Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1884 — SUGGESTIONS OF VALUE. [ARTICLE]

SUGGESTIONS OF VALUE.

Doylies intended for fruit are ornamented by having one corner turned down, and a banana or other pieces of fruit worked on it. Window shades have a hand-painte 1 bunch of simple field flowers in the corner, or, if preferred, a spray of blossoms or berries. Reception biscuits are made by mixing self-rising flour with cream, which roll into a thin, smooth paste; prick, Cut,, and bake immediately. They should be kept dry in a close tin-box. If the flour is not self-rising, salt it lightly and mix with it a dessert spoon ful of baking powder. If you are to build a house, put a layer of mortar an inch thick between the partitions and at the ceiling, and you will not be troubled with rats and mice. If your house has no such remedy, place fine ground cayenne pepper in the raceways of the pests, and they will seek cooler climes. Fruit put up in tin-cans should be taken out entirely when the can is opened for use. If allowed to remain after the can is opened, 41)0 action of acid juices upon the solder, When exposed to the air, may form acetate of lead, which is poisonous. Pour the fruit out into glass or earthenware dishes, and the danger of poisoning is avoided. • .. - J ■

Cheap unbleached muslin curtains are made to look very, picturesque by drawing out the threads a space of two inches on the sides at the lower edge; hem-stitch the same with French cotton and trace with embroidery cotton at _ regular intervals over the rest of the drapery-clustered reaves, and give to the outer edge a finish of plaited lace, which may be had for 5 cents a yard. Sofa pillows, foot rests, bannerets, and screens are made of stamped velvet-. ine painted in light tints in xvater colors/; The slightest possible knowledge of painting is requisite, for the art consists simply in coloring the floral design delicately in colors suitable to their forms. Leaves should be in rather paler t nts than nature orders, with more inclination to olive tints. Red, yellow, and deep blue flowers should be more delicately colored. A shield for a lamp chimney is made of card board and silk. Take a piece of card-board two inches deep and nearly txvo inches wide. Sew together to form a round and line with silk. Put it on plain, letting it stand over a little at the upper edge, where it is drawn tight. The ornamentation for the outside is composed of a box-pleated frill of ribbon a half-inch wide, surmounted by a unique design for which two strips of card-board are cut, each eleven inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide; one is covered with the plain silk, the other with velvet. The silk may be painted or embroidered. The two strips are now tacked sloping across each other at one end and then wound around each other, by which the corners are formed; if not of the exact shape they must be pinched in here and there. A round piece of satin ten inches wide at the edge and two inches high is now gathered with a narrow heading for a top puffing. The upper edge is drawn in close and ornamented with a large silk pompon.