The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1869-04-17
THE CHEAPNEsS OF BEAUTY.
BY HARRIET BEHcHER STOWE.

BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
WE propose to write an article on the
subject of beauty as applied to the living
rooms of houses.
We hold the truth to be selfevldent that
in the arrangements of life, things should
be so disposed as not merely to secure
physical comfort but also TO produce the
impression of beauty.
Now, here we are met at the outset by
people who tell us that OF course they
want their houses handsome, and that
when they get money enough they in,
tend to have them handsome, but that az
present they are too poor, and because
they are poor they dismiss the subject alto
gether apparently, and live without any
regard to II.
Ne have often seen people who said
that they could not afford to make their
houses beautiful who had spent upon
them, outside or in, an amount OF money
which did not produce either beauty or
comfort and which, if judiciously applied,
might have made the house quite charm
ing.
We wilinstance one case A man, in
building his house, takes plan of an /
architect This plan includes, on the out
side, a number Of what Andrew Fa1rser'
vice called curly-wurlies" and whig- |
maliriesn which make the house neither |
prettier nor more comfortable, and which
take up q good deal Of money. We would
venture to say that we could buy the
Chromo of BierstadPs " Sunset in the Yo'
Semitic Valley,n and -four others like it,
for half the sum that we have sometimes
seen laid out on very ugly porch, that
looked like nightmare abortion, on the
outside of a house. The only use OF this
porch was to cost money, and to cause
every body who looks at it to exclaim as
they go by : "What ever induced taaJ
man to get a thing like that on the outside
Of his house ?"
Then, again, in the inside of houses, we
have seen a dwelling looking very bald
and bare, when sufficient sum Of money
had been expended on one article to have
made the whole very pretty. The thing
has come about in this way.
We will suppose the couple who own
the house to be In the condition in which
people generally are after they have built
q house-haVing spent more than they
could afford on the building itself, and yet
feeling themselves under the necessity Of
getting some furniture.
f" Now" saysthe housewife, i must at
least have parlor carpet We must get
that to begin with, and other things aswe
. 20 on Shegoes 10 store to look at car
pets. The clerks are smiling and obliging,
, and sweetly complaoent. The storekeeper,
perhaps, is a neighbor or friend, and, after
exhibiting various patterns, he tells her Of
; Brussels carpet he is selling wonderfully
J Cheap-actaally a dollar and a quarter
} less a yard than the usual price of Brus-
, sells, and the reason is that it is an unfash-
2 ionable pattern, and he has a good deal OF
} II, and wishes to close it of.
S She looks at it and thinks it is not OF all
! the kind of carpet she meant to buy but
7 then it is Brussels, and socheap And as
she hesitates her friend tells her that she
q will find it cheapest in the end-that one
: Brussels carpet win outlast three or toul
: ingrains," etc, etc
n The result Of all this isthat she buys the
Brussels carpet, which, with all its reduc
" ton in price, is one.third dearer than the
ingram would have been, andnot half 50
2, pretty When she comes home she viii
!, ind that she has spent, we viii say eighty
" dollars, for very homely carpet, who's
e greatest merit it is an affection to remem
II 6er-namely thatit will Outlast three or
h dinary carpets. And now, because sh'
has bought this carpet, she cannot attort
e. to paper thewalls or put up any window
curtains, and cannot even begin TO thlnl
d Of buying any pictures.
le Now, let ussee what eighty dollars coul
ct have done for that room. We will sup
pose, in the first place, she invests in thiI
esE teen rolls of wall paper Of a lovely shad
ls Of buff, which win make the room Loo
g. sunshiny in the day time, and light u
le. brilliantly in the evening Thirteen roll
40 of good satin paper, at thirtyseyen cent
e. a roll, expends four dollars and eighty.on
or cents, A maroon bordering made in inn
to tation Of the choicest French style, whic
or cannot at a distance be told from 1t, ca
be bought for six cents yard, This wi
0k bring the paperto about five dollars an
th a half and our friends will give day {
7T their time toputting 1t on. The room a
,ir ready beQinsto look furnished.
Now, letus cover the floor with, SAL
m thirty yards Of good mating, at fifty ceni
at "a yard. This gives us o carpet for httee
ly dollars Weare here stopped by the pr
judice that mating is not good economll
M because it wearsout 80 soon We numb
nd submit thatit is precisely the thing for
Id parlor, which isreseryed for the recel
Ier tionToom Of friends, and for our ow
de dressed leisure hours. Mating is not goC
by economy in a dining room or hardwoi
sittingroom, but such psrlor as we a
lie desciibing.is precisely the place where
for answers 70 the very best advantage,
he Wehaveinmihd nowone very attracti'
ok parlOr which has been, both for SUNNI
and Winter, the daily sittingToom for y
sk leisure hours0f husband andwife, and faI
Id lily Of children, where plain white strs
mating has done service for seven yea
lre That parloF Is in q city, and our friends 9
but in the habitof receiving visits from ps
,ep pie who live upon velvet and Brussel
~ but they prefer to spend themoney viii
The such carpets would cost on other moo
ON of embelllahment; and this paTlor D
often been cited to usas very attracti
for ROOM
)ns And now our friends, having got th
i'll, far, are requested to select some one &
md OF color which shall be the prevailing 9
IN the furniture Of the room Shall It
ing gwen? Shall IL be blue Shall 1t
tho crimson 10 carryon our illustrate
'ed. wewil choose green, and I'VE now p
The ceed with II 10 create furniture for
room, Letus imagine thaton one side
led, the hreplaoe there be, as there Is often
ing recess about six feet long and three I
lim deep Hillthis recess with erough ifal
one foot high, and upon The TOP Of
rds frame have an elaaticraeg Of slatsi ms
lgeS a niattTessior thib, 0rii g0a wish 10 ag
this trouble, You can get aniee mattr
htt foFghe spla 0f twC dollarGI maaeog q