TICE LIBRARY A room specially furnished as a library is not possible in all homes. It is not only a great luxury where it can be afforded, but has also an im portant educational influence. If a room can be spared for the purpose no great expense is required to furnish a library attractively, as the books themselves, if properly arranged, go far toward giving the room a habit able look. Fewer bookcases are used now than were formerly. It is much more customary to build in low shelves about the walls of the library or liv ing rooms, or both, having a shelf above on which magazines, casts, fig ures, etc., can be placed. These shelves may be built in removable sections, placed side by side or built in against the wall, and stained or painted to match the woodwork. Anyone who is handy with tools can make them, or they can be put in at very little cost by a local carpenter. Break off the shelves where they come to a window casing, and have a low shelf wider than the others, and level with the window sill, built in as a window seat. Cover this with a cushion of denim or other suitable material and supply it with sofa cushions. A writing desk or table, a Morris chair, and other suitable chairs will complete the neces sary furnishings.
Hang the walls with suitable paper or cloth in solid colors, as reds or browns. Paint or stain the floors, or cover them with linoleum, matting, or something that will not gather dust. Avoid intricate designs and patterns of all sorts that tend to fatigue the eye and interfere with the restfulness and quiet which the use of the room suggests. Books, if they receive prop er care, do not require glass cases to keep them in good order. They are far more convenient upon open shelves, and lend quite a different aspect to the room in which they are kept.
Writing Desks.—Have a suitable desk or table furnished with paper, pens and ink, pencils, and all other conveniences, both for study and for business and social correspondence. Such duties are much more neglected in the ordinary family than they would be if all these conveniences were at hand in a place set apart for the purpose. Furniture is now made so cheaply that o good oak desk, if it cannot be purchased locally, may be had of one of the mail-order houses for a small amount, or may be ob tained at a low price of second-hand dealers in the larger cities. Such an article of furniture lasts a lifetime and contributes a great deal toward forming habits of order and system in the household that are much en couraged by the practice of writing memoranda of various sorts. But if
nothing better can be had, an ordi nary kitchen table with one or two large drawers to hold paper, ink, and pencils may be placed in the library, painted or stained to match the wood work, and covered with a piece of felt, denim, or other suitable material; this substitute will answer all the purposes of the most expensive article.
Or a suitable desk that may be put together by anyone who is handy with tools will answer every purpose.
Use of the Library.—Put in a lib eral supply of shelves, if a room is set apart for a library, and fill them as soon as possible. The empty shelves will speak for themselves and suggest the habit of buying good books to fill them. Do not despise paper-bound books or back numbers of popular periodicals, even if the covers become slightly worn and dog-eared. Much of the best literature of the world is now published in periodicals or re printed in cheap paper editions, and books that are worth a king's ransom may be purchased at five or ten cents apiece. The thoughtful reader can get as much from these volumes as if they were printed on parchment and bound in cloth of gold.
Buy well-bound books when you can afford to do so, but never, put off buying a book you need or want be cause you can only buy it second hand or in a cheap binding. The old books are often, if not always, the best, and they usually come the cheapest. Emer son says it is a good rule not to read any book that is not ten years old. Buy a dictionary, and, if you can afford to, a good encyclopedia. Hang on the walls a map of the world and one or two other good maps. Provide a blackboard if there are children in the family, and also a drawing board, which may be homemade, with a T square and a few simple draughting utensils. Encourage the children to use the library as a place in which to get their lessons, and to invest their pennies in books. This last will be a habit of lasting value. Have a file in which to preserve letters, bills, and family memoranda, and a tin box or a small safe for deeds, leases, and the like. Keep the laundry list, shopping list, inventory of furniture, and all similar memoranda for the entire farn ily in the library desk or table, where it can always be found at a moment's notice when wanted.