Lamps can be made to cast a magic glow over a room, to obliterate its hard outlines and emphasize its pleasing contours, to give it life, and tone, and color, both in the daytime and at night, and they should be carefully chosen for their own merits and particular functions, and not because they are elaborate, expensive, or the prevailing mode. There are many hideous and clumsy lamps and shades which cost many more dollars than the much more effective simple and striking ones which can be made with a little fearless and ingenious experimenting.

The desk, the writing table, the card table, the dressing table, bed table, and chest of drawers all require special lighting consideration and can be used to give clear cut, brilliant touches to a room.

For the soft and restful lighting so important when neither general nor specialized illumination is required, side brackets and wax candles vie in effectiveness with supplementary lamps.

There are two general types of wall brackets, those which imitate candles and send their light upwards and those which come out of the wall and throw their light directly downwards. Unless one is able to afford the classically beautiful varieties, it is better to select simple and unpretentious ones finished dull gold or silver or painted the same color as the wall.

Little shields of brightly decorated or appliqued silk, or of painted perforated paper lined with silk, make effective shades for the candle variety. For the other kind, which are less decorative but more practical, flower bell shades of charming silks can be made to fit over wire frames.

In a somber room soft violet shades lined in yellow and a table lamp with a violet pottery base and an ample shade of violet and yellow silk will give an enlivening touch. If preferable dull coral silk shades lined in yellow may be used for the wall brackets while the lamp may have a black base and a shade of black and coral silk.

Wax candles are better unshaded and placed upon the mantelpiece and tables where they can shed their soft rays on the faces of visitors, or upon interesting objects. Candle light is conducive to romance, reverie, and conversation.

The lighting fixtures need not necessarily be the points of emphatic interest and contrast in the room. They may be admirably conceived in subdued background colorings, and the enlivening touches introduced by other means. A bright colored, well formed vase or jar placed on a contrasting bit of silk is a striking garniture for a bare wooden table and an effective note in a room. Sometimes the bit of contrasting silk is hung on the wall back of the object. It is usually left unfinished and unlined and is frankly decorative. The object is best chosen first and many bits of old brocades or modern silk tried with it, or dyed to order by some individual textile artist who will usually be able and willing to proffer suggestions. There are many Arts and Crafts workers who make a specialty of hand dyeing and do it excellently. The contrast should be clear cut and definite in order to be effective.

Bright colored pottery is interesting apart from the contrasting silk, if its shape and texture is sufficiently decorative. An orchid-colored vase against a gold-toned wall is exquisite, as is turquoise or Persian blue pottery against dark brown wood, while jade green and bright yellow give a spring-like quality to a room.

Brilliant bits of modern or antique glass lend great interest to a decoration. One piece of Bristol glass of superb amethyst, deep blue, wine red, or Venetian green has many times more piquancy and distinction, if judiciously selected and placed, than the universally coveted art treasures of European loot. Royal Purple Muslin Glass, Baccarat Glass in red and green, and Old Dorflinger are standard makes of American glass which can be effectively used and are very moderate in price. They may be used purely decoratively, or as receptacles for fruits or flowers - and here we approach the broad subject of flower arrangement.

Mary Averill's book on the flower art of Japan will give many practical suggestions arising from the Japanese method, while a recent pamphlet by Annette Warner in the Cornell University agricultural series is filled with sane and helpful hints in the effective use of bowls, jars, and vases, and flower arrangements which can be supplied from the simplest garden.

A suggestion for the color of receptacles may be taken from the natural environment of the flowers, says Miss Warner. Swamp orchids spring from gray green beds of moss, delicately colored flowers of the springtime from the brown leaves of the previous autumn, and later summer flowers from the soft green tints of the sod land.

For many flowers nothing is better than plain glass bowls or vases which may be obtained in a variety of shapes at any good department store. The stems showing through the glass add an effect of color sure to harmonize with the whole. Sweet peas are never more effective than in a straight glass tumbler; pansies need a low bowl and the lily a high flaring vase. Each arrangement calls for its special shape, and the true lover of flowers will keep an eye open for these, not scorning humble sources.

The placing and arrangement of flowers often determines its form; therefore the position it is to occupy should be considered from the first. The observer's point of view should influence the arrangement. Some plants look their best in a jar placed on the floor. Pond lilies never look so well as when floating in a shallow dish on a tabourette, or a stand which is lower than the ordinary table. Some plants or bouquets are most attractive when placed on a window sill and silhouetted against the light. White lilies or golden glow light up a dark corner effectively. Drooping branches or vines arrange themselves naturally when placed on a mantel-piece, or in baskets, or other receptacles hung against the wall. If the walls of the room were thought of as the background for flowers, many designs in wall papers would never be chosen. The plain or soft-toned papers in neutral backgrounds make the best backgrounds.