The San Francisco call., 1899-11-04
". THE HOME FURNISHING.

ration for each room is not in the leasl
likely to blunder when she buys the 1ur-
niture for It, The difficulty will be to tind
in any mandatory the thing she mas
learned to desire. In any buying. now
ever, what we get has to be modified by
many considerations. The mother or
family Of growing boys, for instance, does
not lay In a stock Of spider-legged tables
and insect chairs-those things that creak
when we sit down and fall over when we
get up.
Here. as elsewhere, in our education.
we have to contend with inherited half
sight, as 1t were That is, thing may
seem beautiful that on consideration we
know not to be-. Our national taste is i'm
proving, but is not yet perfected and we
need much honest study before we can
recognize at once what makes beauty
| That given object conveys pleasure TO
the eye is not a safe rule, yet we have our
excuse since the African admires abnorm-
ally fat women, the Chinese prefer de-
formed feet and civilized races deformed
waists. What we want and must learn
to demand from the maker are grace and
power in the lines of the thing made, fine
material, perfect finish and true decora-
ton. And not one of these things is to
interfere at any point with the COMFORT
able use Of the article in question
What Not to Do.
The background for all furniture comes
under the head of decoration, and then
follow three other points-the size OF the
room In which the object is to be placed,
| the purpose of the room, and the object
or use of the articles themselves. with
these are included the nature of the ma
terials to be used, mineral, animal or
vegetable, and their relative lasting quail
! ity or destructtbility. With this thought
in mind and it's points really settled, the
young housekeeper is not likely to expert
ment with soap boxes and barrels, follow
ing popular directions for making all the
furniture at home. To certain extent,
in summer furnishing Of seaside cottages,
this is not impossible. But there was an
era of cheesecloth and red flannel; the
first used for curtains, the second for
covers to soap boxes and for barrel chairs,
ETC., which meant few days Of effective
ness and a long space for repentance. 1t
is hardly likely to come again. The
hygienic bedroom, for instance, banished
at once all draperies and the many dust
collecting arrangements we have come to
think of as essential. But the money
spent on these can we'll enter into better
finish, finer order of plumbing, etc. And
there is a whole system of ornament that
the slightest gain in real knowledge of art
in furnishing banishes forever. With
this knowledge a common possession, we
shall not be likely to see any more minia
ture coal scuttles doing duty as salt cell
lars, or wheelbarrows and slippers hold
ing flower This applies also to the in
Vulnerable Christmas productions, tawdry
bits Of glass and china and metal, cheaper
year by year, and destructive to any real
art sense. Now nothing made by mans
hand can be Indifferent, but must be either
beautiful and elevating or ugly and de-
grading" This was William Morris sum-
mary of the matter, and to remember this
in buying will help us all.
Construction and It's Meaning.
To illustrate this we may take the con-
struction of a perfect chair. And to fix
the idea of what perfect may stand for
we may better turn to Ruskin's definition
of ornament in either decoration or fur
nishing THE true form of conventional
ornament consists in bestowing as much
beauty on the object as shall be consis-
tent with it's material, its place and it's
office" Beauty and poor construction are
incompatible, and thus we are forced 20
Judge our chair by new standard. Each
mart of II should be as thoroughly united
to the next as if it had grown in its place.
The Greeks and Romans understood this,
and their chairs in the British Museum
are as perfect as If made yesterday. This
means well-seasoned wood, exactly cut
lemons and mortises, very hot glue of the
best quality and the right degree of pres
sure in putting them together. Lightness
for ease in handling is another essential.
If carving is employed it should be abso-
lutely subordinate to the outline and the
| comfort of the sitter. The dress must not
he interfered with nor must there be
chance of breakage from exposed orna-
ments or too salient points. These laws
apply equally to couches, beds and tables,
and fortunately furniture manufacturers
are learning them, in degree, at least.
Children's Furniture.
With our habit of thinking of the child
as a miniature man or woman, it seldom
occurs TO us to provide any special furni-
| ture after the days of the high chair and
| cradle are over. Yet the child whom we
rerpetually warn off the ground of our
/ oxrn possessions Is surely entitled to his
own. We are very apt to turn our houses
| into museums and are astonished that the
child does damage in them. For this rea-
! son. If no other, it would be well to in
/ sure the child his own place, and 1t is now
| unite possible to provide for him the fur
niture made especially for ehildren's use,
from the little enameled beds in iron or
brass-the most rational form of bed-to
the small bureaus, tables, chairs and
ether fittings that go with them.
The Sum of the Whole Matter.
Lists of the absolutely necessary arti-
cIes of furniture for a small house or flat
are now kept by many furniture dealers
and are also found in household maya
zines and newspapers which have a de-
nartment of the home. The type of fur
nisbing must vary with the purse, but the
simnlest home, if taste and understanding
have worked together, can carry an at
mospbere of repose and harmony that is
the most essential feature of the home.
For any house, great or small, we want
beds that are not too finely decorated to
lie upon; chairs that are not too frail to
cit on. tables that are not too shaky and
uncertain for comfortable writing or
drawing. All accommodation must
he nut away. In our own private rooms,
ne,,aIlv a bedroom for each, we may work
onr will. though even here, as before
mentioned, hygiene has already set the
/ limits of adornment. But the family
rooyn should mean full and comfortable
worI[ing space, and Morris long ago, in
his q. .ectures on Art laid down the law
which. with notifications here and there,
is still worth ebeying:
"What the sitting-reom of a healthy
nerson should hold is. first, bookcase
with a great many books In it; next, a
/ will lsaep steady whom