plenty of older house
holds, too. where the wolf hangs
en-down furniture cannot be replaced.
let alone enlarging the stock.
Welcomes Visitors.
Miss Brigham gladly welcomes Wis
itors to her apartment, and explains
to them how the things are made. In
a single year 500 persons have come to
her to see what box furniture" Is.
One man from the tenements became
more and more enthusiastic as he was
taken from room to room, until at last
his feelings exploded in one exclama-
tory sentence:
AT last" he said in broken English.
AT last I can haf a beereau! My wife.
she haf always wanted a beereau und
could neffer so much money earn. Now
now she will haf onei'
or course. it is chiefly for people who,
like this man. haven't money to buy the
furniture they need that Miss Brigham
has developed this novel craft. But she
has introduced il in other quarters, too.
Curious as il may seem. the girls in a
fashionable boarding school persuaded
her to teach them how TO transform
packing-boXes into furniture and have
worked enthusiastically at the job
Some of her most ardent followers are
the small sons of rich parents. Their
wise mothers have taken them to See
Miss Brigham's furniture and have en-
Couragcd them to make some themselves.
Every normal small boy likes to- do
things with hammer and saw: and in
making box furniture nc can satisfy this
craving TO the full. At the same time he
is acCairing valuable manual training.
as well as an incidental knowledge of
mathematics; for any one who has ever
tried to make the simplest thing of this
sort knows that it involves a good deal
Of figuring.
Miss Brigham docs not make things for
sale and she does not like TO teach class
cs. although once in a while, as in the
case of the boarding school girls. she
does make an exception. She has put all
her ideas into a book and tries to escape
any more personal way OF propagating
them-eXcept. OF course. that nothing
could he more personal than the freedom
with which she shows her own furniture
and explains its construction.
Apropos Of this construction she tells
one thing which illustrates how she uses
literally the whole of the material in the
boxes. She says that even the shavings.
made by planning the boards. finds their
own place. She stuffs sofa cushions and
even mattresses with them. She laugh
cd when she confessed that the mattress
Of the guest room was stuffed with this
novel material.
Panels Made OF Crate strips.
'It sounds far from attractive. doesn't
it,? she said. we never tell our guests
about il until they have spent at least
one night with us and have commented
as they always do. on the good nights
rest they have had. OF course. the shaw
inGs crush quickly, but what Of that?
We turn them all out every little while
and put in clean. fresh ones.
II find a use for every scrap Of the
boxes. OilCloth, for instance. comes in
rolls in crates made OF long. narrow
strips. These strips are ideal for dvid-
ing the wall into panels. up to a plate
rack. for example. 1t would cost ten
times as much to have this panelinE
done by a carpenter with regular lum-
her. and when finished YOU couldn't tell
ii from my panelinS done with crate
strips
On one of Miss BriGham's European
Journeys she found the managers of a
settlement house lamenting
the fact that the building was decidedly
shy in the matter of furniture. or course
this was where the visiting American had
her chance TO shine. and she was not
slow to improve it. She got everybody
busy making box furniture. and inside
OF week the place was equipped. Three
years later the managers wrote to her
that the things had been in constant use
and were then as sound as ever. No
wonder they shared Miss Brigham's on
over the possibilities which lie
concealed in discarded boxes