The pictures in the parlor should possess evident artistic merit. There
should be no suggestion of amateurishness. Family attempts at drawing or
painting, crayon portraits, etc., all photographs, with the exception of
those intended as artistic studies, should be excluded from the walls.
If good originals by capable artists are not obtainable, fine engravings,
etchings, and even colored copies of noted pictures may take their place.

A few books, well bound and with contents worthy of the binding, should
lie on the parlor table, with a late magazine or so, for the entertainment
of the waiting guest. There should be fresh flowers arranged in pretty
bowls to add their impress of cheerfulness and beauty to the room.

In most American homes the parlor is also the music room. Since a piano
should be chosen for quality rather than appearance, an instrument of
any finish is allowable in a room, whatever its decorative scheme.
Except in a family containing an expert performer, a piano should be
chosen for softness and richness of tone, instead of brilliancy. For
most households the old cottage organ is a more practicable instrument
than the "concert grand" often found in a small parlor, where its
piercing notes, especially in combination with operatic singing, are
so confined that tones and overtones, which should assist each other,
mingle in jarring confusion. Indeed, when the parlor is large and high,
a genuine pipe-organ built in a recess and harmonizing in finish with
the woodwork of the room is not only the finest decoration possible, but
the most appropriate musical instrument. Those families who possess an
old-fashioned piano, such as thin and tinkly "square," are advised to
have it overhauled and refinished by a competent piano-repairer, and
preserved, if only for practice by the children. In case such an
instrument has "overstrung" wires, it can be restored to a tone that