t of bare feet with cold matting on a
winter morning. The casters will cut the matting, too; we must look
out for that. A border of flooring, painted or not, may be left; but
generally, if anything is to be fastened down, it should cover the
entire space, avoiding the ugly accumulation of dust that otherwise
gathers under the edges.

More expensive than matting, but likely to be quite satisfactory, is
cordoman cloth, a floor covering that comes in plain colors and may be
easily swept and wiped up. It costs from 45 to 55 cents per yard, and
the wadded cotton lining that goes with it is very cheap. Considering
its greater durability than matting, cordoman is really the more
economical, and the homemaker will do well to investigate its merits.

CHILDREN'S ROOM AND "DEN"

For the children's room linoleum will probably stand the wear and tear,
prove more hygienic, and do as much toward deadening noise as anything
short of an impossible padding could do. On the porch a crex-fiber rug
or two--the sort that stand rain and resist moths--may be desired, but
they can wait until we are settled and have found our bearings. The
"den," if there is to be one, or the separate library, may in the one
instance be left to individual caprice, in the other to good judgment
in suiting it to the prevailing thought.

USES OF THE DECORATOR

If we have not done so before, when we take up consideration of the
walls we will, if we can afford it, call in a professional decorator.
First, of course, we will make sure that he really may be of service to
us, for his duty is to give practical and artistic development to the
more or less vague ideas of which we have become possessed, and if he
seems, from examples of previous work, to be wedded to a "style" of his
own that would not jibe with our aspirations, we would better try to
struggle along without him.

But it is possible to secure the services of a decorative artist for a
sum not necessarily tremendous, and if we get hold of a sensible fellow
his advice will be, in the end, worth much more than the extra outlay.
If he is a sincere artist, he will plan just as carefully for a modest
six-room cottage as for a mansion, and he will be able to take the good
points of our own schemes and adapt them to expert application without
making us feel too insignificant.

Explicit advice as to decoration, where there are thousands of us, each
in different circumstances and with variant taste