The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1913-03-12
ABOUT The HOUSE
Little Romances That Are Linked
With Its Furnishings.
EVOLUTION OF THE CHAIR.

EvuluIIUN UF HE CHAIh.
Ths Lsisursly Progress From the Three
Lsossd steel 10 tbs Luxurious Rock
sr-oriain ct the Table Drawsr-Ths
First Picture Frames
II you only knew It. queer little 10
mances are peeping out at ron all over
your house. from attic to cellar. They
are well worth looking for
Framed pictures had to have begin
ming. They date back to about 500
years ago. when peaceful monks paint
ed the wallis OF their living rooms with
Scriptural subjects Then one day
some one conceived the bright idea OF
mailing wood around these frescoes so
as to separate the subjects. A little
later came giIding-and the-evolnfion
Of the modern picture frame was Sim
ply a matter Of time.
| The drawingoom = 4 perfect mine
Of history. AZ most people know. th.s
| Is. strictly. the withdrawing ROOM
| to which onA withdraws after. dinner.
/
| The antimacassars over the Bqcks Of
the chairA similarly carry their object
| In life IN xheir name These -xnore or
less artistic, things had their~begin-
nings son1ss15O years ago. whe4 every
one used macassar oil for the hair.
The mistresr Of the household then
| would no morq peEnit greasy POLLS to
spoil her 6pa chairs than would the
modern mis1ess And. 10. the Antima-
| CAESAR.
/ OF chairs Themselves. perhaps tina
most interesting feature Is the familiar
crossbarr technically known as the
stretcher joins the front legs
Nowadays its purpose b usually for
/ ornamentation. so4etimes strength.
| though often. II. Is absent altogether.
It hanks back to ne days of the first
chairs, when knights and danes want
/ ed to keep. their feet Of the cold.
drafty. rush Iittered floors. hence
the stretchef. Originally the stretch
er was only Q. few inches above the
| ground. but when. later on. rugs ans.
carpets came into more general use
/ and rooms became Es0re comfortable
the stretcher gradually lost its inpor-
| lance.
/ 1t is curious TO note that the coy
armchair was the last stage of all
/ Cushions and padding were the first
| additions to the plain seat Then
| came painted chairs and afterward
| carved legs, and fnaIly-a ieisureiy last
/ came backs and arms and with them
| the luxurious rocker.
| In point Of fact the chair IS easily tke
| most important piece Of furniture you
| have. historically speaking. To this
day, taking the chair denotes taking
| the head OF affairs. reminiscent OF tie
time when there was only one chair in
a room, three legged stools at the most
being provided for less important folk
Window curtains. again. have theiz
| little romance. Originally all windows
were In the roof, but in time came open
windows in the wall In the middle
ages some one brought from China the
idea of using cloth TO cover the win
dows, and there IS the origin of your
curtain, with its frills and loops.
The glass chandelier. IL you have one
they are out OF fashion now-can be
/ put down to the workmen refugees
from Frnnce driven from their homes
i By Louis XIV. by the revocation Of the
edfct OF Nantes In 1885
i Even the drawer in the kitchen table
ANY table drawer. for the matter Of
that-had to be thought of, but nobody
did manage to think of fixing a drawer
to a table until some inveterate card
player-his name is forgotten-wanted
q handy place for the cards when they
were not In use. The very thing! And
table drawers were Invented
Kitchen by the way, Is derived
from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning
Ito cook" while ''scullery"-which pos
ftively has nothing to do with ''scul-
lionv-comes from a word meaning "a
bowl"
1 Some of your furniture may well
have an English political biasl 1t GER
tainly IS SO If 1t bears that familiar de-
sign based upon the Prince Of Wales
feathers. Hepplewhite, the famous fur
niture designer, began it In his time
there was a strong Tory party support
ing George Ill. while the Wing party
was beaded by the Prince Of Wales
HeppIewhIte was an ardent WhiG
and accordingly introduced Prince OF
Wales feathers into his furniture de
signs on every possible occasion In
cidentalIy the sofa is an importation
from the ease loving Arabs, whose
'suffah" was long bench outside the
house.
And. finally, "hall' simply means a
place which is covered in, and the word
comes from exactly the same root as
the internal regions! = Philadelphia
Ledger.
Amenities of the Table.