Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-05-29
For the Journal.
How to Furnish a ParlOr.

most. A lew, more eAuDltIOuS, WouIu
require the walls to be decorated with
pictures, and perhaps. some superbly
bound albums and ''poets" on the
what-not or center table. M. Tame
deduces many of the characteristics OF
the English nation from the furniture
of an average English bed room. Ii
we take the average American parlor
| to be a corresponding index OF Amerl-
can character. 1 am afraid the impress
sion made would not be altogether
fiattering to our national vanity. Too
many sofas and easy chairs, too much
crowding of articles of vertu and con-
yeniencies for luxurious ease of
BODY, too much addressed merely
to the eve and the senses,
and too little to waken thought and
appeal to our inner selves and our
higher life. There can lie no objection
| to Brussels and rosewood from any
| point of view where they are in cores
pondence with the owners means. The
point is, that they are not all-they
are net half of the proper furnishing
of a room. 1t may be furnished we'll
and artistically, and say more for the
taste and culture of the inhabitants
without either of those adjuncts. L
have in my minds eye now parlor
without any carpet whatever, which
has never yet known a carpet, but
which outshines in tine best purposes
of a parlor many luxurious and gild-
ed salon.
The house is new one, built on to
the old one, and made part OF 1t, as
think it is good for new houses to be
| where the old one is at all worthy and
| has associations. In that case 1t gives
dignity and interest to the new out
growth. The new part is completed,
well planed and well built, painted and
plastered and waiting now for the young
girls for whose pleasure and convenience
| the fond father and mother have made
some additions, to show their hand III
in the furnishing and other decora-
| tons.
| Just at this crisis there comes
pinch in the money matters, Tor our
| friends are not milliOnaires. Prudent
papa shuts up the purse for season.
we cannot 60 into heavy outlay this
wear nor maybe next. Meanwhile the
girls are yet at school. There needs
no hurry. What money L have to
spare this year for their benefit shall
put neither in carpets nor curtains.
can do better for them than that. So
| the new part of the house remains yet
awhile unfinished, SO to speak, but
every time ] go there see creeping IN
little bits that are very indicative OF
what we shall see by and by, When
cotton is again at Is cents, or by
lady 20 cents. The bare floors are Of
beautiful native pine. The walls are
delicately tinted. The windows, guilt
| less of curtains or even shades, are
only protected by the outside blinds.
| The parlor is never used except IN
warm weather. Mama's old parlor is
the pla fer comfort as ytt- Meanwhile
there are the acoumulations that
are going on. One capita! engrav-
ing that tones you down and comforts
you every time your eye falls on 1t,
On the mantelpiece two graceful vases
/ that are never without flowers, half
! dozen light cane chairs and rockers,
and very pretty lightly carved, we'll
| filed bookcase. believe the new
parlor has nothing more IN it. Yes, L
forgot, there is an old fashioned claw
| footed mahogany table which grand
papa brought from Massachusetts ever
! so many years ago, warranted not to
have coane oyer in the Mayfower. On
| this repOse some ferlOilcals-an al
/ is usual foe the family friends to speak
of this parior as ''Enfurnished They
say when the girls leave school 1t shall
be furnish he'd. But / declare / tl,lnl
/ il is now perfectly tasteful, and per-
fec.!v pleasant room IN summer. 1he
bOOhc0sc docs the furnishing. The
INFINITE | go into that room the book
case steps forward and gives the whole
apartment ais ai- Of high breeding and
luxury. I find myseR - the best
company, and the crowd Is az
tualiy increasing. There is Knights
Shakespeare, and there, too, IS
| yerplanciz's edition, with the mothers
maiden name written IL it IL the hand
writing OF Paterfamilias. Let Us cheer
fully wager it was lOye-token, Ammo
Domino, 1854 Here are all De Quin-
cey's brown volumes as ssued by Tick
nor. All the British essayists and most
| cf the elder British poets. There is the
Library Edition Of Daniel Webster.
And here are Longfellaw and Bryant
and Elizabeth Browning asl4 Jenny
son. Here are the "World Essays
| ("Among my Books'') by Judge Reed,
much thumbed, [ am glad to see, and
| opens of itself at the essays on the
| Prayer Book, for mater-familias is
good Church woman and declares that
| essay goes to her hearts core, and
near by are Prof. Reeds delightful
| Essays on English Literature and En-
glish History-books to be read and
re-read. With a few exceptions the
books date before the war, but this
sort of furnishing is never at an end.
The father means his daughters shall
| enjoy the same sort of pleasure that
h s Frightened the lives of their pa
rents-they shat, Aaye books before
they have carpets and sof-s, # both
cannot be had at once. Last week,
! stepping in to see what further
progress had been made in the
| furnishing, CLEAN of fresh green and
| gold caught my eye and found that
rather well worn copy O. ''Half Hours
with the best authors" had been ban
ished to make room for the four first
volumes Of the new edition Of Scott by
Messrs. Hale, of New York. And this
brings me to what 1 set opt to say,
that I think no parlor completely fur
nished that does not hold selection
OF the best editions of some of the best
books ia the English language-the
selection showing more of the mind of
| the owner than any thing eisG in his
house And next, that no collection
of books made up these days, especial
ly when we are buying to guide the
taste of cur children, can be called
complete that Does not comprise Hale's
''Thistle Edition Of the Wayerly nov
els. 1t is just the thing for the family.
The volumes are of handy size, the
type is capitalize paper good, and
the binding most dainty, without be-
ing too good or costly for daily use
There could be no prettier present
from a Romeo to his Juliet-or ITO
my wjfe"-or ''To my daughter" I
think / can see the delight with which
gift so appropriate and SO elegant !
would be received. Our children are
growing up amid the wreck Of many |
principles. tastes and ideas which we
once thought immutably fixed and |
permanent. It is to be feared they |
will have but hybrid notions in many
cases Of right and wrong, hybrid no
tons of taste and refinement. 1t is
more than even "a matter of the highest |