Styles in table linens change from time to time and render it difficult
to say what may or may not be used with propriety, except that the
general principle of coarse, heavy-looking designs being in poor taste
always holds good. One pattern alone has proven itself, and stood the
test of time so satisfactorily that it is as high as ever in the good
housekeeper's favor, with no prospect of falling from grace--our old
friend the dainty, modest snowdrop, a quiet, unobtrusive little figure in
a garden array of roses, English violets, lilacs, tulips, irises, and
poppies--for these are flowery times in linens. Occasionally we meet
with a scroll or fern design, though the latter is gradually falling into
disuse as being too stiff to twine and weave into graceful lines. So
true to nature and so exquisitely woven are these posy patterns that they
form in themselves a most charming table decoration. In order to secure
perfect reproduction a manufacturer in Belfast has established and
maintains a greenhouse where his designers draw direct from the natural
flower. This care is but the outgrowth of the more refined living which
demands that beauty shall walk hand-in-hand with utility.



PRICE AND SIZE

Before our housekeeper starts a-shopping she must lock up her zeal for
economy lest it lead her away from the straight and narrow way of good
taste into that broader path which leads to the bargain counter. She may
as well make up her mind at once that desirable table linen is not cheap,
the sorts offered at a very low price being neither economical nor
desirable, and that a cheap cloth which cheapens all of its surroundings
is dearly bought at any price. Occasionally the experienced shopper can