Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-24
The Craze for
Antique Furniture
LY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.

Copyright 1905. by Joseph B. Bowles)
One summer day friend and I were
driving over the lis in the deep green soil
tudes of a New England parish, where
abandoned farms were numerous and neigh
bors scattered.
Suddenly my companion utter I'd rap
turous exclau nation
Look, oh, look. See that quilt spread
the rail fence near those hen coops! /
wonder if that woman would sell it! Oh,
what beauty"
Appreciation of old quilts. old china, old
mahogany and all the rest is a cult.
have not mastered It, but I never quarrel,
with those wto have I held the horse
while my friend interviewed the quilts
owner Presently I was called from the
doorstep
Come in. do. There is a sugar bowl
here in the loveliest copper luster! Leave
the pony He will stand"
He did stand until the bargaining for
quilt and sugar bowl was completed.
As have sad. knowledge of old china
and mahogany Is a cult! Some have learn
ed It. Some have not. But owing to its
hold on the femin ne public. it has created
4 new trade, and the old farms leads of the
country have been searched and CLEANED
and too often their treasures have been
bought for a song and sold for a fortune
1 can understand love and reverence for
furniture and dishes which have been in
ones family for generations handed down
from mother to daughter. and from father
to son. An old clock which has licked faith
fully and steadily In one household during
the changes of 900 years is an heirloom to
be priced, no matter how ugly an article it
may be in itself.
A mahogany table at which ones great
srgat-gTauGm0ther poured tea is posses
9Rd wit
2hna, II 1t be Crowned Derby or Wedge
wood, or copper lGster. and women of the
same blood and lineage have owned it since
colonial days. they are not to blame for
considering 1t as a thing Of which they may
Boast.
Apart from family associations, am
enough of a Phlljstiue TO prefer examining
elegant surviv9Is which have a large COM
nerCial value when they are safe behind
glass doors in a museum, or when they stand
about in halls where historical collections
are in the custody of a curator. I don't
want them in my home, however well they
are insured. For chairs and tables that are
simply old do not care. IF they have be-
lOUggd TO somebody else they are nothing
TO me. ! would be quite as cOntented with
q good copy OF something antique as tn
the antique thing itself were l given the
choice, principally for the reason that
everyday home life brings burdens and
cares enough without stupidity adding to
them responsibilities which one need not
carry.
What we really want of a cha r is solid
ity responsibility and comfort. Perish the
thought of spider-legged chairs and totter-
ing sofas and j.m-craCks of every kind
that are traps for the unwary. a table
should be large enough to hold papers,
books, a lamp or what-uOt; should have G
fiat surface and good legs of its own. IL It
be deliberately carved IL Will need time and
pains to keep j; in decent order, for, while
carving is beautiful when immaculate, it is
not beautiful when clogged with dust and
Whether n be d val
nut or mahogany is a matter of ndiffer-
ence if il harmonic with the rest of ones
furniture and meet the uses of a table.
The peculiar beauty of mahogany is in it's
deep wine color and it's capability OF RETAIN
Ing polish. TIE older it is and the more
polish !t has had the more pleasing il is to
the eye of the notable housekeeper
In the south in ante-bellum days there
was a good deal of old mahogany that had
come down in families, some of it imported
from the old home beyond the sea. and it
was kept in perfect condition by the daily
rubbing of the house servants. The air of
stability, comfort and leisure in those lovely
southern homes was in entire contrast with
that of a cluttered MODERN drawing room.
where there is "A chaotic medley of all sorts
of articles, some Of one period. some OF an
other many of them purchased without the
least view to the general effect. II must
be mOurufuiIy admitted that the taste of
tsle average householder is n little doubtful,
or else that the ideal of house furnishing
misses the point of simplicity and utility.
\ house to be well furnished must have