The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-17
OUT AND ABOUT.

About 200 women left Association hall
yesterday afternoon. firmly resolved to
work a revolution in the arrangement
OF their rooms when they got home.
That was the feeling left with them by
Miss Mary Ware Of Boston, who gave
the third lecture in the course OF house
hold economics and spoke upon THE
relation Of art to the home" Miss Ware
is the niece OF Justin A. Ware and also
of Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead OF Boston.
She has a charming personality and her
dress was a subject of admiration to
all who heard her.
Miss Ware boxed the compass of in
terror house decoration She exhibited
specimens of artistic stubbs and wall
papers and the contrary and warned
her hearers to have a care for the legs
Of the chairs and tables they bought
Nothing but conscience and a demand
will work a reformation in these
things" she said. "Our regard for the
furniture of our forefathers may be ex-
aggerated but on the whole, 1t is right,
for there is no doubt that the simple,
solidIy, built furniture of 100 years ago
is more artistic than the elaborate, Of
ten awkward modern products. The
question is sometimes raised whether
it is best to create what is bad or i'm
itate what is good, but surely we can
take the good ideas and adapt them,
and the product is not imitation. Our
homes should not have decided, ag-
gressive effects but should be becom-
ing accomplishments or backgrounds
for ourselves. In furnishing we so Of
ten confuse fashion and beauty, forget
ting that the really beautiful thing can
never go out of fashion, and that the
objects in furnishing any home are to
make it simple, restful, beautiful and
homelike.
In an old home too many things
are apt to accumulate. Dispose of about
one-third of them. If some of them are
keepsakes, put them away, and cherish
the sentiment, but not the object. If
the things are ugly, don't give them
away but destroy them. If still there
are too many, give some vacation for
a few months. This applies to bric-a-
brac, too.
Space" continued the speaker, lis
restful only when it is interesting;
many a city house is dismal because it
is too high studded. The very high
ceiling is a waste of furniture. besides
giving a bleak cold look to a room.
Such room is apt to be badly light
ed, with long, narrow Sits Of windows
instead of the broad patches of light
1t needs Plate glass windows are a
concession to utilitarianism. None of
the houses in Europe that we travel to
see, have it,
Consistency is bugbear of the home
that is begun with new, without any
inheritances of furnishings, but the day
is going by for blue rooms, yellow
rooms, and the like, with everything
matched up so that all the visitor has
left to do is to change his clothes and
match the room. Such rooms miss
something living and growing that a
room should have, because they seem
already perfect. And next to uniform
ity is the danger Of aggressive clean
illness, advertised by excessive white
ness and light. The medium tones with
one or two shades of intervals, are the
best to live with, and a room well fur
nished with them ought to last.
"As for artificial lighting" said Miss
Ware at is not necessary to have a
diffused light in a room, except when
the room is fun of people. A very high
ly lighted room is unbeconing and I'M
restful. For domestic lighting, there
is nothing better than the lamp and of
all lamps, that which does its duty hon
estly as a lamp, is the best. A silver
cherub standing on a bronze globe and
holding aloft torch of porcelain, is
not a good lamp.
Next to the proportions of a room and
its,lighting, comes the carpet. Nothing
is quite so nice as an oriental rug but
If you can't get one large one, then
buy a few fine ones and do not at
tempt to cover the floor with them A
carpet should be unaggressive and sug-
gest fat surface Borders on car
pets are not a success, either artisti-
cally or hygienically.
There are two classes of wall papers
that which makes a good background
for pictures and has rich ground col
or unobtrusiYely covered, and that
which is decorative and is intended to
dispense with pictures. Papers that
initiate some other material should be
avoided. AS for the ceiling, they must