Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-02-15
HoMlsHmEssiI DESIRABLE.
But How II Can Be Obtained is Not So Easily
Told.

/ That attribute known in it's prone
sense as LONELINESS in house is bar,
to define. 1t makes itself felt witho,,
defining, however and is quite anar
from anything that architectural sym
metry or beauty, even comfort, can be
stow.
1t Is quality which attaches itself onl,
to place that is constantly lived in
NO other has 1t. No matter how exquis
lie a house and it's appointments are
the house is not home unless it possesse,
that attribute of Nved-in-ness. That
point settled, it may then nearly be con
ceded that the more beautiful house is
the more appropriate. If not necessarily
the happier. a home it makes.
Halls, you think. and even show draw.
ing rooms in extensive establishments
do not take upon themselves this homish.
ness, so why not say at once that it is
only or sitting rooms, boudoirs and every
day haunts of the family that one is
speaking? Because every part of the
house-entrance and all-par;akes and
presages of the owners character and
habits. No one who has been at Babe,s-
berg, one of the summer houses of the
Emperor Of Germany-especially in the
old Kaiscrs time-and secntlat omen vcs.
Thule. with its living witnesses of sticks
hats, coats and other individual belong
ings uttering an informal greeting to the
entering eye. can fail TO be assured that
even the entries of palaces differ from
one another in LONELINESS. A hall can
be strikngly like a human being, or an
aggregation of them
Given requirements i'm the way of for-
mality. official splendor and such oppres-
slVe necessities, any house takes on the
character of the life it's inmates lead.
even II at be palace, although palaces
we need not now include. or example.
II on entering massive portal the visitor
encounters dogs, he need not fear great
STIFFNESS OF reception. further an; if he
have hopes of informality. If rough
coats and old hats are allowed TO re-
MAN, he may be sure of the ready greet
ing he will receive. There is nothing like
at its characteristics.
AS to decoration, II is we'll known that
the heartiest householder IN the world
may have the poorest taste. lust as he
may. also have the worst temper Yet it
Is also generally conceded by this time
that. as rule, the person who makes
ms house physically harmonious to his
family and his guests will get his taste
educated to harmony of form and color
for one trait breeds another like it, An
other truism Is that popular taste has be-
come gradually and unconsciouSly edu-
Gated so that green calls for its compile
ment if administered in too large uuanti-
ties. and the converse. This room is
CRYING for something said II lady of
crude propensities in color once to the
writer. when she was showing off a
brand-new and very grand green draw
lng-room:, 1t seemed complete in its way,
but it did not qui,e please the said lady
n red chair brought in nd
joining apartment. That's it, cried the
lady. ut was calling for something red"
And the touch made it perfect. Pink
bedrooms now cry aloud for green mat
tinss, or relief of some kind there has
been a tremendous stride in the direc-
ton Of this tempering monotony in
shade.
Red is a color of which. for some rea-
son. people We're for a long time shy.
Crimson brocades of great beauty were
employed for showrooms., but it was
thought that too much red was cloying,
or heavy, or what not?-oppressive. at
any rate. to daily eyes. That view is
entirely changed now. Red, with it's
complement judiciously intermingled. is
found to be one of the best-wearing and
most gratifying colors ever worn Ii
is employed in halls. dinng-rooms.' liv-
ing-rooms, and turns out to be. like the
woman's black alpaca gown. warm in
winter and cool in summer. 1t is COM
pany and entertainment. 1t is almost
food. No one who has lived with red
certain number of selected prints, will
ever be without them. The eye never
wearies OF them. and strange to say,
they are cool, like green. And. of course,
every red room must have its green to
set it off.
Blue, on the other hand, appears to
have its day. except for country bed
rooms. There is no doubt that certain
shades of it are restful to the eye. but it
is impressive ana ~ives back no response
to the gaze. 1t fades. 1t is cold on a
chilly wet day. rejecting no glow from
freight. and in a bright. raw atmosphere
glittering with steely chill. 1t awakes no
answering chord in the human breast.
No dull spirits are cheered by blue walls;
no 1ncipient moroSeneSS is checked by
them. Take it a.. in all, the very young.
with no nerves and no sensitiveness to
surroundings, alone should be framed in
blue: They would brighten up raw UNI
Der II they were gay, and naming orange
could not raise their spirits if they were
depressed. especially as they weep in the
bed clothes under those circumstances,
and are blind ITO environment.
We spend too much time, thought and
money on bedrooms in this country. They
are only to sleep in and should not be
used at all otherwise during the day. AS
everything depends upon its appropriate:
ness to an object, the most beautiful
bedroom is sparsely furnished-a bed. u
dressing table. a light stand for candle.
a book or two. ii few chairs and "a couch
being. all the furniture proper, The
couch is to save" the bed. If one has to
lie down in the daytime. In tropical
countries the bed. placed in the middle of
the room to catch all the draughts.
stand to hang a dressing gown on, with
a place for slippers and possibly a ward
robe, form the complete outfit of the
sleeping-room. There is not even Il chair
in most of them. The dressing room
opens out. If you neeu to sit. and there
the air is fresher, too, and every minute
of airing counts for the bedroom. YOU
sleep in it simply. =
Writing desks, comfortable chairs and
all sorts of temptations to linger seem
out of keeping with the uses of bed
room. For you cannot in decency sit in
ii before it is aired in the morning, and
after ii is put in Or.er the other rooms
of the house are available and you are
dressed to sit in them. A bedroom should
not be heavily papered. and its .iangings
should be as light as possible. even in
winter. 1t is kind of queer progression
in this country that as the family grows
in wealth its bedrooms are made more
luxurious and more crowded, instead of
being simpler and emptier. they should
be- Poor people huddle together in clos
and even the moderately well to do
thinks it makes no particular difference
where We sleep" as long as the show
rooms are presentable. AS prosperity
gains on the household, the bedroom adds
to its own Importance.
Money used to be fairly thrown away
on carved ornamental 'headboards'' and
dashboards of beds, and stuffy plush and
brocaded chairs for the sleeping apart
ments. Your true aristocrat takes
great deal of room to sleep in. and wants