rench
knots on gray linen for a new table cover. Won't they look just
sweet?"

"Yes, Mary, and I'll buy a large, new lamp with a pretty shade, as I
feel sure your Uncle will like to sit here evenings to read his papers
and farm journals."

"And don't forget the Shriners' little magazine, _The Crescent_, which
amuses him so greatly. Aunt Sarah, I do wish those stiff,
starchy-looking, blue-white Nottingham lace curtains at the windows
had grown yellow with age. They would be ever so much prettier and
softer looking, and they are such a pretty, neat design, too."

"Oh!" replied her Aunt, "that may be easily remedied. I'll just dip
them into a little weak liquid coffee and that will give them a creamy
tint, and take out the stiffness."

"Now," said Mary, "what shall we do with these stiff, ugly,
haircloth-covered chairs and sofa?"

"Why," replied Aunt Sarah, "we shall buy cretonne or art cloth, in
pretty shades of brown and tan or green, to harmonize with the wall
paper, and make slip covers for them all. We could never think of
dispensing with the sofa. It is a very important article of furniture
in German households. The hostess usually gives the person of greatest
distinction among her guests the place of honor beside her on the
sofa."

"These chairs have such strong, well-made, mahogany frames it would be
a pity not to use them. Now," continued Mary, "about the pictures on
the wall. Can't we consign them all to the attic? We might use some
of the frames. I'll contribute unframed copies of 'The Angelus' and
'The Gleaners,' by Millet; and I think they would fit into these plain
mahogany frames which contain the very old-fashioned set of pictures
named respectively 'The Lovers,' 'The Declaration,' 'The Lovers'
Quarrel' and 'The Marriage.' They constitute a regular art gallery.
I'll use a couple of the frames for some small Colonial and apple
blossom pictures I have, that I just love, by Wallace Nutting. Mine
are all unframed; 'Maiden Reveries,' 'A Canopied Roof' and a 'Ton of
Bloom,' I think are sweet. Those branches of apple trees, covered with
a mass of natural-looking pink blossoms, are exquisite."

"Yes," remarked Aunt Sarah, "they look exactly like our old Baldwin,
Winesap and Cider apple trees in the old, south meadow in the Spring.
And, Mary, we'll discard those two chromos, popular a half century
ago, of two beautiful cherubs called respectively, 'Wide Awake' and
'Fast Asleep,' given as premiums to a popu