The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1903-01-16
BEAUTY IN THE HOME.
The Notable Advance That Has Been
Made in the Art of Adorn-
ment.

There has been a notable advance in
the demand for more beautiful sur
roundings in the home within the last
decade-a demand that has brought
into existence a new occupation for
women of refinement and esthetic
taste, says the New York News.
Up to 1890 home decorations were
supplied direct by the dealers or maxi
ers. Now there are in the field in this
city a score of ladies who assist eli
ents in the work of selecting furniture,
objects dart, paintings, rugs, wall pa
par, portieres and curtains.
1t certainly stands to reason that
woman who has devoted years of
study to home furnishing or home
decoration knows more about the SUBJ
ject than most other people. She is
in position to assist those who need
her services in the work of assembling
in a room or a house those articles
that will best contribute to the serv-
ice or the pleasure of the owner.
The presence of love for the beau
tiful in the human breast indicates
that this taste should be cultivated
and gratified; and it is one of the hope
full signs of the times that as we grow
in knowledge and in wealth there is
developed in us a greater desire for the
esthetic. This love of the beautiful is
not confined to any one class of peo-
pie, for it is found among the very
poor as well as among the very rich.
While art in any form and in any
place has its mission to perform, yet
its greatest service is rendered in the
home. Costly furniture and statuary,
museums and beautiful parks appeal
to US when we visit them, but their in
fuence is as nothing compared with
the surroundings of our everyday life.
The identifying of the home is, there
fore, necessity; it is more, it is a
duty. No longer are we content with
plain walls, bare floors and ugly fur
niture. We demand that our places of
abode shall not only be comforta bic
in their appointme nts, but that they
shall be attractive in all that the term
implies.
Taste is Unborn in some people and
is acquired by others. Some never pos
sess il. You cannot expect to find an
inartistic person living in an artistic
home, or vice versa, for ones home
should, and usually does, reflect the
tastes of it's owner.
The presence of pictures, of artistic
but not necessarily expensive furni-
ture, of tasteful decorations on the
walls, of flowers on the mantel or ta-
bic, in the living rooms of the house,
have cheering effect upon the tired
eye and the tired brain. The dearest
place on earth should be the home,
therefore anything that enhances it's
beauty and thus adds to its attractive
ness should be secured.
When the man of the house returns
home at night, be he banker or arti-
san, he ought to feel as he closes the
street door behind him that he is shut
ting out the veXations, the trials and
the worries of the day, and is entering
a haven of peace and quiet and beauty.
Beautiful things, such as Gobelin
tapestries, rare rugs, statuary and
paintings from the hand of master,
bronzes from French studios, carpets
from the most artistic looms, may not
be within the means of all who would
have them, had they the wealth with
which to buy them, but in these days
when our youths are taught art from
the cradle up, and when machinery and
mechanical devices are made to sup
plement hand labor in the production
of artistic things for the home, it is
possible for all who so choose to make
the home beautiful a a moderate cost,
and it is their duty to themselves and
to their families to do so.