Year: 1877

An English critic talks about hoped
for return of simplicity in dress and
furniture. This utterance is in accord
with sentiments very common in the
sumo that modern life is far more Or
nate and artificial than life in past
periods. Prevalent as this notion Is, it
is wholly a mistaken one No idea.
however, can be generally current with
out some foundation for it; it is. there
fore, true that if one makes certain
limited comparisons he will discover
evidence in support of this assertion.


If, for instance, one compares the life


of the people of early New England


with that of their descendants of to-


day, he will find very marked confir-
nation of the accepted theory. On the
other hand, a broad comparison of one
century with another, of the life of civ
ilized people of the eighteenth or other
earlier century with the life of civil
lied people of this century. will elicit a
very different education, There is alb
sOlutely not one fashion now current,
not taste in dress, furniture. OF orna-
ment, that is not a revival of tastes in
those things in by gone periods. We
have invented nothing, We have elab-
GRATED nothing; we have only imper-
fectly reproduced the excesses, copied
the styles, and fallen into the manias
of our ancestors. This fact really set
ties the whole question; for, if it is true
that, with all the talk about old TASK


ioned simplicity and modern excess, 1t
can be shown that every detail of this
excess is derived from the very times
that are held up to us as models of
moderation. then obviously the censures
and criticisms so abundant are all
wrong.


And yet that We do no more than re-
yive past fashions, in so far as present
fashions are ornamental, is certain.
We are original only in those directions
that involve simplicity. Mems attire,
for instance, is quite unlike old styles.
but its departure has been severely in
the direction of plainness, simplicity
and ugliness. In those matters that
involve elaboration. artiiice, display,
we have gone back to our fOrefathers
for the inspiration and the instruction
and, so far, have failed to come up to
them. If one would see the extent to
which elaborate carving can be carried,
let him study the old cabinet ware at
the Hotel de Cluny, Paris, or at the
KensiDgton Museum, London, or such
examples as he may find in the muse
ums in America or let him recall to
mind the old furniture he has seen
the four-pOst bedstead, with every part
covered with elaborate designs; or the
old cabinets, upon which the industri-
ous carver has not left an inch of space
untouched; or the leather stamped
chairs, overrunning with quaint de-
vices. These remains of past industry
and taste have many things to claim
our admiration. but simplicity is not
one of them. IL we permit our mem
ory to run back over the past, it will
bring up pictures of halls richly vain
scoted; mantle pieces lifting 10 the cell
ing, in which sculptural OrnamentatIOn
has tasked the inventive imagination of
the artist to the utmost; of ceilings
overwrought with devices. of men and
women moving amid the scene upon
whom satin, silks, laces, ribbons, feath-
ers, jewelry, have been lavished in rich
but studied prOfusion. If we recall
these pictures of the past, the current
lament over modern departure from
simplicity will seem absurd enough.


This point is to be observed, how
ever: the pomp and splendOr of the
past were honest in character; there
were no cheap and showy substitutes
for real material and earnest labor.
Veneering was unknown; the carving
was done by hand, and not by machin-
cry; the Ornamentation was part of the
structure, not glued upon or attached
to il; the dresses of satins and silks
knew no admixture with baser material.
As consequence, only the wealthy in
dulged their tasteSI n this way. But
now machinery has facilitated manu-
facture so much, and ingenious work
men have found so many ways of imi-
tating by cheap processes the elaborate
workmanship of the old artisans, that
flimsy and bad ornamentation acquires
the beauty and destroys the integrity |
of good deal of our work. This it is
right enough to denounce. But it is
quite misleading, in the warfare upon
meritorious ornamentation, to assume
that we carve, gid and decorate more !
now than in former periods of the
worlds history. Old churches, old
houses, old furniture, old dress, cid
china, old lace, all show passion for
color and love of decoration that we
to-day are only in part reviving-Ap-
pletORs' Journal