And because she has bought
this carpet she can not afford to paper the walls or put up any
window-curtains, and can not even begin to think of buying any pictures.
Now let us see what eighty dollars could have done for that room. We
will suppose, in the first place, she invests in thirteen rolls of
wall-paper of a lovely shade of buff, which will make the room look
sunshiny in the day-time, and light up brilliantly in the evening.
Thirteen rolls of good satin paper, at thirty-seven cents a roll,
expends four dollars and eighty-one cents. A maroon bordering, made
in imitation of the choicest French style, which can not at a distance
be told from it, can be bought for six cents a yard. This will bring
the paper to about five dollars and a half; and our friends will give
a day of their time to putting it on. The room already begins to look
furnished.
Then, let us cover the floor with, say, thirty yards of good matting,
at fifty cents a yard. This gives us a carpet for fifteen dollars. We
are here stopped by the prejudice that matting is not good economy,
because it wears out so soon. We humbly submit that it is precisely
the thing for a parlor, which is reserved for the reception-room of
friends, and for our own dressed leisure hours.
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