Place these last two on the floor and pile the others on top of them, three on each, nailing the bottom of each box to the top edge of the one beneath it. On the two upper boxes nail the tops in which the holes have been made. Have ready two slender bamboo rods about four feet long. Insert a rod in the hole in the top of an upper box and let it pass down, slipping it through the holes in the bottoms of the other boxes and fitting it in the cavity in the lower box. [Illustration: Fig. 374.—Hole in Corner of Box for Book-shelves.] In like manner put the other rod in place through the other pile of boxes. If the packing-box has a cover, it should be fastened on with hinges, so that it may be used for a shoe-box as well as a seat; if it has not, turn it upside down, place the soap-boxes at each end and nail them to it. Paint the shelves black or the color of the wood-work in the room, and upholster the seat and the boxes on either side of it with cushions made of strong muslin stuffed with excelsior and covered with cretonne. Fasten the edges of the side cushions to the boxes with gimp braid and tacks. Make a deep plaiting of the cretonne and tack it across the front of the large box. When there is a lid a narrow plaiting must be tacked across its front edge, which will, when the box is closed, lap over the top of the deeper plaiting. That this combination of window-seat and shelves is both comfortable and convenient, one may easily imagine, and that it adds not a little to the furnishing of a room, we leave to our illustration to show. [Illustration] CHAPTER XL. SOMETHING ABOUT MANTEL-PIECES AND FIRE-PLACES. THE spirit of hospitality and comfort presides over the ruddy blaze of an open fire; yet, as we gather cosily around and bask in the delightful warmth and radiance, its cheerful influence is too often retarded by its very unattractive surroundings. This lovely household spirit should have a more fitting habitation than the one frequently accorded it. The fire-place should at least be pleasant to look upon, and not depend wholly upon the bright fire to make it inviting. The ordinary marble and marbleized slate or iron mantel-pieces are the reverse of beautiful, but they may be very much improved at the expense of a small outlay of money, time, and trouble. The examples we give here of the treatment of commonplace mantel-pieces are simple, and can easily be managed by the girls themselves, with but trifling aid from a carpenter.