The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-05-04
M ost p & ople
Follow I aste
Blindly

.HN
and is worth reprinting
IL love is represented as sightless,
Il il simply because he has 4 habit of
;.. -. !.
...h.- pnt ,ov... 80. "a -. .r..
OF mis- followers are reaiiy only oand-
aged, and they can always peep little
underneath. If they please Taste. on
~. oon.r...h ~. -. a.e;n.s !. ..th.
power OIL perceivhs ana rehsnins eA-
cellence'-is supposed to be exceedingly
far-sighter vet. most of the ueople who
follow taste do 30 with the blindness
of bats and the meekness OF sheen. This
is conspicuous enough when illustrated
by women and the fashions, for, let a
mode once find favour in feminine
fancy, and, at once. fat and thin. tall
and short, dark and fair, old and young.
assume it regardless Of suitability.
beauty, or common sense. And. when
1t comes to the building and furnish
ing of new houses or the altering and
refurnishing of old ones. both men and
women show a grand inability to recoy-
nize not only what thew should have
but even what they want, unless the
choice of some cultivated intelligence
has already been popularized tn noeet
public demand.
M. 80 - 49,
fa.,;n. al applecisuse
fects. too. are ercsss,;nslv ;ntsr.s.;n.
Rising oenerat;ons ssras;s,n e sss
cratic countr;sS. ia ~ - uemo
sao s..soS rnras uia not a rev years
belongings (if they had any), very little
to those of grandparents' and only !
little more to those of great-erandnar
ents, because few ANTIQUE fanciers
had lately come to think them roman
tically quaint or quantity romantic
To throw out old things, no mater
how charming, and buy new. NO mater
how ugly, about renresented The es,.
eral swing Of sentiment in those DAYS.
And then, suddenly, people began m
throw out the new, no matter how
graceful and appropriate, and renlace
them with the old, no matter how hid.
eous, and this about represents the
general swing of the next movement.
In neither case was much discretion er.
hibited. Genuine backgrounds had
H.. 4
Deeh destroyed without any compunc-
tion. Ihere had been no respect for
ne pass as q past with associations,
th.s e lirse pace and, IN the second,
mere was no respect for the present as
= present' nor IN any compunction about
upss.1ihs its belongings TO create false
49, to.nus-- artificial ancient" as
,ney misnt De cailed-for newly col
lec'eu olu articles. q.
Anybody may change. With the times
and there is nothing despicable in bav.
ing to learn or releafh the value If
things. They may hare beauty or in
terest OF a kind not easily recognized
or recognised for reasoFis that only an
expert could explain If they have been
discarded from ignorance and can he
reclaimed with knowledge. ali the bet.
ter; that is, all the better. If thev III
properly into their new surroundings.
But If they were discarded because tbev
were really ugly or because their own
ers really ;disdained them. and If their
equivalents are now sought because Of
some imagined fashion leading which
the blind and the sheep-Iike are AFRAID
not to follow, why then. all the worse
There ;s soSoatbino 1;..,. 4
the sonl. ~ ,,arso,,a 800 t.ile"n ~
posed bidd;no of tha 49, a. a.,s 1ne SUI
refill their rooms with n;ctnros orr..
ments, and furniture of a bvgone sort
which they do NOT admire Thsre Il
something staunch and fine in the souIs
Of those who have never. at the dir
tates of any alien fancy re;acted ,os.
sessions endeared by association ana
suitable to them and their lives Che
acter .Gows in amaIgamated more thar
acquired. backerounds No decade vvas
all admirable Or ali obon,;nahIo "a
what makes true atmosnbere is 70 br;ng
tastefullv tocatbar 1yhatavar nos nora'
comfortable beautiful and asrseshTs
live with yesterdav and wbotovor -
comfortable heant;gnI and a9rea.h1o
10 live with TODAY The moment q
householder starts 70 make f;roJ
i,eriod in a housa NOT irtordad CO.. a
collectors paIace or q nusomm - ha-
comes unhomelike. The more nertsct
the mora unhorool;ko W. - - ~,
gentleman who complained of feeling
as if he should be stood, like an UNI
brella, in the corner of his own baronial
hall when he entered it from the street.
so foreign did he seem to its lofty thir-
teenth-century setting.
OF course nollActo-., hors.s -. ho,.A.
perfectly constructsd erd fr.n;.hSS -
Represent those ~ for,o6. H. 10
come into the list of those vve are hsn.
ming. The people who coIlact 81.
people who reconstruct are neonIe vho
have studied. who bsvs ;nd;v;dnsI 4" VIZ
and knowIedee and Tho Sas;.a . ~,
often. to leave the frn;ts of T. very
nnanI;ebto,,ad lit; ~ VI ~ u an