Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-30
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
poyiestown stlrs the EsthetIo Inn
pulses with Its Fascinating Tiles
and the Antiques OF Mer.
Ger Castle
Rv SARAH IONNRIE

Il
i on the trail of the Mercer tiles since ]
saw them In the Capitol at Harrisburg years
ago, and only got there this week and then
by no initiative of my own, but on what the
Adirondack guides used to call random
scoot."
That is. I was taken there without guess
ing my destination by some one who was
exploring the country and had heard there
was IN old inn UP at Doylestown worth
visiting.
One can motor there BY the York road to
within few miles of the town, when you
turn to the left, or out by the Bethlehem
nike beyond Lansdale when YOU turn to the
right The country beyond the Whitemarsh
Valley is rather wide apd rolling. with pros
porous farms. but II Is not so varied as the
Schuylkill or the Chester Valleys. Doyles-
town like so many Of the towns bordering
on New Jersey or in New Jersey, Is on the
ridge of long hill or. rather, 1t is on ths
rounded crest Of a sort of wave OF the ground
that rises out Of low fields and slopes back
on low fields. do not think that Is par
ticular characteristic of Pennsylvania towns
but can recall quite a number OF New
Jersey towns that arc on the crest OF just
such n wave--Princcton, Pennington, Law
rencevillc arc near by examples
r NEVER was in n cleaner or neatcr town.
i and saw no single house or lot for rent
or sale the length and breadth of Doyies-
town Il is not n conspicuously brick town
on the Reading road toward Bethlehem. Inc
old houses are low plaster houses with very
| white finish. Later generations have added
mnnsar rd roofs or gables and some Few Early
| Pullmans" and Queen Anne horrors. but tae
| impression one has is OF q comfortable white
| town with a broad white old hotel OF the
| stnge coach tavern variety, with an upstairs
porch and wide tagged place in front
| where the old coaches used to draw up, no
doubt, but where the tourists motors now
| hat
low paneled dining room.
| yTNHE owner is French, or his fathers were
| i who has "A passion for old hickory furni-
ture and Chippendale mirrors He has many
| other good things besides, enough to make
| tho Pine street old furniture men desire his
| bankruptcy or death with n gritting of teeth.
| All the bedrooms arc very quantity done, even
to the chintzcs. and as you henvc up and
| down on the sloping floors you 90 it'e
coveting Yourself
The place smells like IN ancient farm
house with apples in the cellar, but II -
very clean and the food Is first rate, In goou
country fashion. with just touch OF other
countries in the cheese and butter and sal
ads. The dansels that pass you things arc
Enthusiastically American, severe ana unim-
pressed and always bearing about IN theh,
the memory that Charley Ross was aoductea
BY atfablc strangers. 1t is the manner tnat
the high school OF country town otten
inculcates as protectvely dignifed. one
secs it behind many counters here IN Town,
kind of ''you tend to your business ana
III tend to mine and the less SAID the pet-
ter-for you. =,
country hotels are OvergurrulOus and chatty,
| and need to be kept In their places on the
hickory chairs, but. with 80 much to remind
one of country inns In lands where the
actors never feel above their parts, 1t Is
pity that that one touch of geniality should
bc lacking in the landmarks of the Foun-
tain Hotel.
NI'T at the Mercer place We found noth-
" ing but human kindness, though they,
too must be Ovcrrun with strangers VINO
"Oh'' and "Ah" and want to know. !
found very nice young chap who had
come on some years back ng moider anu
is now assistant manager, who satisfied my
longing for information most paternaliy'
The pottery looks like jumbled-up Spanish
mission out in the desert. only 1t is on q
: deserted pasture twenty minutes out or the
town and Is reached by an unfinished cinder
road ,
You are allowed TO see the rooms where
the designs are set up and the tiles are
stored in bins and on shelves from which
Won can take them down and build things
l out OF the colorcd blocks and patterns
: Tiles are embedded everywhere. In rougf
cnst pillars in concavc and convex ceilings
They line huge hrcplaccs lnd border wall
and window, places. The color Is ior ,n
= of the country about there, n sort OF
Q shale ] should think. with various glaze
c supcrimposcd. The glazes are done by
secret process and are very rich.
But ] do not think, however, that an
Il blue that Mr.. Mercer hoo is az beautiful n
% some Of the Enfield tiles show in Mr.. Dulles
3 pottery out beyond Edge Hill. In fact. tn
- greens and blues and ycilows OF the MerCe
10 files showed purcr color OIL the edges OF tn
ir tiles than over the design. The design
IL seemed TO me little too worked out to
n full Tor the space.
I ike his ship designs the best, both !
the large compositions and in the sma
tiles which one can buy for a little SUI
Ic and carry off as q reminder Of delightfl
nc pxprricncc For, after seeing the pottery
o' it IS often quite possible TO obtai pertn!s
J., sion to visit the Mercer ''caStlc,' whei
ID one secs the tiles set up and quite at the
Sc They have the value of irescoeS in tho,
W strange. vaultcd rooms OF the castle, al
far 0utshiue the tapestries or rugs wit
which they are allowed casually 10 con-
pete. They are. think, moro brilliant tina
s. mosaics on the ceilings, although no a
'ts tcmpt was made to have large designs sue
o. MS one sees used iu churches with lnosai
be in Italy.
nj U,HE so.caed castle is shaped some
cs l. thing like modern coal breaker
10 cluster Of coal breakers, II one can imoSi
he n coal breaker made of white cement al
ny hewn roughly into piling shapes by n We
n romantic architect. Inside it Is scoop
md followed out. You emerge rather tht
step into the rooms. which begin round o
corner and end in quite another dircctio
Each bedroom seems TO have bathroom! n
. tached. but the walls must have been bu
aFtpr the bathtubs we're set UP and I
nIumbing connected. for the winding turr
Mt staira and bottle neckcd passageWays wor
not permit anything much broader than
chair to be carried through without bel
taken to pieces
Each room seems to have bookroom
~. little sitting room attached and Is a
preached by its own little stair The boo
o. are very beguiling; III" collection OF Spans