The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-02-06
BOOKS AS FURNITURE.
They Are Admirable Adjuncts to the
Home Properties.

They Are Admirable Adjuncts to the
Home Properties.
Surveyed only from the point of view
of their utility as home furniture,
books have a recognized value In the
mind of the average purchaser, there is
usually an apologize residuum after
the accomplishment of his purchase.
Carrying his coveted volume home, he
casts about for reasons, apologize and
sufficient, which shall lead wife and
daughters to condone this unwonted
extravaganza. If the book be bound,
it assumes more definitely rebuking
shape, and he knows that the rigid
economy which accepts resignedly the
acquisition of a new novel in paper
will be suspicious, if not outraged, at
the greater permanence and cost of
binding.
1t is amusing to hear the excuses
made by book buyers with reference to
the indulgence of their taste for liters-
ture. They were on the train and
something was needed to beguile the
tedium of the journey, or u birthday
anniversary was about to recur, and "a
book was not only cheap, but might be
read by several in the household be-
sides its possessor, or-and let it be
confessed that the last is the most fire.
quently assigned reason-the book was
offered at a bargain some cents below
its advertised price To the multitude
any article offered on sale at ninety
nine cents appears fabulously cheap in
comparison with its neighboring arti-
Gle at one dollar. Ladies ENORMOUSLY
own their preference for saving the odd
cents, and the bazar which holds the
trump card is the one which offers the
number of wares for seventy, or eighty
or ninety-nine cents.
Seriously, there is nothing so mex
pensive, its real value, its perennial in
terest and its external charm all
weighed against its cash price, as a
book and a bound book. Wedo not I'M
derestimate the convenience of cheap
issues in paper, but their only use after
they have been read is to lend or to
give away. They are simply rubbish
and impeachment in the eyes of the neat
housekeeper, and justly so. Far better
these than none: still, in these days of
luxurious Typography, exquisite illus
trations and daintily-perfect binding, q
well-bound book is a thing of beauty
and Joy forever. In itself it is a min
iature art gallery. 1t helps you in the
entertaining of guests. 1t offers a theme
for conversation. 1t tends to the fos-
tering of refinement in the children. It
diffuses around it an atmosphere as
distinctly elevating, if the book be good
and bad books should never be adj
mitted into the home-as the air of
health which blows cheerily from the
mountains or the sea. 1t drives e1111ai
away; it stimulates to activity. Any
teacher will testify to the fact that his
most intelligent pupils are the bookish
pupils-the girls and boys who are ac-
customed to handling books and living
in their good company.
But, conceding all this, admitting
that the everlasting borrowing of books
is as much q mistake in manners as
should be the borrowing of coats, or
vests, or gowns, or gloves, we present
an argument which shall irresistibly
appeal to the frugal mind.
Books furnish. They furnish in the
same manner that drapery and pictures
and bric-a-brac do. After you have
possessed yourself of the bare necessi-
ties, the carpets and chairs, and tables
and bedsteads, and when you begin to
think of adornment and decoration,
every penny you expend in books is an
investment which will return you large
interest. Furnish a house in the ex-
IRENE of the upholsterer's art, without
regard to the money spent, emitting
books, and your house shall resemble q
statue waiting for the soul. The backs
of books on the shelves, books on the
center-table, books tempting hand and
eye, as the caller in the parlor awaits
the ady ent of the hostess, are all useful
in filing up what we may style the
properties Of the home You may make
mistake in buying silver or glass.
Your other furniture may find itself in
the wake of departing fashion; your
pictures may be inharmonious, or you
may pay too much for them in proper
ton to the merit, but the modest book,
costing comparatively little, well worth,
even if it cost much, the price of sew
eral desserts and of two or three pounds
of candy, will, merely as furniture, re-
ward you by its vindication of your
taste and its quality of inherent vitality.
Therefore good mater-familias encour-
o.o tho boo1r Iyo.,,a