The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1894-02-15

Dame LiOncs cOunSeled Sir Gareth to
sleep in none other place but in the
haIl?" In modern times things were
exactly reversed, and the hall was re
duced to comparative insignifcance. as
something hardly better than pass
ageway to the dining-rOom, drawing
room and other familiar chambers
This cycle began to show signs Of end
ing not many years back, and the hall
once more plays a leading part in social
life. Its return to its original purpose
of a sitting room has brought back
many delightful features of domestic
architecture. The great fireplace with
andirous and blazing logs, is one OF
them. A fireplace Of this sort needs
plenty Of unincumbered space about it,
SO that the members of the home circle
can move their chairs near to the
flames or away from them as the heat
rises or falls under the fluctuations of
the winter wind. In a country house
of ordinary dimensions no other cham
Der can give quite so much space to the
chairs as the hall can. Then there is
the windowSeat, which, with pretty
cushions and loaded glass window
just above the level Of ones shoulders,
is in summer or winter as comfortable
a lOunging place as it is artistic.
But there is no feature of the most
modern country hall which is more in
teresting than the staircase, or. more
particularly, the first steps of the stair
case. The special treatment of this
detail in small houses is in fact pecul
Jar to recent architecture. Until 4
very late day architects rarely took al
much pains as they do now to start
their stairway with some touch of dec
orative originality that would intro
duce an artistic and useful factor into
their scheme for the hall A broad
platform raised one or two steps
above the floor, and with a window
seat, lends a charming picturesquencss
to the effect of an evening gathering
when a group of young people is
formed about it. At other times it is
the best of all places for stately rub
Der plant or a vase of hydrangeas. In
some houses the designers have spent
themselves in building a screen of del
icate spindles around the stairs. plac-
ing seat against the former on the
hall floor, and this screen, of course,
has counted in the decoration of the
hall. The newell post has gone through
all sorts of transformations. In one
house it remains the strictly indie
pendent member which our colonial
grandfathers made it, and is attrac
tive simply as a marvel of scroll work
and of tops" which look like Ossa
piled upon Pelion. In another it serves
as pedestal for either a lamp or a
flower jar, and in this last guise it has
been possibly most often strug-
gled with by the ambitious deco
rator, who has given it all manner of
shapes. In the sketch which accOmpa-
MES this, picture of an English in
terror, there is seen the natural out
come of the evolutionary process
through which the hall newell post has
passed. 1t has been developed of
existence. In its place, on the wide
pla torn provided by the first or sec
ond step, there stands a porcelain
flower vase. 1t will not be long before
other objects are substituted for this
and statues are put in position at the
beginning of the stairs. This may
look like a return to the permanent
newell post, but it will really have the
advantage of leaving the staircase
clear at this point if for any special
occasion the hostess wishes to remove
her work of art. The flower jar is
| perhaps best adapted to the corner. 1t
gives just the required emphasis and
| It is free from the agTressiveness and
| occasional Inconvenience which be-
longs to the newell post that is inmova-
| ble.-N. 7. Tribune.