Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-04
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| the expense Of curtaining them and the
labor OF keeping them properly washed.
*
What looks barer than an incur
] tanned window?
The old washington custom OF taking
down all hanging curtains for the Sum
mer Is happily going out OF style.
Today one sees many homes with
J windows properly curtained the year
I around This necessity arises because
mankind has gotten over the novelty OF
| the use of glass for this purpose.
| There are few things more naked, as
| It we're, than a sheet of window glass.
| once put into its frame. and puttied
! there. it loses its individual character
! and becomes an integral part of the
opening called window
! Even If the glass be fiawless and of
! the better sort which possesses sheen
| and glitter all its own, it will not of
itself be regarded as a thing of beauty.
Its object in the world is mainly util-
! itarian TO permit the householder to
| look out, in the first place, and to admit
light.
| These are the two great uses OF win
! dow glass. Such esthetic pleasures as
come from it are TO be derived from its
! combination with curtaining material
and the resulting harmony of the group
| ing with the architectural beauty OF
! the house and the room.
| Forward looking engineers now tend
| to believe that the day will come when
windows as institutions may be abol-
| ished altogether, or partly, at any rate.
! They believe that better ventilation may
/ be secured from interior weather max
| ing" devices which will deliver washed
! - i AE,-A I'LL ~,
/ be secured from the use Of ultraviolet
! lamps.
/ Such windows as will be permitted to
remain Will be permanently closed, and
! thus will have but one uSe-that OF per-
hitting those inside to look out. 1t is
probable that only extremists will dis
pense with windows altogether, eSpe-
Cially in residences, although this very
/ thing has been done in one great mod
ern industrial plant
| The desire to see out. however, IS such
a normal and natural one that it seems
| extremely unlikely that windows will be
abolished in our time. The world OF
! men is now too used TO them to give
! them up readily.
! The architecture of homes in particu-
| lar is so well standardized in relation TO
! the basic appearances that it is QueS-
! tiOnable whether owners will give up
/ their windows, with their possibilities,
both utiIitarian and artistic.
! What would home look like with
out a chimney, for instance? It is
very likely that within the next 10
years the electrical industry will Sc
perfect the heating Of homes that chin
neys, except for woodworking fire.
places. will be unnecessary.
Attempt to visualize a detached house
/ without its chimney. The result will
/ be one which would strike the average
person as ridiculous. We are used to
seeing houses with chimneys and per-
/ haps a chimneyless home would appear
1 to many to be mere box set down in
the landscape.
A windowless house would seem hope
. less. one may well believe, TO the ma
jority Of mankind, not only because the
utility of windows would be soreiy
missed and their artistic value replaced
by nothing else, but mostly because no
/ one could look out at the passing world
The eyes have been called the window
Of the soul Similarly windows are the
/ eyes of house. II is through them and
by means of them that we watch the
! interesting pageant Of everyday things
A house without transparent windows
would be almost less than no house al
all to most Of US. 1t would be like liv-
! ing in one of these homes where the
view OF the garden is blocked by win
dOWs high in the wall.
I The best windows are SO screened and
curtained that they may be closed at
Will. but the important thing is that
| they be there, ready to permit those in
side to look out. In this quiet activity
/ the dogs and cats of the household have
/ their interested share.