Buckeye cookery

vantage it brings them, but the capacity of a mistress at once establishes discipline. The model house should not be large, nor too fine and preten- tious for daily use. The mistress of many a fine mansion is the veriest household drudge. A great house, with its necessary retinue of servants, is notin keeping with the simplicity of a republic where trained servants are not known, and is seldom pleasant for the family or attractive to friends. Furniture should be selected for comfort rather than show. Most modern chairs put their occupants to torture, and throw them into attitudes any thing but graceful. Comfortablechairs should have broad seats, and a part at least, low seats for women and children. Nothing is more out of taste and “ shoddy” than to crowd rooms with furniture, no matter how rich or elegant it may be. Nor is it by any means necessary to have things in suites; variety is pref- erable, and each room, especially, should have an individuality of its own. Just now the ‘‘ Eastlake’ style is in high favor, and perhaps there is danger of too strong a reaction from the *‘modern styles,” most of which, however, are a hap-hazard collection of styles, without any unity of idea in them. The ‘ Eastlake’’ is, in the main, a protest against the falsehoods and shams of modern fine furniture, and so faritisa real reform. Ina table, for exam- ple, we usually have a foundation of pine, put together mostly with glue; this is covered with a veneer of mahogany, walnut, or other wood, and orna- mented with carvings, which may mean something or nothing, and which are glued to the work. In afew years the pineframework warps and shrinks out of shape, the veneer peels; the carving gets chipped, and the whole be- comes ‘‘shabby genteel.’? Eastlake and his followers would have the table honest, and be throughout what it appears to be on the surface, hence the table is made solid; and if a costly wood can be afforded—well; if not, take a cheaper wood, but let the table be just what it pretends to be; if braces or bars are needed for strength, let them show, and indicate why they are used; and if ornament is desirable, let it be worked in the material, and not glued on, A table of this kind will last, and may serve for several generations. Finding that our ancestors of a few centuries ago understood the matter of furniture better than the cabinet-makers of the present, Eastlake and the others reproduced many of the styles of bygone times, and with some dealers “ Hastlake’’ is used for antique. But the matter does not depend so much upou antiquity of style, as solidity, honesty, and appropriateness. Sets are made of plain woods, such as ash and walnut, inlaid with procelain tiles, and ornamented with old-fashioned brass rings and handles. They are valued at - from thirty to two hundred and fifty dollars. Bedroom sets of French and English walnut, with inlaid woods, gilt and bronze ornaments, and varie- gated marbles, are sold from thirty-five to fifteen hundred dollars. Parlor sets of rich, carved woods, and satin, damask, cashmere, brocade, and tapestry eoverings, etc., range in price from one hundred to twelve hundred dollars. Ebony cabinets inlaid with ivory and richly ornamented, are worth from two to eighteen hundred dollars. Mafquetry tables, work tables, library tables, Oriental chairs, lounges, easels, music racks, etc., of rich material and design, are valued at from ten to one hundred and fifty dollars. The { - . i é SA ; ? : Tes Keay | " Nag : ese sigs { "HOUSEKEEPING. | rear