utifying and arranging, that some women have; and, on the present
occasion, it has a real, material value, that can be estimated in
dollars and cents. Come with us and you can see the pair taking their
survey of the yet unfurnished parlors, as busy and happy as a couple
of bluebirds picking up the first sticks and straws for their nest.

"There are two sunny windows to begin with," says the good fairy, with
an appreciative glance. "That insures flowers all winter."

"Yes," says John; "I never would look at a house without a good sunny
exposure. Sunshine is the best ornament of a house, and worth an extra
thousand a year."

"Now for our wall-paper," says she. "Have you looked at wall-papers,
John?"

"Yes; we shall get very pretty ones for thirty-seven cents a roll; all
you want of a paper, you know, is to make a ground-tint to throw out
your pictures and other matters, and to reflect a pleasant tone of
light."

"Well, John, you know Uncle James says that a stone color is the best,
but I can't bear those cold blue grays."

"Nor I," says John. "If we must have gray, let it at least be a gray
suffused with gold or rose color, such as you see at evening in the
clouds."

"So I think," responds she; "but, better, I should like a paper with a
tone of buff,--something that produces warm yellowish reflections, and
will almost make you think the sun is shining in cold gray weather;
and then there is nothing that lights up so cheerfully in the evening.
In short, John, I think the color of a _zafferano_ rose will be just
about the shade we want."

"Well, I can find that, in good American paper, as I said before, at
from thirty-seven to forty cents a roll. Then our bordering: there's
an important question, for that must determine the carpet, the chairs,
and everything else. Now what shall be the ground-tint of our rooms?"

"There are only two to choose between," says the lady,--"green and
maroon: which is the best for the picture?"

"I think," says John, looking above the mantelpiece, as if he saw a
picture there,--"I think a border of maroon velvet, with maroon
furniture, is the best for the picture."

"I think so, too," said she; "and then we will have that lovely maroon
and crimson carpet that I saw at Lowe's; it is an ingrain, to be sure,
but has a Brussels pattern, a mossy, mixed figure, of different shades
of crimson; it has a good warm, strong color, and when I come to cover
the lounges and our two old armchairs