ide curtains, or made with a valance as well,
and hang from a separate pole to obscure the top of the casement and
just escape the floor, covering the outside edges of the lace curtains
without concealing their borders. The over curtain should reproduce
the coloring of the side wall and ceiling in a shade between the two in
density, but if just the right tint cannot be caught, recourse to some
soft, harmonious neutral tint will be necessary. Lining is not used
unless there is an objection to the colored curtain showing from the
street, when the lining silk or sateen must be of the shade of the lace
curtain.

Almost any sort of pretty net or scrim curtain is appropriate for the
downstairs windows, with a preference in favor of the more dignified
lace in the drawing-room. With the other rooms we can take more
liberty. The ruffled curtain is sash length and looped with a band of
the same, or with a white cotton cord and tassel at the middle sash if
the window be short, otherwise midway between it and the sill. There
are fine fish nets, or _tulle de Cadiz_, 45, 50, and 60 inches wide at
50 cents a yard, which make charming living- or dining-room curtains,
edged on three sides with the new 1-inch fringe or fancy edge, at 5 and
10 cents a yard, which comes for that purpose; and madras, plain or
figured, is also good, a pretty combination being the fish net with
colored madras over curtain. Raw-silk curtains are in use, too, but
anything which stands too much between the home dwellers and the air
and light is best avoided. Silk curtains are usually trimmed with a
brush edge. Glass curtains are only necessary as a screen or to soften
the harsh outline of a heavy curtain, and must be as transparent and
inconspicuous as possible, the right side toward the glass. They are
sill length, shirred to a small brass rod set inside the casing, and
draped if the over curtain hangs straight, to maintain a balance.
Those used on windows visible at once from the same quarter must be
alike. The lace panels with a center design which we sometimes see in
windows, but more frequently in doors, are too severe to be either
graceful or ornamental. The vestibule door is best treated to
correspond with the drawing-room windows, with an additional silk
curtain to be drawn at night; or the silk curtain harmonizing with the
woodwork of the hall may be used alone.

The curtaining of bedroom windows has already been discussed at some
length.