it a "satin gloss."
_Never_ use starch. The pieces should be folded evenly and carefully,
with but one crease--down the middle--and not checker-boarded with dozens
of lines. Centers and large doilies are best disposed of by rolling over
a round stick well padded.

TABLE PADS

Much wear and tear on both table and cloth is prevented by the use of a
double-faced Canton-flannel pad, which prevents the cloth from cutting
through on the edges, gives it body, softens the clatter of the dishes,
and absorbs liquids. It comes in 1 1/2- and 1 3/4-yard widths and sells
for 65 to 85 cents a yard. Pads of asbestos are also used, but are far
more expensive. It is a good plan to have two if possible--one for use
on the everyday table, and a longer one to cover the family-gathering
table. Covers for the sideboard and any small table used in the dining
room are of hemstitched or scalloped linen, either plain or
embroidered--never ruffled or fluffy.

READY-MADE BED LINEN

Buying bed linen is not so very serious a matter. Drygoods stores offer
sheets and pillowcases ready made to fit any sized bed or pillow at
prices little, if any, greater than the cost of those made at home.
Merchants say that they sell one hundred sheets ready made to one by the
yard, which speaks well, not for their goods alone, but for the spirit of
housewifely economy which maintains that labor saved is time and strength
earned. Moreover, the deluded seeker after bed beauty who wastes her
precious hours in hemstitching sheets and pillowcases--cotton ones at
that--is a reckless spendthrift, and needs a course in the economics of
common sense. Nothing is more desirable than the simple elegance of the
plain, broad hem, nor more disheartening than hemstitching which has
broken from its moorings while the rest of the sheet is still perfectly
good--a way it has. Hem-stitching may answer on linen sheets which are
not in constant use, but ordinarily let us have the more profitable
plainness. Good sheets are always torn--not cut--and finished with a 2
1/2- or 3-inch hem at the top and an inch hem at the bottom, the finished
sheet measuring not less than 2 3/4 yards. There must be ample length to
turn back well over the blankets and to tuck in at the foot, for it is a
most irritating sensation to waken in the night with the wool tickling
one's toes and scratching one's chin. Sheets are to be had in varying
widths to suit different sized beds.

P