The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-03-31
ENGLISH HOMES.
AGlANCE AT THE INTERIOR OF THE
ENGllSHMAN's CASTLE.
Where the Euglishman Builds His Castle.
Dull aud Uncheery Decorations
Furniture aud Arrangement of
the Rooms Generally.
Robert Laird Collier in c.bioago New.

Robert Laird Collier in Chicago News
In the midst Of this landscape world tina
Englishman builds his house And his houss
is his castle. IL is the center of his life an I
Of his interests His house Is USUALLY OF
red brick and Of two stories, with hirh
wall ali around It. An Engishman likes 10
be shut IN The sea shuts him in. and he j,
there ore born to it, The best part of his
house is at the back His drawing-room
and dining room front back. In all the
houses where have been except. perhaps,
two very modern ones, the front of the
house is taken up with the kitchen or Offices
OF the house such as buffers pantry and Law
atory. Most suburban and country houses
are square, with central hall and rooms
arranged around it. The doors ara small.
and, indeed, the windows and all openinos
are small. The rooms are larger-larger
than in this country or in France or Ger
many. In the middle-claSs houses there
would be drawing dining-room sitting.
room, and perhaps billiard-room on the first
floor, besides large space given to kitchen
and pantrieS. The outside of the house is
almost uniformly without architectural
decorations. The dullnesS Of the climate is
tie decorations of the house.
/ cannot say Iadmire the inside of most
English houses, for they are dull and I'M
CHEEKY. 1t is perfectly true, as the French
say, that nothing screams and it is also
perfectly true that that nothing sings"
There Is no joy, no Eight and sweetness
in the color, form, and expression of tho
house. Matters are mending and the
more modern, or rather the quite re-
cent fashions in house decoration, are Of
hgher and more brilliant tones. Up to
within five years the woodwork was all
dark, usually grained in walnut or
very dark oak, and the furniture was ma.
hogany, of very heavy and ungainly con-
struction This. however, must be said,
that the chairs were for use, and were very
comfortable. There is a spirit Of comfort
about an English home that is very marked
that is, if ono can only dissociate the idea
Of art from that of comfort The sofa is
easy and tfg, and just the thing to lie down
upon There is a sofa cushion and a sofa
rug or wrap; the cushion is soft and the
wrap Is warm, and tine whole arrangement
Is snug and inviting to rest and ease. But
the cushion and the wraps are almost sure
to be offensive to the eye Of art The colors
are almost sure to bs atrocious. Nine times
In ten there will be a dash Of lavender and
Of purple in both. The common people Of
England have no sense of proportion or OF
color. The weather. classes hays more
taste, but the nation has more pronounced
merits than esthetic ones.
All English houses that | remember to
have seen are papered The walls are never
painted, Us in this country and on the con-
tinent. The papers used are very dark and
Of very large patterns. The colors used in
upholStering are dark, and the effect, there
FORE, Of the room is heavy and, in fact
gloomy. The heavy skies and duh s.tmos-
phcros should suggest, one would fancy, light
coIors and CHEEKY decorations, but instead of
| being masters Of the climate they are slaves
| to it The massiveness OF the furniture is
! its prime and most noticeable character
istic. This is peculiarly so of the
| furniture Of the dining-rOom The sideboard
| is always a most enormous and unwieldly af-
| fair, and upon il is set the affections and
the ambitions Of its family. II is quite usu-
ally the most expensive piece of furniture in
the house, and it is not only very big, very
| high, very wide, and very long, but it is
carved and ornamented with brass trim
m!ngs 1t Is in some sense, the symbol of
hospitality The biscuit box is always
standing upon it, and the decanters OF
| spirits and wines are always at hand. The
! Fapering of the dining room is always dark
ana on its walls are to be found most of the
oil painting belonging TO the family. The
| tables and the chairs are of a kind with the
sideboard-yery large and very heavy.
The drawingroom is almost always at The
back Of the house and looks out upon the
| garden, for it must be known that however
large tine grounds, the house is built quite
| near the road and there is little or no front
| garden; and there is almost Bure to be quite
a high wall ut tile 'front.' so as to shut off the
| mouse and grounds from the gaze and ewes
of the common herd. Many houses, indeed
all through the provinces, have gates
IN these high walls with bells, an
the servant comes from the house
to the outside gate 20 answer the bell
| the paperiu- of the drawing i,
II somewhat lighter color than that of the
other rooms The furniture is also less mas
siye, and has just 4 tendency to decoration
AID art. The line is strictly drawn at water.
color painting upon the walls In no well
ordered English family does one ever see an
oil painting on the walls of the drawing
ROOM | have never been able to fully take
| in the reason for this custom. ! conjecture
being lighter and Of more expensive paper
| ing that il is deemed bad taste to cover them
up with great pictures and frames. Water
, c3lors, moreover, are more in keeping with
the lighter tone of the room So it is; yoU
{ never, under any circumstance see oil
4 paintings in the salon of an English house.
The bedroom furnishings are of q likl
heavy sort with the rest of the house. The
brass bedstead has taken the place of the old
"four-poster," but the canopy is retained
The curtains are drawn for the night When
the bed is opened. Day coverings and "pl
low shams' for the bed are things unknown
in England. 1t is always deliciously
clean, and with its cretonne or muslin hang
ings looks neat and tidy. In many houses
the feather-bed is still the thing, and is al
ways used upon all bedsteads in winter.
1t may be truthfully said that in all mid
dle-class families of England the dining
room is the living room OF the house. TIL.
family-or such of them as remain at homt
sit in the dining-roOm the forenoon anJ
until after the noon meal, whether that be
luncheon or dinner. The dining room i
commonly very large room and is Furnished
Tor comfort, having generally the mos
pleasant exposure to garden, sun, and air
, The kitchen is seldom near the dining-room
and the pantrieS are connected with tn
kitchen; so that the dining room is free of nj
the odor of cooking and from all thu
necessary noise of the kitchen and pantries
As all meats and hot dishes are bought T.
the dining-room closely covered, there
seldom any smell from the kitchen floating
about or lurking about the house.
Were the color of the house less sombe
and the furniture less cumbrous; were tn
rooms more open and less separated eac
from the other, the English house would h
the center of the most perfect external con
fort known to the domestic life of thi
world As it is, the English house is til
home of sweet love- OF thoughtful civility
and of unforgetting and undJ ing loyalty.