Year: 1873

know room where sunshine always
fingers. and there is breath of summer
and mignonette in the air whenever
think of it. There is tired man comes
home, and throws off overcoat and hat
without looking to see what becomes of
them. There is broad table in the
light, strewn with papers and magazines,
and woman's work, with few rose-leaves
dropping over them from central vase.
There is wide sofa of the days of the
Georges, fresh covered in chintZ, with
ferns and harebells for patterns, and the
tired man goes down there with great
rufled pillow under his shoulders, and
opens parcels and letters, dropping them
as he gets through on the floor, the most
natural place for them. A girl has been
painting. and her water-colors and paper
lie on the side table, just as she left them
to rush away for an impromptu ride.
| have never been able to discover any
disarrangement of the household econo.
my by this flight Somebody left a
shawl on chair There will be nothing
said about it at the breakfast next morn
ing. There are no laws here against
playing with the curtain tassel, no reg
ulations as how often the snowy muslin
curtains may be put up or let down.
They do not last the season out. crisp
and speckless. as our neighbor's do across
the way, but the only consequence is
they are oftener new and clean.


There is nothing very fine about the
house, but things are renewed oftener and
look brighter than they do in stealthier
houses. The chairs have no particular
places, and anybody feels at liberty to
draw the sofa out when it pleases him.


There is no primness about the place.


If there is grass on the lawn it is meant


to be walked on, and the geraniums are


fondled and petted and caressed as if


they were children. Do you know there


is magnetism about green leaves and


growing flowers derived from the earth's


heart, that makes it good to handle and
feel them? This is known at the house
where one dares to be late at breakfast.


There is no ceremony of waiting. Coffee
and cakes are put where they will be


hot; the table is cleared to suit the
housekeeper's convenience, and small


one set for the late conner. Nobody lies


awake at night till the light ceases to
shine under your chamber door. if you
want to sit up and read your novel
through.


There is an unwritten law of conven-


ience for the household, which regulates


everything better than any code Napol-


eoic And the benefit of allowing peo-


pie to be law unto themselves is, that


they are much better natured about it
when they do obey. There is indulgence
: and repose in this lovely home, and a
great deal of time for things which most


people cut short, an hours play with
the children, fright down good" chat


with neighbor, a day of letterwriting
once fortnight. And the worth of
these merry, comforting letters quite
outweighs the fact that there are cigar
ashes on the mantle, and pile of work
on the sofa. Disorder does not imply
dust or soil of any kind 1t means
'leave to be" in most cases, thinking of


people more than things. Order is SIM


pie harmony of a few notes. Disorder
is the Towering, branching melody of
one theme-and that theme, individual
ity.-.Shirley Dare.


|