Waterbury Democrat., 1902-06-04
HINTS ABOUT HOM ES.

1OAiQiL lS tnC III Sl tooSAi tieA AOt
 human dwelling place. This include
 protection from the elements, conyen
 fence, neatness and proper sanitation
 It is useless to contemplate beauty, ar
 or decoration in the absence of any on,
 of these. Judge Baldwin of New Ha
 ven was quite right when he deplore(
 costly or showy lace curtains hung a
 the windows of the poor wage earner's
 homes when the outside of the house is unpainted, the yard is neglected
 vines and flowers are not cultivated the wife lacks the proper utensils fol
 cooking, the children's clothes are rag
 ged and untidy, and books are an un-
 known quantity in the house. In such a house lace curtains, lamps and glar- ing red globes, cheap prints stuck to the walls with pins, cheap vases dis played on tables and mantles, and win dow sills tarnished and made ugly by
 an array of common flower pots, all indicate palmer than words the mental
 and moral status of the inmates. To talk of decorating a house for people
 who lack the first principles of culture
 and taste Is mere sowing to the wind.
 Between the vulgar and the very
 wealthy and refined there is a large
 middle class of home-owning Ameri- cans who are glad and anxious for in-
 expensive but sensible hints about in-
 terior decorations Most of the maga,
 zines which profess to treat of the art
 of beautifying homes indulge in de- scriptions of American palaces such as
 the residence of William c. Whitney of l New York or the Ophir Farm establish
 ment of the gentleman who married
 into the millions of D. 0. Mills, the l purse of whom is open to all manner
 of ostentations display. In such houses simplicity is disregarded. and the visit
 or is impressed with the fine things
 which money can buy, much as if he
 was making tour of the Metropolitan
 Museum of Fine Arts or the South Kensington, in London. While it may be interesting to read of such places
 as it is of the throne room in Bucking- ham palace, or the state dining room in | Windsor Castle, or the library of Hat field house, such examples of extrava-
 gance and ostentation are of no use to the masses of the people and furnish
 no hints for the decoration of Ameri- l can homes.
 Let us consider the subject of floor
 coverings. Many people have yet to learn the best way to furnish the floor l The old and nasty notion of covering 1 the whole floor with carpet, cheap or
 otherwise, in gaudy colors, raw greens. burning scarlets, etxravagant blues, sickly yellows, still prevails to an alarming extent. If one would be abreast of the times. the carpes should always be made up: ill the form
 of rug. If the room is very large 1 two or three rugs. And the spaces of floor uncovered should either be polish ed, stained or painted, or even left of the natural color, clean and cool. This Is far heater and more artistic than to have the whole floor covered. the edges always collecting dust and dirt. ugly tacks driven into the wood. and the usual spring and fall farce known as house cleaning" when dirty car pets are pulled up and dust carted out by the bucket full. while the thwacking with resounding thumps in the back yards gives notice to all the neighbors to close their windows, and a Mt, Pelee cloud of dust settles upon the grass
 flowers and even the houses. This is not q high order of civilization. It is indifference and ignorance combined
 Very pretty Turkish and india rugs can now be bought at such modera fa prices there is little excusa for getting glaring red. yellow and blue things of domestic manufacture, woven by ma chimes for the crowd. so pronouncal in color as to offend the eyes and dafv. the gods. But they are sure to fade and then they look like old rags The money annually spent by many men. Tor cigars, whiskey, beer theafers n0rSQ md would, 1T saved, soon be enough to fir
 ulsh parlor in good taste But so long as men and women prefer to grat. ny animal capacities and passions. lay- lshlng all their resources upon thinos
 which perish in the using. and neulact, Ing those things which make for ,
 more beautiful and wholesome ,ifa
 Just so long will homes remain uo,p ana uhlnyltlng, to the moral and in- tellectual hurt Of the inmates. If mon So Wish they can have pretty, refined ana artistic homes. It is mostly Their own Iauit II they do not possess them. nome surroundings largely advertise the character and culture of those who dwell in the house.
 In the largest and finest hausas MHefe the purse is long enough to grat, ny .lie fancy refinement and culture is lhe rule. In such houses it. is rare 10 md floor wholly covered with car pet The East room of the White House is dreadful exception to this rule. The reason for not covering
 ,loors With carpets is that they cannot
 De taken out of doors every few weeks
 and cleaned. If the covering is in the form of a rug thGe is no difficulty in having the dust removed. Every nousekeeper with an instinct for clean
 liness and order will at once feel how untidy, slovenly and dirt collecting is a
 carpet which is taken up but twice n year. Add to this the fact that it is. poth unhealthy and unartistic, and no one Will tolerate the old fashioned car lpet.-Amerlcan Homes. | STORY OF A GRANDDAUGHTER Miss Linn IVnJabar 1a1rUbfo,, of 41,o