Concerning Mantelpieces.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIII, Issue VIII, 20 August 1904, Page 63

Concerning Mantelpieces.

Many a pretty room is absolutely marred by an ugly fireplace (says a writer in an English weekly). All the artistic schemes in the world fail when brought into contact with some Philistine horror in the shape of a chimneypiece, such as one of a kind of mauve and red marble found by ill-luck in a drawing-room,, or a tomb-like construe tion of white marble (with a good deal of grey in it) in a dining-room where the furniture is heavy and the wall

paper severe. When the house is one’s own, or one has taken it on a long lease, my advice is always to do away "with the ugly mantelpiece, and replace it by a new one, however simple. A plain one can be procured in pine, primed for painting or staining, for 35/, and a really handsome one, with fluted jambs and double shelf, the open space between ths two shelves being divided by little pillars into niches for china, for £2 1-j/. For a dainty drawing-room, there is a chimneypiece and cupboard overmantel to be bought in white enamelled wood for £5 10/, which would be a perpetual joy in a room.

But I want to consider the ugly mantelpieces which must remain, and the best method of improving them. The simplest and cheapest way is to make a broad mantelslip to fall over the front, and to conceal the jambs with pot plants. The mantelslip may be made of brocade, Roman satin, linen plush, or, for very plain rooms, of art serge. 1 have often described this slip before, but as some of my readers may not be acquainted with it, I will give details of it again. First, measure the mantelshelf (or the false mantelboard of deal should the shelf not be sufficiently broad), and then cut the slip 12in wider and 24in longer than the dimensions of the shelf. This will allow the slip to fall over 12in at the front and each side, and it will hang in a gracefully folded point of its own accord at each corner. It should be edged with ball fringe to match.

The whole of the ugly mantelpiece will now be hidden, with the exception of the lower parts of the jambs. To conceal these, get two low stools which will stand inside the curb, and place on each a coloured art pot holding a bushy fern or aspidestra. As for example, 1 will suppose a drawing-room with a pale green wall paper and ivory white paint, made quite impossible by one of the red and mauve mantelpieces already alluded to. I would buy about two yards of pale gold brocade at 4/11 the yard

(there will be a considerable piece over, but it is better, if possible, to avoid a join), about four yards of ball fringe, two small ■white wood stools, to be painted with ivory enamel, two yellow art pots at 2/ each, and two ferns. The cost of the whole will not exceed £l. and if the mantel-slip is cut with three joins (in which ease one and a-half yards will be enough), it will onlv come to 17/6.

For an artistic dining-room, wherein a whitey-grey mantelpiece is the eyesoie. I would suggest a deep slip of olivegreen or smoke-blue taffeta, with some quaint design in faded colours either embroidered or applique on the centre of the front fall. The small stools could be stained dark oak, and the pots for ferns should be of beaten copper, or even old-fashioned brown “crocks” would look charming, especially in the summer, when they eould be filled with bright, tall flowers.

There is a newer way of concealing a mantelpiece which will appeal greatly to those house-mistresses who are skilled in stitehery, and if they can, by the use of their needle, evoke charming results from plain pieces of linen and some ein broidery silks or threads, it will be quite inexpensive. This suggestion is not designed to hide a mantelpiece of a very incongruous colour so much as one which is stained, shabby, and of ugly shape, such as the much-abused whiteygrey one in an elegant drawing-room. In this case, have a broad deal board fitted over the shelf, and enamel it ivorywhite, giving three separate eoats at least to ensure a firm, even surface. Take a ten or twelve inch strip of cream linen according to the height of the chimney-piece, and for about 20in across the centre embroider either a conven tional or floral design in softly-shaded silks. Nail this firmly on to the board with copper studs. Then take two long strips of linen, about 12in wide, to come over the board at the ends, and fall down in front of the jambs like stoles. These should be embroidered in like manner all the-way down, and be finished off at the end

with .1 piece of deep lace. W here these stoles are laid on the board at the top. a rather heavy bowl or vase of flowers should be placed, the weight of which will keep them in position, as the effect would be spoilt if they were nailed in front. For dining-room or library, the niantelboard eould be stained oak or mahogany, and the border and stoles <>f string-coloured canvas, with quaint designs in faded coloured linens applied to them. Eat Arsenic for Their Complexion Eating of arsenic is common in Styria. The Styrians say that arsenic makes one plump and comely and gives one strength for great exertions, such as running or mountain climbing. Styria, in Austria, gives the world vast quantities of arsenic. The manufacture of this drug is indeed the main Styrian industry. They who make arsenic eat it, as a rule, for they say that only the arsenie eater can withstand the arsenic fumes. These makers and eaters of the drug

are eomely. They have a blooming and clear colour. "The foreman in a certain arsenic factory told me that in his boyhood, when he first came to that plant, he was advised to begin to eat arsenie lest his health sillier from the fumes.” says a toxicologist. “Ho did begin, and his first two or three small doses gave him a sharp pain, like a burn, in the stomach, and this pain was followed by tremendous hunger and a violent, disagreeable excitement. But as his doses increased in frequency and size their effect became pleasant. There was no longer pain or excitement, mi the contrary, there was a ravenous ap petite and a mood of joyous activity wherein he could do three men's work. “This ehap. by the time he got to be 30. was taking four grains of arsenie a day. He looked at .30, with his clear, pink and white colour, no more than 23. He was as robust as a blacksmith. But he said he would die at 45 or so. that being the age at which all the Styrian arsenic-eaters die."

The drtig is a preservative, and in Styria when graves are opened bodies are found to be as fresh six or seven years after interment as on the day they were lowered into the earth.