The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-05
DECORATIVE ART IN LITERATURE.


the centennial year, and has since ragged I'M
ceasingly, becomes, the days go on, more
and more astonishing to inartistic minds.
When we view the marvellous collections OF
bric-a- brac, paintings, grotesque china and
equally grotesque furniture ard house-furnish-
ings, in our own and our neighbors homes, we
are brought to feel that if we could ''take the
wings of the morning, and the Barcan desert
pierce" we should undoubtedly find the few
trees in that far off waste of sand hung with
hand painted placques and panels, and the very
cames patiently plodding along under blankets
of wonderful construction, made gay with Ken
sington stitch, or given a more distinguished
air by a border of macrame lace. 1t is not
our intention 10 depreciate this far-resching
rage for decoration in toto. 1t has its mission,
and we would not doubt even the beauty and
the inner meaning of that mysterious system
of adornment so very dear to the feminine
heart which is known aslick-rack. The rising
tide which has brought much drift to our
banks has also brought much Of value and of
beauty to u.s.. and our faith is mistaken that
in time the principle of the survival of the
fittest will satisfactorily dispose of what is
worthless
There is one sacred spot, however, into
which this al-pervading rage for paint and
crockery cannot be allowed to enter without
sorrowful protest viz: the field of literature.
Is it not to itself sufficient Have not words
their beauteous lights and shades Of meaning,
their graceful forms, and speaking posesg Can
they not, of themselves alone, produce eff
feet of color cloud tinted and sombre or rose
hued and gorgeousP Surely, the use of deco
ration in literature is to gid refined gold and
paint the lily. The most careless reader of the
every day novel cannot but remark the rage
fer what may be styled decorative writing in
the so-called society novel. The furnishing of
the house, the room in which the astonishing
heroine performs her soul-harrowing feats of
emotional gymnastics, have become the most
conspicuous features of the story. The reader
is made to see it all. She rises in appropriate
garb, which must not be described, as it be-
longs to the millinery and dressmaking depart
ment of literature crimson plush fau
teuil; she poses on Turkish rugs; she leans
her classic elbow on q marble mantel-piece or
heavily lambrequined macrame duplicate;
she toys with Satsuma ware, which disastrous
ly and extensively drops from her jeweled 4
fingers when her emotion reaches its height,
and passes under heavily -draped portieres
when the time comes for her to withdraw with a
disdainful glance backward at her annihilated
lover. To further perpetuate the figure, We
may imagine her retiring to her boudoir, to
cast herself full length, regardless of missing
up the bed, on an expensive couch, adorned
with lace spread and appropriate pillows, in
an agony of swift repentance; after which in
diligence she arises, bathes her tear-stained face
and purifes her tapering fingers with Pears
soap, at thirty five cents a. cake, and removes
the surplus moisture with dollar towels, decor
ated with drawn work. or with knotted fringe
a quarter of yard deep; and then sallies forth
to get up another wreck of matter and crush
of worlds" 1t is not intended to forbid the
nove-writer a background for his mimic stage,
but when the background becomes foreground,
and by its splendor casts into the shade the
men and women who are made to walk and
talk i'll it, to our edifcation or instruction, the
public is fain to cry "Hold, enough Life
cannot be lived to its best and deepest mean
ings where the tables and chairs, the bric-a-
brac or the pictures, are made of more import
ance than flesh and blood. can Ambitious
Woman" recent novel by Edgar Fawcett, is
nishings of the house, from garnet to cellar,
are most prominent. The heroine is a poor
girl, who has entered, through golden matri-
monial gate, into that charmed region called
society" She has her reign and social tri
umphs, but the reader is more plainly
made to see the "draped door
ways" 'the walnut-raftered ceilings" ''the
low gilt trellis between the rug and hearth
stone" ''the rich-clad SOFA" 'the big chair of
gilded basket work with plush cushions,
''the mirrors framed in porcelain" 'the clus-
ters of wax lights, end the sparkle of glass
and silver" 'the sweet'bread croquettes,
and, climax of disgusting particularly, 1.-TWO
crystal finger bowls with slim slice.of lemon
floating in each" which was supposed to crown