A Satisfying Woman's Den. 143 a half day's interrupted efforts at oval space between the two is hung thinking. There she can lie on a with raw silk. Large vases hold exotcouch in the blazing sunshine; she ics from her greenhouse, for the light can toss a book on the floor and let it and sunny warmth makes it an adlie, and, unabashed, can enjoy the fascinating confusion of things out of place. There she can take her grief and there her joys, too sacred to be submitted to other eyes. Here she can receive confidences and extend sympathy. In brief, it is a place where one can be oneself alone or in company; but where no one can enter unasked, not even the husband of one's bosom, nor the babes about the knee on the lower floor. Several rooms of this sort may be described. They belong to modern women who can surround themselves with every luxury, but it must be remembered that the luxury is an incident, not an essential, of the rooms and the service they render. One room overlooks a city square. The three windows are united by a long divan nearly the height of the window-sill, and so wide that the owner, an invalid, can lie at ease propped up by cushions, before her the loveliness of the park, her nearest neighbors the birds in the tree-tops, and bathe in the sunshine that all day floods the room. The hard-wood floor is strewn with rugs, the walls are wainscoted to a man's height, and the ceiling panelled in American butternut polished like satin. There is but little elaboration. The panels have only slight relief, and the carving is scarcely more than an accent. The Books and knick-knacks close at hand. mirable adjunct to the greenhouse. Here, too, she brings those works of art to enjoy silently, and which, in her invalidism, are companions and friends. Another room, also overlooking a park, is the width of the house. The three windows are recessed and connected by divans. The opposite side of the room has an oval sweep. This is managed by the wainscoting, which is of French walnut. This wainscoting is in fact a series of closets which women with a mind for closets-and what woman has not-would find worthy their most eloquent and expressive ad- its furniture. It contains nothing but jectives. divans, ottomans, cushions, and low tables. It is called the "Lolling Room." It is here, however, that feminine committee meetings are held, when sometimes the aspect of the room is bracing indeed. The wainscoting is built out from the wall; its recessed space is then subdivided into a buffet for the hospitalities of the place, enclosures for precious things. Now and then it is broken into niches. These hold a vase The value of retirement, a healthof flowers, objects of art, or shelves ful influence in itself, as well as affor companionable books. Above the fording an opportunity for individwainscoting the plaster is stained and ual expression, is considered among makes a frieze. Against this, with the the educational influences of the day. top of the wainscoting as a shelf which holds rare plates, are various trophies of travel. Into such a room a woman carries her individuality. It is not complete without her personal impress. Another room dedicated to hours of familiar ease is wainscoted in pine in small squares, and painted Tuscan red brought to an egg-shell gloss. The mantel is copied from that at Haddon Hall, overhanging fire-facings of Carlisle stone, and panelled and painted like the wainscoting. The ceiling has cross-beams of red enclosing recessed squares of gold. The character and disposition of the room is disclosed in There are mothers who make a point of giving to their young daughters some such sanctum, on the top floor. For this the elevator is not necessary, for the legs are young and active. A room, now the property of a young girl, is the hall-room on the top floor. Here are her books and everything that is most dear to her. Around the room is a frieze of photographs of Raphael's "Hours," broken on one side by Giotto's head of Dante, on the other by that quaint fantasy by Church, a mummy smelling a rose. In the window is a window-seat, and beneath a locker for further treasures. To insure The Essentials of a Billiard-room. her greatest privacy, the lower half of the window is stained glass illumining the prosaic aspect of the street. Here her reading is practically unrestricted. Her taste in photographs inclines to royalty, and she enjoys in private the company of the most interesting of the crowned heads. Here this young girl reigns supreme. Sometimes she receives visits from the other members of the family. But due notice is always given that no undue liberty may be taken of her privacy. In such a room a girl's individuality develops. If there are any warning signs, they will eventually appear more openly, and in time for check or reproof. They will appear, moreover, under the parental roof. THE BILLIARD-ROOM. In city houses billiard-rooms used to be in the basement, but, as other rooms, they are tending upward. Men, it seems, will go up-stairs to play billiards, when they won't go down-stairs. In the basement they are too near the servants, whose ears are preternaturally acute. Up-stairs there is greater freedom for conversation. Men who have sons find that if there is a nice, well-equipped billiard-room near the roof with light, air, unrestricted vision, adequate privacy, and satisfactory means of refreshment, that their sons, after business hours, are much more apt to come home and bring their friends with them and play until dinner, than go to their clubs. Wealth and discriminating architects have produced some marvellous billiard - rooms. Without dwelling on one man's Moorish room painted in old Moorish tiles brought from Spain, and on another's Japanese room, with its lacquered table adorned with Japanese dragons in brass, we may learn from these the best essen VOL. II.-10 145 tial details and get suggestions for appropriate decoration. The essentials of a billiard-room are few, but imperative. There must be plenty of clear space around the tables. The walls should be such that cues carelessly handled cannot harm them. There should be no projections to imperil the arms and shoulders of enthusiastic players. There should be raised seats conveniently out of the way for on-lookers. In some billiard-rooms the table itself is raised, with room, of course, for the players. This does not seem to be advisable; in the excitement of a game it is possible for a man to take an unlucky back step and lose his equanimity, if nothing more. There should also be a recess for cues and other things. The perfect billiardroom contains no non-essentials. One billiard-room recalled is literally a mahogany box. Within the room proper this is constructed like cabinetwork, and could be removed at any time. The niches for cues, the closets for refreshments and cigars, etc., are all enclosed. The seats for spectators even are recessed in a bay. The object of this is that there should be no projections to interfere with the game. The billiard-room is usually lighted by a shaded corona light, hung directly over the table to throw all its light below, yet shade the eyes of the players and spectators. The decorations should be appropriately virile. Oak and green, or red with dark woods are the usual tints. Mahogany, redwood, and cherry are suitable woods, or oak and butternut, to be used with green and blue. Matting is admirable to cover the walls, as offering the best resistance to awkward cues. A matting-lined room accompanies plain wood, painted a dull red tint with an egg-shell polish. Such a room should have the ceiling panelled with bamboo strips in the ir regular divisions seen in Japanese cabinets. One of the handsomest billiard-rooms in a country villa is in oak, with oakstudded ceiling. The walls are covered with brown calf-skin fastened in place with brass nails. The soft-brown hue of the tanned hide is one of the most agreeable tints that nature and man have combined to produce. It carries with it such a pleasant suggestion of strength, endurance, and indifference to hard knocks. It complements those things that one likes to think of men, and is therefore appropriately used in men's rooms and belongings. A matting-lined room is also well accompanied by oak. The matting may be used as wainscoting, carried up to a deep frieze. The frieze may be green or blue, suitable tints being found in ingrain papers. These are, however, better obtained by painting the plastered walls, and ornamenting, if desired, with stencil forms in gold. A billiard-table, like a piano, is in form a thing to be endured when it cannot be alleviated. Certain conditions are inevitable. It must have dimensions four and a half by nine feet, or five by ten feet. It must have strong supports. For years it was accordingly strong, but clumsy. Now it is strong, but less aggressive. Architects have wrestled with it, and accordingly brought it into subjection. Where particular attention is given in carving, the legs receive it. The table is of the wood of the room, and the blue, red, or green of the cloth matches that of the coloring of the room, or to this the room conforms. One gayminded and strong-eyed player has a bright-yellow cloth cover, yellow pockets, and brass covers to the pockets. White and gold billiard-tables have been made as special orders and dainty enough for a boudoir. Not a great deal of attention is given to handsome billiard cues. Length, height, and balance are in these the important considerations. The wood proper is ash, finished with leather tips which are made by French peasants. Each cue is, or should be, constructed so that it will balance in the middle when placed across the finger. For this reason the end of the handle is usually of lighter wood. And here some ornamentation is given. There remains to say that the shades of billiard room windows should be arranged to let the light in from above. The coverings of the seats should be of leather or rush plaited. Pottery and pewter, the silver and glass of the billiard-room cupboard, should reflect hardy masculine tastes. THE BEDROOM. "Nature's kind nurse, gentle Sleep." To what other friend is the world so constant? With her a third of life is passed. "The bed is the sweetest retreat known to man." There is a sense of defence from assaults from the world without, from foes within, in the reposeful depths of a comfortable bed, that makes peace of conscience seem almost cold and unsatisfying. Its hospitality softens illness. There are few people who cannot, among their best-remembered pleasures, recall the delights of convalescence from downy pillows, the cheerful fire crackling on the hearth, the silent presence of the best loved, and the flowers and fruits of unseen friends. The room in which the bed is enthroned cannot fail of importance. It should be light, airy, and sunny. In the country all these it may be; in town these attributes, like everything else, are a matter of compromise. The bedroom may at least be cheerful in color. The day of ponderous |