to an Australian boomerang or a South Sea Island club brought by the sailor uncle from some voyage of long ago. One dear, old lady has a choice collection of bits of lace all dated and named; another of pieces of brocade, an admirable commentary on silk manufactory. Here we find a treasurer of fans, and there of snuff-boxes; here of children’s photographs, and there of photographs or autographs of famous men; and everywhere, all over our land, will be found the covetous collector of rare, old china and pottery. Let the children be encouraged to interest themselves in some such lines as these, not so as to make nuisances of themselves and museums of their homes—there will be little danger of that—but enough to give them a wholesome enthusiasm in some particular line of study. A vast deal of general information is disseminated through a household, unconsciously absorbed, as it were, when each one has a hobby of his own, and gives out of his choicest discoveries for the common good. As to the sitting room furniture, there are a few essentials that must be emphasized. There should be a table large enough for half a dozen people to sit around of an evening—a round one is best—strong, solid, and covered with a serviceable cloth. There are handsome woolen table covers that grow yet handsomer with age as their colors mellow together, but the best is expensive. A square of plain felt does very well, and is in better taste than the scarlet and green felt cloths stamped with black figures that were so prevalent twenty years ago. A figured cloth shows spots less than a plain one. If a mat of some sort, or even a newspaper, is always laid down under any lamp that burns kerosene, and if a blotter is always used where writing or painting is going on, a plain cloth ought to last for years. Light should abound where the family sit together, sunlight by day and good gas or lamp light by night should be generously supplied. A good duplex burner or a double student lamp uses no more oil than several small lamps dotted down here and there, about the room, and it brings the family together about the central table. So with the drop light, which is an essential where gas is used. The wise woman discards gas in her sitting room, however, and uses good oil, which is far better for the eyes. There should be a writing desk in the room. The old-fashioned secretary was a valuable piece of sitting room furniture, and many a good one has been recalled from the attic within the last few years, and, by a judicious use of soda water, has been freed from old paint, and when scrubbed and rubbed, it has shone as good as new, and much more useful than the modern Davenport. There should be large, easy chairs, not too low, for the use of the men of the house, and for elderly people who find it hard to rise gracefully and with ease from soft, low chairs. There should also be low chairs with broad seats, and short arms, or none at all, for those who must busy themselves with