New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-08-04

biologists that man is the sum
total of the objects with which he
has passed his life, then it is the
assertion of no less distinguished critic
than Frank Alvah Parsons, writing in
Interior Decoration" that unless stand
ards of refinement and taste appear in
the environment they cannot make their
impress on the national character. Mr..
Parsons maintains:
How much both the fabric and the quail
ity of ones mind depend upon the homo
in which one spends his first five years is
question of unreasonable Importance We
as people have insisted for years, in
principle, that the child should hear only
such language, both in his own and foreign
tongues, as we desired him to use for life.
We have not been slow in realizing that
habits of order unselfshness and the like
are most easily and securely formed during
the early period, but it is only quite re-
Gently that the full meaning of the power
of environment to influence life in the
fields of color, form and line has been
recognized. Here interior decoration comes
into its very own; II becomes and must re-
main an element to be seriously considered
not only for the child, but for the adult in
any walk of life, so long as he is
ceptible in any degree to those influences
which surround him.
This vital thing called interior decoration
should be seen then from two distinct view
points: first, as matter of impression for
its permanent effect on the quality of the
race, and, second, a matter Of erpres-
SION that is. as the way in which one puts
ir1o concrete form his Individual ideas of
what home should be, as to comfort,
venience and appearance.
"To large mass of our people the house
is still mainly necessary place for shell
ter from the eements and for physical rest
and bodily rebuilding. While these are first
essentials in life, they the most print
tive and should be only in their right
proportion with other and equally impor-
tant ones.
apparently, less attention has been
given to how much physical comfort may
depend mental conditions than has been
given to the physical aspect disassociated
entirely from the mind
"Comfort' is term one commonly hears
!
ticle of furniture. Under ordinary condi-
tons, this evidently refers TO the way an
object It's physical requirement. A home
may perchance be fitted with every modern
convenience and still in its ensemble re-
semble nothing more than chamber OF
horrors.
ITO great number of US the power to
diferentiate clearly between house to
live in and one in which to store colec-
lions has not come. It is a common error
TO suppose that this point Of view is lin
tied to the very rich, with certain
mania but no taste. This supposition is a
mistake. While it is true that it passeth
understanding how some OF these people
have been able to gather together in one
short lifetime SO many totally unrelated
objects some beautifully and yet have con-
trived place among them fit to live in,
still others, in different ways, have done
no better.
Household like other decorations must
first of all be decorative in themselves, and
then they must be composed or used in a
decorative way If they are to result in
decorative unity called room.
Clearly, to accomplish this end one must
not only have the taste quality in selec-
ton, but q knowledge or understanding Of
the principles which govern decorative de-
sign if he would realize the full value Of
each object used"
The author concludes with some gentle
admonitions for those Interested in the
subject of decorative art:
at IS vastly easier TO give recipe that
may work once in a while than it is to
state a principle that Ia universal in it's
application.
"One is quite likely in these days to run
across such things as How to make your
house honey or Correct color schemes for
the dining room,' or How TO express your
personality in your home The worst part
of such slogans is that there is possibly
element Of truth in them. although
neither the maker the reader may dis
tinguish It.
More normal sentiment has become dis
eased and degenerated into sentimentality
through the constant appeal TO the honey,
cosey' weaknesses, rather than to ones
common sense, than we are won't to admit.
"As to correct schemes Of color for the
dining room, there is no such thing. The