The Monticellonian., 1905-06-01

sometimes great steamers passing on their way across the ocean. into which the bay poured it's waters The at mosphere of the place was permeated with repose
 When one Is obliged to thread his way gingerly through a drawlng-room that is filled to the overflow with easeis and statues and busts and spin dle-legga6 tahlaa and fragile chairs and obtrusive footstools. in danger every second of stumbling or knock ing something over things are wrong with that setting.
 Another mistake is to have too little light Why darkness and gloom should be sought in any portion of q house where people must live has all ways been to me anunsolyable problem Mysterious corners are iu order ill a cob-Webbed attic or an underground cellar. but they are seriously out of place in a pleasant room into which visitors are ushered. and which is sup posed to be a rallying spot for ma family.
 Light does no harm Although tha strong rays of the sun may somewhat impair the first freshness of uphoI- stery. yet they tone down crudeness of color and in the end are an i'm proyement. Throw open the windows and glorify the room" was the cheer ful order for the day of Sydney Smith. Ones spirits are apt to go down in a dull dark erypt-like room: they rise to sparkle and effervescence when ths sunbeams come dancing in. and ths house looks glad and gay.
 
 It is wonderful how ones things re- spond to ones mood Certain easy chairs welcome you to their embrace when you are tired out, and rest you almost as if they knew they were do- ing il; they seem to have caught ths spirit of the house. and have a per sonality of their own.
 Certain chairs and footstools belong to certain people. l knew dear old lady blind for years. who always oc- eupied one corner of large and com fortable sofa. Children and grand l children were careful not 10 nsurp this i throne of the serene and beautiful mauon, who dwelt in the dark, but liked 10 have everything eheery about her. Sometimes stranger. not know ing the traditions of the home, would install herself in the mothers place. but was always gently conducted to another seat. The setting of that house was not perfect unless the moth- CT took her accustomed place When she was gone forever, the mistress of l the house rearranged every room. and l carried that sofa to another part of her domain. She felt that. for awhile at least. no one else could sit there. tho old sofa in her thought was sacred and would almost feel prefaned if used by others than the one to whom it had belonged, through so many pleasant seasons.
 All this of course Is sentiment and MT. Gradgrind does not understand it. with his incessant demand for facts and statistics, he cannot enter into the | joy that comes from feeling. Yet feel ing is the chrism of life.
 It Is possible to make too much of life's setting. as 1 have said. and to spend so much labor on extsrnals that there is no time for satisfaction in the inner life. but while women continue to be queens regnant in their homes. they will take pleasure in having the homes beautiful neat, harmonious, and to some degree sumptuous. It is their privilege thus to do A home is not a penitentiary, nor counting room. nor a shop; it is, as l said at first, the background whence we issue into the open for business or pleasure. It is our fortress against all invaders. our refuge in distress. In the day of calamity and disaster, we hide our selves at home. In the day of triumph and good fortune We invite our friends to rejoice with us there We are with | in the bounds of reason in making ths setting of home as beautiful as we l can.