t for weary bones when the
day's work is over.

In establishments which include a servants' dining-or sitting-room,
these moderate luxuries are a thing of course, but in houses where at
most but two maids are employed they are not always considered, although
they certainly should be.

If a corner can be appropriated to evening leisure--where there is room
for a small, brightly covered table, a lamp, a couple of rocking-chairs,
work-baskets and a book or magazine, it answers in a small way to the
family evening-room, where all gather for rest and comfort.

There is no reason why the wall space above it should not have its
cabinet for photographs and the usually cherished prayer-book which
maids love both to possess and display. Such possessions answer exactly
to the _bric-a-brac_ of the drawing-room; ministering to the same human
instinct in its primitive form, and to the inherent enjoyment of the
beautiful which is the line of demarcation between the tribes of animals
and those of men.

If one can use this distinctly human trait as a lever to raise crude
humanity into the higher region of the virtues, it is certainly worth
while to consider pots and pans from the point of view of their
decorative ability.

CHAPTER VII

COLOUR WITH REFERENCE TO LIGHT

In choosing colour for walls and ceilings, it is most necessary to
consider the special laws which govern its application to house
interiors.

The tint of any particular room should be chosen not only with reference
to personal liking, but first of all, to the quantity and quality of
light which pervades it. A north room will require warm and bright
treatment, warm reds and golden browns, or pure gold colours.
Gold-colour used in sash curtains will give an effect of perfect
sunshine in a dark and shadowy room, but the same treatment in a room
fronting the south would produce an almost insupportable brightness.

I will illustrate the modifications made necessary in tint by different
exposure to light, by supposing that some one member of the family
prefers yellow to all other colours, one who has enough of the chameleon
in her nature to feel an instinct to bask in sunshine. I will also
suppose that the room most conveniently devoted to the occupation of
this member has a southern exposure. If yellow must be used in her room,
the quality of it should be very different from that which could be
properly and profitably used in a room with a northern exposure,