The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-21
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WOMAN'S WORLD.

japanese and colonial reVlValS IN Iur-
nishing and have reveled in them. con-
scious that If some of them were rather
depressing they were at least high art,
and above all fashionable. 1t was in
that secluded nook, the cosy corner, de-
signed for the confidential talk or after
noon tea gossip, that these graftings
of hobgoblinlike household art most
firmly fixed themselves. People who
could not afford to clear out all the good
old-fachioned plush and haircloth could
at least revel in a fashionable and aes-
thetie cosy corner.
The rage for furnishing and decorations
of a particular CLINE and period does not
seem to lave had its day and made room
for a style which shall be strictly na-
tional and characteristic.
The latest fad is the Moorish. The more
you can make your drawing room look
like one of the decayed apartments of the
Alhambra or the boudoir of his serene
~despotism, the Sultan of Morocco. the
more you may consider yourself CONNIE
il faut.
There are two or three decorators in
New York who set the standar for that
sort of thing, because of the popularity
they enjoy with a certain set of lavish
people of wealth known as the Four
Hundred, or more exclusively as the
Seventy-five.
They want their houses to look differ
ent each year, and to give this class of
patrons what they demand the artist is
compelled to adapt the foreign and
bizarre to his purposes. Passing topics
of interest on the stage, in current
events and in art are snatched at for
ideas. The japanese fad had its origin
in Sullivan's opera, 1.-THE Mikado,' and
revived again in interest through 1.-THE
Geisha."
Just why the Moorish fad is now with
us IS not so easy to guess. Our late lit
tie difficulty with Spain may have sug-
gested it, for Spain neither in archi-
lecture nor in character has ever quite
got over the invasion of the Moors, and
some of the bluest blood of CASTLE runs
a little darker for an ancient admix-
ture of the brown blood of the Moors.
Thus even today Spanish ideas of art
and literature nave a touch of the SOM
berness and the intricacy and the love
of detail that characterize the Oriental
mind.
Whatever may have suggested the idea
1t is clear that the Moorish decoration is
with us, for a few brief seasons at least
The models in the shops and the designs
upon the walls of the decorators studios
show this. The cosy corner, outlawed last
season, has come into favor with the new
Oriental grill work that forms hooks and
corners, screens and lattiees, from which
portieres are suspended.
The new cosy corner is built first of the
grillwork and then hung with Moorish
and Algerian ~draperies. The couch is
covered with some of these stuffs and the
cushions upon it are given daring touches
of color with the same materials. A silver
lamp such as might have hung in some
Oriental mosque and a tabouret, on which
stand a quaint drinking jar and a counle
of brass or silver drinking cups have place
{ use by the couch. or it may be d Turk
isll nargile or something equally sugges-
tive of. the lands of turban and scimiter.
a painted gourd, some stands of gay
heads and a crossed scimiter or two decor
ate the Interior sufficiently to give it a
touch of realism.
II the entire room follows the Moorish
fashion, there must of course be a
taine and polished floor, covered with
Oriental rugs. Low tables stand about,
some bearing palms in Oriental looking
jardinieres, others holding handsomely
bound books, vases of flowers and bits of
bric-a-brac-anything. in fact, that fits in
with the general scheme of decoration.
The windows should be covered with a
lacelike lattice n hung with delicate
fabrics, through which runs a thread of
gold or silver. Alcoves or the latticework
should be numerous, and inches may con-
tain bowls of flowers or statuary or fig
ures of any sort.
The beauty of the Moorish corner and
the Moorish room is their inexpensive
ness. Any clever boy or girl who owns
a fret-saw can manufacture the ~lattices
very easily, or they can be purchased
in the shops for a modest sum The art
stores too, have inexpensive fabrics to
carry out the draperies and the rest can
be easily duplicated. If you cannot afford
a nargile, a tall metal jar, with a
couple of palm leaves or peacock feath-
ers dropping from it. or a large, odd
bowl to hold the cards of friends. and a
couple of the deep wide cups which one
can buy anywhere serve quite as well
for the, purpose.
For ideas it is only necessary to get a
good book of travels relating to Algeria
or Morocco, and follow it carefully.
consult the ueSCrlpt1OU Vi the uOuIcS
of the better classes, and. with the pic
lures of these houses a better chance
is afforded to secure originality than
any mere decorative suggestions could
grant.
The books upon the tables MAJ also
help to carry out the idea. such as il
Illustrated copies of "Lalla Pookh." THE
Poems of Omar Khayyam,' and similar
works.
When we think of homely dainties some
of us turn with pleasant recollection to
the sugaring off of our childhood and
youth, says Harper's Bazaar" Maple
syrup has a woodland flavor of it's own
far surprising in subtle delicacy those
more pronounced suggestions Of taste
which please the palates of epicures.
In the days when we liked maple syrup
we were young and strong, and full of
joy simply in being alive There was the
excitement of tapping the trees; of see
ing the. syrup fall into the t%roughs; of
boiling it to just the right point; of eat
ing it while still 1t was soft, and cooling
it perhaps, in the snow that lay around
on the hillside. Maple syrup and buck
wheat cakes are perhaps not considered
dafn4.ar m ha included In the manu of