in the dining
room, of the hall; while we now picture our dining room with pretty
landscapes or anything else cheery and attractive. Family portraits,
if we must have them, hang better in one's own room, but really their
room is better than their company, as a rule.

HANGING OF PICTURES

As to hanging pictures, the main thing is to have them on a level with
the eye, and each subject in a good light--dark for light parts of the
room, light for dark. Small pictures are most effective in groups,
hung somewhat irregularly and compactly. All pictures lie close to the
wall, suspended by either gilt or silvered wire, whichever tones best
with the wall decoration. The use of two separate wires, each attached
to its own hook, is preferable to the one wire, whose triangular effect
is inharmonious with the horizontal and vertical lines of the room.
Small pictures are best hung with their wires invisible, thus avoiding
a network on the walls.

CHAPTER XIII

THE NICE MACHINERY OF HOUSEKEEPING

"Solomon Grundy,
Born on Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
That's the end of
Solomon Grundy."

This little tale serves to show how it simplifies life to have a time
for everything and everything in its time. System was probably a habit
in the Grundy family, and was so bred in Solomon's bones that it never
occurred to him that he could reverse the order observed by the Grundys
for generations back and be married on Thursday, for instance. And yet
there is room for conjecture as to how much difference it might have
made in his life if he had elected to contract an alliance on that day
instead of a fatal illness. System is a fine servant but a poor
master. Simply because custom has decreed that Monday shall be wash
day, Tuesday ironing day, and so on, it does not necessarily follow
that this programme must be strictly adhered to in every family, or
that the schedule of the week's work, once made out, cannot be changed
to meet the unexpected exigencies which are apt to arise. To be sure,
Monday as wash day has many points in its favor; but if it must be
postponed until Tuesday, or the clothes have not dried well and the
ironing has to go over into Wednesday, there is no reason why the whole
domestic harmony should become "like sweet bells jangled, out of tune
and harsh." Although order is heaven's fir