The Washington herald., 1910-09-12
Art in the Home.

Editor The Washington Herald:
While the family has been out OF
town the house has been put in order
for the coming indoor life OF winter.
People who really use the summer 10
come close 10 earth and wind and water
begin 10 feel by October something o.
the primitive vagabondage and savagery
OF the race stir in their veins. It seems
70 them the right and natural mode OF
life TO take the earth for their bed and
to claim ell outdoors as the homestead
bequeathed 20 them. When they return
to town there is something absurd IN the
idea Of shutting themselves up for the
rest OF the year in stone and brick
boxes in which they have barely room
10 turn around
We are beginning OF late years 10 have
better idea OF giving 10 these boxes
some OF the grace OF form and color
which nature so lavishly provides for US
out OF doors. We grow holder IN archi-
lecture and furniture as we are sure OF
our ground. Warmer coloring Is begin
ming 70 tone the outside and the inside
OF our homes; coIoring more requisite
with our thinner air and colder skies
than IN southern Europe, from where
we brought home the idea Nobody can
visit the great stores Of upholstery. OF
bric-a-brac. or china in Washington
without acknowledging that the aesthetic
taste Of the wcll-to-do classes must have
developed greatly since the days when
hideous brocatelles and enormous chan
deliers. gilt and CLASSY. constituted the
perfection OF artistic furnishings.
As a people we are not only lavish
with our money 70 art but eager for
hints how to spend It best on her serv-
ice. Merchants are shrewd enough 10
offer US the means. Out OF these stores
OF furniture and decorations every man
with correct or delicate taste and
the money, may furnish his house as
thoroughly 10 his satisfaction as any
where in Europe. The difficulty lies in
the lack OF taste in those who have
means. A wealthy American goes TO Paris
or Italy. and brings back a hodge-podge
Of Persian carpets and gobelin tapes
tries. patched Roman pottery 800 .. c.,
and glitterlng Sevres and Worcester
ware. made q few weeks ago: carved
cabinets from Italian palaces, black with
age: brOnzes. marbles, South American
bugs and Egyptian scarabOei. and all
these he piles and jams into his 2o-foot
house, and lectures over them TO his
visitors. according TO certain fragmen-
tary rules Of art which he has gathered
in the same haphazard fashion.
There has been developed a taste for
rocco In furniture There is a demand
for even the old clocks and tables used
by our grandfathers. Most Of rs re-
member, with a certain satisfaction
which no modern drawing-rcom gives US.
some old-fashioned farm house living
room" with the eight-day clock in one
corner and the angular cupboard in the
other We do not know why the floor.
covered with its green rag carpet. the
two Shaker rocking chairs, where the old
people sat, the open fire. the table with
country paper. and a pair Of spectacles
upon It, should como up before US with
a certain sense OF satisfaction, beauty.
and repOse. 1t is not the cleanliness
Of the room. The magnate's parlor IS
cleaner, but it makes one shudder-the
violent flower basket in the carpet. the
satin curtains, the blue brocateTe sofas,
the enormous Partisan vases on the
mantel, all staring into a great mirror
and telling 1t what they cost
The secret, we suppose. In the pienish-
ing OF a house or room, Of giving this
sense Of completeness and satisfaction. is
the expression OF every different part OF
some leading idea-whether that be a
place for work, for rest. for coy home
comfort. or FOR sensuous luxury. The
farm living room suggests to US. uncon-
scious OF 1t though we may have been.
rest after honest labor. the calm Of de-
cent old age, while the vulgar parlor
speaks OF nothing but money.
It would be restful TO get back to na-
ture in our homes. whose tableaux are
each complete. and which are always
and al all risk real. EVERETT SPRING.