Connecticut western news., 1877-03-23
The Ancient Simplicity.

for return Ot simplicity Tn dress ana furniture. This utterance is in accord with sentiments very common in the popular speech-sentiments which as- sume that modern life is far more or nate and artificial than life in past periods. Prevalent as this notion IS, it is wholly a mistaken one No Idea, however, ,can be generally current with out some foundation for it; it is, there fore, true that if one makes certain limited comparisons he will discover evidence in support of this assertion. If, for instance, one compares the life of the people of early New England with that of their descendants of to- day, he will find very marked confr- nation of the accepted theory. On the other hand, broad comparison of one century with another, of the life of civ ilized people of the eighteenth or other earlier century with the life of civil ized people of this century, will elicit very different education, There is ab- solutely not one fashion now current, not taste in dress, furniture, or orna- ment, that is not a revival of tastes ill those things in by-gone periods. We have invented nothing, we have elab- orated nothing; we have only imper- fectly reproduced the excesses. copied the styles, and fallen into the manias of our ancestors. This fact really set ties the whole question; for, if it is true that, with all the talk about old flask toned simplicity and modern excess, It can be shown that every detail of this excess is derived from the very times that are held up to us as models of moderation, then obviously the censures and criticisms so abundant are all wrong.
 And yet that we do no more than re- vive past fashions, in so far as present fashions are ornamental, is certain. We are original only in those directions that involve simplicity. Mems attire, for instance, is quite unlike old styles. but it's departure has been severely in the direction of plainness, simplicity and ugliness. In those matters that involve elaboration. artifce, display, we have gone back to our forefathers for the inspiration and the instruction and, so far, have failed to come up to them. If one would see the extent to which elaborate carving can be carried, let him study the old cablnet-ware at the Hotel de Cluny, Paris, or at the Kensington Museum, London, or such examples as he may find in the muse ums in America or let him recall to mind the old furniture he has seen the four-post bedstead, with every part covered with elaborate designs; or the old cabinets, upon which the industrl- ous carver has not left an inch of space untouched or the leather stamped chairs, overrunning with quaint de- vices. These remains of past industry and taste have many things to claim our admiration, but simplicity is not one of them. If we permit our mem- ory to run back over the past, it will bring up pictures of halls richly vain scoted; mantle pieces lifting to the cell ing, in which sculptural ornamentatlon has tasked the inventive imagination ot the artist to the utmost; of ceilings overwrought with devices, of men and women moving amid the scene upon whom satin, silks, faces, ribbons, feath- CTS, jewelry, have been lavished in rich but studied profusion. If we recall these pictures of the past, the current lament over modern departure from simplicity will seem absurd enough.
 This point is to be observed, how ever: the pomp and splendor of the past were honest in character; there were no cheap and shOwy substitutes for real material and earnest labor Veneering was unknown; the carving was done by hand, and not by machin- cry; the ornamentation was part of the structure, not glued upon or attached to it; the dresses of satins and silks knew no admixture with baser material As consequence, Only the wealthy in- dulged their tastes1 n this way. But now machinery has facilitated manu- fracture so much, and ingenious work men have found so many ways of imi- tating by cheap processes the elaborate workmanship of the old artisans, that f1imsy and bad ornamentation acquires the beauty and destroys tine integrity of 8 good deal of our work. This it is right enough to denOunce. But it is quite misleading, in the warfare upon meritorious ornamentation, to assume that we carve, gild and decorate more now than in former periods of the worlds history. Old churches, old houses, old furniture, old dress, ole china, old lace, all show 8 passion fol color and love of decoration that we to-day are only in part reviving-Ap pletons' Journal.