Year: 1878

little room furnished by Miss Rhoda and
Agnes Garrett offers a complete contrast to the


massive magnifcence Of Messrs. Gillow's work
the Princes pavilion. 1t is to bs seen In the


furniture department of the British section, not


far from the Indian gallery, and is very


charming piece of upholstery. find these
two ladies set down in the catalogue as house


decorators and cabinet makers, No. Cover


street, Bedford square, London, and their con-


tribution is tersely but not very satisfactorily
described as ''ths furniture and fittings of q


room." They are the authors of one of the


little books in Messrs. MacMilan's Art at


Home series. The room Is small and low,


perhaps fourteen feet by twelve, and hardly


more than eight feet high; the furniture, also


OF tiny proportions, and the room altogether


having the air of being done in miniature-or


being a very large dolls drawing room. It's


in what passes for Queen Annes style. The


whole ceiling Is supported BY walls covered


with stamped velvet 10 delicate blus gray; .


Persian rug in yellow OF small pattern with


dali red border, covers two-thirds of the floor;


the furniture aud mantelpiece are of uupolished


rosewood; the furniture coverings of buff, with


greenish yellow pattern; a carefully adjusted


scheme of color, which gives an air OF refine


ment to the room quite Independently of the


forms of the furniture. The curtains to the


one low, long window, filled with small panes


of grayish glass with heavy mulions, hang


from thick brass rod Ia creamy yellow and


primrose tints, with fringe Of blue and buff;


not color to which you can confidently assign


positive name; dreams of shades" says the


lady to whom appeal, and whose perception


OF color would make an artists fortune, and Is


almost equal to that of a buttercup before it Is


quite open and ripe.


The broad, low, rosewood chimney piece and


mantel is distributed In dwarf Ionic pilasters
and panels, wide shelf upholding the frame
OF bevelled mirror, engraved In flowing pat


tern at the top and lower corners. The rich
cone OF the rosewood is thrown up by the yel-
low marble border of the Fireplace which it.
self is brought out more clearly by a lining of


olive green tiles inclosing CRATE In brass OPEN
work, which is matched by the fender. The
lines of the furniture are mostly straight; with


the exception Of the sofa, 1t is all 80 simple as
scroll work or weod flowers once so dear to
the fashionable upholsterer; the wood is chan
neled and grooved in the direction of its
length, and that il about all. II you are used


to FRENCH upholstery, with its springs and
stufing and studied concealment OF the frame
Of chair or sofa-as il the sight of so hard
substance might br1ise your daiuty bones-you
may say these two or three chairs aud the
single lounge don't look comfortable. But you
will find, If you try them. that the angles have
been SO carefully calculated that the human
frame fits into them to q nicely, while the
springs and stuffing may be made as elastic as
the French, The sofa is the one failure Of the


room; pattern for which there Is no doubt
authority, aud which seems to have been cho-
sen in moment Of mental fatigue for that sole


reason. The lines of the table, stool aud screen


are all right lines; the stand for the candela-
brum is stand sHd nothing else; the sconces
are in plain brass, deriving all their beauty
from their outline. There is bracket not less
simple, with a blue jug on it; a corner cup
board on legs; . hanging cupboard OF which
the cornice ought to come OFF; writing table
with shelf of books in various bindings-all
of the same elegant simplicity The screen,
which you can lift with two fingers, has two


silk panels in old gold and pink, with peach
colored blossoms thrown over the stuff And
the impression which the whole makes on you
is, above all others, an impression of purity


aud refinement. The widow ought to have
jasmine growing outside of it, says the lady
whom have already noted. and there should
be a blonde beauty by the fireplace reading an
Idyl of the King