salesman, almost anything that is manufactured may be proved
necessary. At the best we shall probably purchase a-plenty, and the
question of when a house reaches the point of overfurnishing is a
difficult one to settle. Let one of us, for instance, venture at
midnight into a dark room--be the apartment ever so large--with nothing
but a rocker in it, and the impression may be gained that the place has
been turned into a furniture warehouse. And some persons--none of us,
to be sure!--are never happy while any of the floor or wall space is
unoccupied. So the world goes. But if nine out of ten persons bought
only what they could not do without, what they did purchase could be of
a great deal better quality.

No bit of furniture should be purchased for which there is not a
suitable place in the house. A piece may be very attractive in the
salesroom, and its practical qualities may appear irresistible, while
on our own floors it may be perfectly incongruous and perhaps, on
account of its enforced location, almost useless.

If for no other reason, we should go slow with our purchases because we
cannot know the real needs of our home until we have lived in it.
Experience will make some articles superfluous and substitute what we
had not thought to want. There should be a regular saving fund or
appropriation for keeping up the house fittings, and usually it is
found that this fund grows more steadily if we have some definite
purchases in view. Leave some things to be "saved up for"; there will
be less likelihood then of your being included in that large class to
which the newspaper "small ads" appeal--"those who wish to trade what
they don't want for what they do want."

HALL FURNITURE

In a hall of the simpler sort the only requirements are a high-backed
chair or settee, a table for _cartes de visite_, an umbrella
receptacle, and a mirror wall hanger with hooks for the use of guests.
The time-honored halltree is no more, and long may it rest in peace.
If there had been no other reasons for its passing, its abuse in the
average household made it an eyesore. Intended only for the
convenience of the transient guest, its hooks were usually preempted by
the entire outer wardrobe of the family. A good plan is to have a coat
closet built in, under the stairway or elsewhere near the place of
egress, leaving the few inconspicuous hooks in the hall to afford ample
provision for visitors. An appropriation of $50 to $10