Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-07
CHAIRS AS INDEX.
Mans Character Revealed by Furni'
ture He Buys.

Nowadays if you wish to know a mans
character do not look at his face, look at
his furniture. In his household goods
you will find true index TO his virtues
and vices. his strength and his weakness
His sins are solidified in his sideboards
and his virtues in his vases. Humor OF
the lack of it, may permeate his hangings
while wisdom may linger in his wall
paper
No longer do furniture buyers adhere
tenaciously to one particular mode sim
ply because 1t happens to be 1.-THE fash
ion" Individuality IS allowed free play
Many moderns do not feel attuned to the
century in which they find themselves
and in their furniture they endeavor to
approximate as closely as possible TO
the age with which they feel most in
sympathy Thus. if a man feels William
and Maryish land it is surprising how
many men do9 he will fill his home with
those delightful deep touches appertain-
ing TO that age. II his ideas are Eliza
bethan he stimulates them by surround
ing himself with furniture of that spa
cious epoch. There are even people eour.
ageous enough to confess to an affinity
with early Victoriansm, and they will
ransack furniture shop after furniture
shop in the quest for horsehair chairs and
marbIe-topped monstrosities. To the ridi-
cule of the esthetic these heroes ana
heroines turn a deaf ear. They obey an
inner law. and if woolly antimacassars
are necessary to their complete develop
ment woolly antimacassars they will
have All honor to such single-minded
sincerity, even though the fulfilment OF
its purpose may add to the uglification OF
life.
Especially in the choice of woods is
character manifested The lover of satin
wood is an entirely different type from
the lover of old oak. The "old oak
temperament is the temperament of the
moment Qor those who can afford IT.
panelings of oak round the walls, with
Jaeobean furniture TO match, is chic.
There is also a passion for pine among
people to whom oak seems rather solid
! and gloomy. Those who find their tenn
peramental needs satisfied by mahogany
are rather rare nowadays.
Empire furniture, with its graceful
curves and coquetish complexities has
simply lost it's hold on the modern bache-
. lor. who is showing bias toward the
severely solid and straight. He is also
losing his prediction for filling his rooms
with pictures and photographs. Dark.
subdued colors attract him-black cur
tains bestrewn with roses; lampshades
on the dusky background of which bar
barrie flowers glow with a radiant splen-
dor.
Comfort has come into its own again.
The spindle-legged and the spidery have
ceased to attract The table which top
pied over at the slightest provocation, the
chair with a deficiency of back and the
couch which completely swallowed one
up have been ousted by furniture which
is at once seductive and sensible. Ever
solid bedsteads with overhanging can
opies and curtains are affected by sleep
ers who prefer coziness to all the new
tangled notions of scientists and hygien
lists. Our forbears slept in such beds
say they, and were they a penny TIN
worse for it? On the contrary. they We're
generally speaking, more healthy than VI
are today.
This love of real comfort and conven
fence is probably responsible for tn
growing interest in Chinese furniture
The multiplicity of drawers is alluring
A Chinese cabinet combines the orna
mental and useful in quite an unusua
degree.-London News