The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1906-03-24
ANTIQUE FURNITURE
KNOWLEDGE OF OLD CHINA AND
MAHOGANY Is A CULT.

Now Fashionable = Some Women
Have an 1ndiscriminate Longing
for Anything old-Essentials for
the Well-Furnished House.
BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
Copyright, 1906. by Joseph B. Bowles)
One summer day a friend and l were
driving over the hills in the deep green
solitudes Of . New England parish,
where abandoned farms were numer-
GUS and neighbors scattered.
Suddenly my companion uttered
rapturous exclamation.
Look, oh! look; see that guilt
spread on the rail fence near those
hen ooops! / wonder if that woman
would sell it! Oh, what beauty"
Appreciation Of old quilts. old Chi
ma, old mahogany and all the rest is
cult. l have not mastered it, but
never quarrel with those who have.
held the horse while my friend inter
viewed the quilts owner. Presently
was called from the doorstep.
Come in, do. There is a sugar bowl
| mere III LILO iONSiAOoe SORRSA
Leave the pony. He will stand"
He did stand, until the bargaining
for quilt and sugar bowl was COM
pleted.
AS l have said, knowledge OF old
china and mahogany is cult! Some
have learned it. Some have not. But,
owing to its hold on the feminine pub
lie 1t has created q Few trade, and the
old farmsteads of the country have
been searched and CLEANED and too
often their treasures have been bought
for 4 song and sold for a fortune.
l can understand love and reverence
. for furniture and dishes which have
J been in ones family for generations.
handed down from mother to daugh-
ter, and from father to son. An old
clock which has licked faithfully and
steadily in one household during the
changes of 200 years Is an heirloom to
be priced, no matter how ugly an arti-
Gle it may be in itself.
A mahogany table at which ones
great-great-grandmo.her poured tea is
a possession to be tenderly cherished
So with china, If it be Crowned Derby
or Wedgewood, or copper luster, and
women of the same blood and lineage
have owned it since colonial days, they
are not to blame for considering 1t a.
: a thing of which they may boast
Apart from family associations,
am enough of a Phillistine to prefer
! examining elegant survivals which
have q large commercial value wheI
they are safe behind glass doors In
museum, or when they stand about II
:, halls where historical collections ar
;, in the custody Of q curator. | don
= want them in my home. however wei
:, they are insured. For chairs and ia
= bles that are simply cid | do not care
= If they have belonged to somebod
else they are nothing to me. ! woul
!, be quite as contented with a goo
copy of something antique as with tn
T antique thing itself, were given tn
choice, principally for the reason tha
Is everyday home life brings burdens an
cares enough without stupidity addln
to them responsibilities which one nee
not carry.
st What we really want Of a chair
to solidity, responsibility and comfor
a Perish the thought Of spider-legge
ae chairs and lettering sofas and jim
&C. cracks of every kind that are traps II
es the unwary. A table should be lare
enough to hold papers. books, lam
'e- or .what-not; should have fiat su
face and good legs of its own. II 1t
deliberately carved 1t will need tin
IT. and pains to keep IL In decent orde
,le for while carving is beautiful VINE
IN immaculate. it is not beautiful wht
clogged with dust and dirt. Wheth
on a table be of oak, pine, walnut or m
hogany is a matter of indifference II
ne harmonic with the rest of ones III
niture and meet the uses OF . tab
The peculiar beauty of mahogany is
it's deep wine-color and its capabtli
. of retaining polish. The older 1t
and the more polish it has had I
ng more pleasing it is 10 the eye d t
notable housekeeper.
H. In the south In ante-bellum da
EN- there was a good deal OF old mahoga
sch that had come down in families, Sol
oc- of 1t imported from the old home
'ne yond the sea, and it was kept In p'
feet condition by the daily rubbing
the house servants. The air OF stab
ty. comfort and leisure in those low
;os southern homes was in entire contr'
with that Of cluttered modern dra
,nx ing room, where there Is a chao
on. medley of all sorts of articles, some
an one period, some Of another. many
me them purchased without the least vi
At to the general effect. 1t must
Tim mournfully admitted that the taste
his the average householder is III
ave doubtful, or else that the IDEAL
so house furnishing misses the point
age simplicity and utility.
nth
ank A house to be well furnished m
ne. have had one of two advantas
do Either it's old china and manoga
with it's old hangings and rugs M