were of very trifling worth; but as they stood arranged and combined, they had all the effect of a lovely picture.  Although the statuary was only plaster, and the photographs and lithographs such as were all within the compass of limited means, yet every one of them was a good thing of its own kind, or a good reminder of some of the greatest works of Art.  A good plaster cast is a daguerrotype, so to speak, of a great statue, though it may be bought for five or six dollars, while its original is not to be had for any nameable sum.  A chromo-lithograph of the best sort gives all the style and manner and effect of Turner or Stanfield, or any of the best of modern artists, though you buy it for five or ten dollars, and though the original would command a thousand guineas.  The lithographs from Raphael’s immortal picture give you the results of a whole age of artistic culture, in a form within the compass of very humble means.  There is now selling for five dollars at Williams and Everett’s a photograph of Cheney’s crayon drawing of the San Sisto Madonna and Child, which has the very spirit of the glorious original.  Such a picture, hung against the wall of a child’s room, would train its eye from infancy; and yet how many will freely spend five dollars in embroidery on its dress, that say they cannot afford works of Art!

There was one advantage which John and his wife found in the way in which they furnished their house, that I have hinted at before:  it gave freedom to their children.  Though their rooms were beautiful, it was not with the tantalizing beauty of expensive and frail knick-knacks.  Pictures hung against the wall, and statuary safely lodged on brackets, speak constantly to the childish eye, but are out of reach of childish fingers, and are not upset by childish romps.  They are not like china and crystal, liable to be used and abused by servants; they do not wear out; they are not spoiled by dust, nor consumed by moths.  The beauty once there is always there; though the mother be ill and in her chamber, she has no fears that she shall find it all wrecked and shattered.  And this style of beauty, inexpensive as it is, compared with luxurious furniture, is a means of cultivation.  No child is ever stimulated to draw or to read by an Axminster carpet or a carved centre-table; but a room surrounded with photographs and pictures and fine casts suggests a thousand inquiries, stimulates the little eye and hand.  The child is found with its pencil, drawing; or he asks for a book on Venice, or wants to hear the history of the Roman Forum.

But I have made my article too long.  I will write another on the moral and intellectual effects of house-furnishing.

* * * * *

“I have proved my point, Miss Jennie, have I not? In house-furnishing, nothing is more economical than beauty.”

“Yes, papa,” said Jennie; “I give it up.”

* * * * *