The Huttig news., 1908-02-15

tiful, to be able to arrive at the crea- tion of two such rooms as these, and when we left them it was like demol- ishing temple rather than disman- ting an apartment.
 To come from the beauty of out doors into the average environment of the usual house is to go from nature into the grave. In the country, more than elsewhere, nature challenges you.
 When we sat in these rooms either by night or day we were alive to their joy, and reveled in them The song Of the morning robin, the redbird' 8 sweet-throated sly whistle, the thrush 8 mating song, the call of the freebooting | jays, the sad note of the phoebe bird that built on the east porch, the cav of the wandering crows, the baritone trumpet of the wild geese flying north, the moan of winds in the chimney tops, the crickets in the grass, the sig nal of the "rain crow" the plaint of the tree toads, all these myriad chords 1 and cries of outdoors reached us from time to time what little space we | stayed indoors; and even when the storms plotted out the landscape, or whirling snows beleaguered the farm ! with piled drifts and bitter winds, our l rooms were balm to the soul, as much part of our very life as the coal that tempered the chilling blasts, or the bread appeased our hunger
 | nr fru fn 1yi1 there is in every man and woman's heart real hunger for the beautiful. | Sometimes the most sordid and besot- | ted natures are touched by color, mo- | tion, or music. l defy you to find, for | instance, a woman who is not a lover of flowers. Drag her in the slime of | the cities, debase her by years of toll and neglect, and somehow the bruised soul will lift and long at the sight of a road side blossom, a spray of apple bloom. It is so with many men. Not the sickly sentimental either, but men of deeds and both mental and physical strength.
 And however this cardinal principle of beautiful home is neglected, it is, O ever it is seen. I shall never forget the remark of my blase but thorough ly staunch and good friend who first stood in our rooms as the sunlight came in, gliding the frames with a mellower gold, lighting up the sym phonies of form and color that made of the whole an almost perfect picture. hic h invoking a Pagan benediction, his ex- clamation was, Lovely, lovely, my boy; wake me after awhile, there's good fellow"
 I have given all this particularly of detail to our home because it was one of our many enthusiasms. It was part of the beauty with which we were sur rounded. Neither Cecile nor myself has ever comprehended the careless ness of most men and women in the designing. furnishing and adornment of their homes. Some houses seem as if the occupants had just moved in. Always this sense of "cluttered-up'" disorder; always the impression of an overlooking of the walls, and a crowd
 
 again, there will be an unnatural bare. ness; ill some total lack of propor- tion, and an unnatural stiffness
 Still, all these things can be reme- died by thoughtful study of effects and a genuine enthusiasm for results, and if Americans really desire to find the ignis fatuus of home life'' they should begin by trying to make their homes beautiful, as well as water tight.
 We were as careful about the yard and the surroundings as we were about the house itself I moiled val iantly with dull scythe, to keep the grass from getting too long and rag ged, trimmed the rose bushes and nailed up sagging fence pickets, kept the lawn free from scraps of paper, and Cecile trained the morning glory vines about the porches, planted flow- CTS in every nook and cranny of the yard, and watered them faithfully when the rains became infrequent, so that our entire circle of grassy envir. onment was ablaze with color, and blurred by the hum of voyaging bees, or lit, like a sudden flame, with the wings of lowering humming bird.
 Lenore, although only baby, had already begun to notice the pictures, and was instantly a passionate devotee of the flowers. Each bud or bloom that she mastered the name of was a triumph and delight to her. The white and red clover of the country roads. the wild roses with their fragile leaves and haunting perfume were sought by her industriously. The wild flags that grew at some wayside pool drew shrieks of gladness from her childish throat.
 Through the flowers she learned the different colors, and remembered from time to time the different trees, until she could tell them by their peculiari- ties, one from the other. For us all the cord of the life that was, from the life that is, had been shorn like Gordian knot, and the home in the 1, <oly fhn nirif Nff ho