^ BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD Mes. T. W. dewing AUTHOR OF "beauty IN DRESS " NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1882 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All ritjhts reserved. ^WivcKcJi ry MANTEL-PIECE FOR NURSERY. TO MY FATHER WILLIAM FEANCIS OAKEY X 30etiicate tl)is ISoofe rOR THE PLEASURE OF CONNECTING MY NAME WITH HIS Maria R. Dewing 101698 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/beautyinhouseholOOdewirich PREFACE. My little book, " Beauty in Dress," as I have looked at it in the colder lio^ht with which one regards one's words in print, has seemed to me only the en- trance to a wide field of thought on form and color as applied to decoration in its various branches, personal and domestic. The two chapters devoted especially to form and color in this book, " Beauty in the Household," especially the one on color, belong as much to " Beauty in Dress " as to " Beauty in the House- hold," and will answer many questions y\[[ PREFACE. on the subject which have been asked me by letter by readers of the first book. The subject of " Beauty in the House- hold" is a much wider one than "Beau- ty in Dress," passing naturally from the technicalities of household art into meth- ods of living, and analysis of received forms. I do not pretend to have treated the subject exhaustively, but to have given such few thoughts upon it as have matured into convictions, believing that the desire to treat the matter without prejudice from an intrinsic and not from a conventional point of view, must give some interest, if not some value, to this book, for which I can ask no kinder con- sideration than that which has been ex- tended to my first. I have tried to illustrate some of my PREFACE. \^ ideas by pen-and-ink sketches, which I offer more as suggestions than as elabo- rate designs, as in many cases I could only explain my intentions fully through the medium of color. MARIA R. DEWING. CONTENTS. Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY. Blind Adiierence to Custom in the Conducting of a Household. — Loss of the Ideal for the Realistic. — The Cause. — The Stately, Conventional Style of the Wealthy English the Standard. — Its Unsuitableness to other Circumstances. — Its own Beauty. — Its Ug- liness when Incomplete. — Intrinsic Elegance and Beauty. — Proportion and Fitness True Beauty. — Original Ideals. — Faith in Life. — Independence. — Poverty. — Decision as to the Prominent Feature in our Living. — The Stirring House-keeper. — The Old Woman's Wood -shed. — Cleanliness and Order. — Cleanliness and Morality. — Scope of the Household. — Excuse for Treating so Wide a Subject..,. Page 1 Chapter II. SELECTING A RESIDENCE. Choice of Residence. — The Kitchen and the Bath- room. — Air and Light. — Views. — The Old Woman's Xll CONTENTS. Tree. — Clioice with a View to our Capacity. — Com- parison of Large and Small Rooms in Advantages. — The Growth of a Home. — Moving. — Beginning Life Simply. — The Realistic. — Couture's Kitchen. — The Range. — A Kitchen Floor. — Kitchen Walls. — Kitch- en Windows. — Shutters. — Kitchen Doors. — Bath- room. — Light. — A Luxurious Bath-room. — Bass-re- liefs. — Fire. — A Simple Bath-room. — Wall Decora- tion. — Rug. — Towel-rack. — Light Color Page 11 Chapter III. . A CHAPTER ON COLOR. *'Warm" Color.— "Cold" Color.— The Quality of Blue. — The Quality of Yellow. — Difficulty of Exact Rules for Color. — The Old Theory of Complementary Col- or. — Its Falsity. — Nature's Lesson. — Harmony. — Black and White. — Metallic Greens. — Vegetable Greens. — Cold and Warm Greens. — Quantity in Col- or. — Contrast and Harmony 28 Chapter IV. A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORM. The Word " Picturesque." — Formless Furnishing. — Ugly Pictures. — Proportion. — Line. — Mass. — East- ern Proverb. — Annoying Problems forced upon us. — To make a Room appear Higher or Lower. — Per- pendicular and Horizontal Lines. — Cornices. — Strik- ing and Ineffective Forms. — Space and Ornament. — CONTENTS. xlli A Simple Rule in Furnishing. — Central Object, — Grouping of Small Objects. — The Ineffectiveness of a Small, Isolated Object. — Rooms Crowded with Bric-d-lrac. — The Old not always Beautiful because of its Age. — Different Periods of Furniture. — The Renaissance. — The Grotesque. — Forms of Beauty. — The Classic and Egyptian Grotesque. — China Dogs Page 39 Chapter V. THE DINING-ROOM. Importance of Sun. — Portraits. — Landscapes. — Flow- ers. — English Idea of a Dining-room. — Windows. — Drawing the Curtains. — French Taste in the Dining- room, — The Renaissance Style. — A Small Dining- room. — Light in Color. — Dead- white Wall.-^Pale Colors. — A Suggestion of Color for a Dining-room. — Velvet versus Satin as Chair Covering. — A Green, Blue, and Yellow Combination. — The Six Sides of a Room. — Kalsomine, Papers, and Paint. — China. — China as a Wall Ornament. — The Table. — Sequence of Courses. — Original Service. — A Breakfast on the Piazza.— The White Table-cloth.— A Dark Table.— Decoration of the Table. — A Colored Dinner. — Ar- rangement of Napkins. — Ribbons. — Decorating the Fruit Dishes. — Service without a Servant. — Setting of the Table.— Chairs.— Arabian Verse.— Lounging Chairs. — Appearance of a Servant 51 Xiv CONTEXTS. Chapter VI. THE LIBRARY. Library and Dining-room in One. — Library Alone. — The Anteroom. — Strong Contrasts Avoided. — Olive- green. — Blue. — Yellow. — Windows. — A New Sys- tem of Shades. — Carpeting. — The Greek Art for the Library. — Bronze tei-sus Plaster and Marble. — Sofas and Chairs. — Lecturns. — A Comfortable Sofa. — The Table. — A Secretar3^ — The Bookcase with Glass Doors. — The Simple Bookcase of Boxes. — The Leather-hanging on the Bookcase. — Objection to Red. — Mottoes for Bookcases. — A Screen of Books. — The Fireplace. — Mottoes and Verses for the Fire- place.— Carved Bricks at Back of Fireplace. — Terra- cotta.— Metal Page 77 Chapter VI I . THE HALL. The Smaller, the Lighter in Color. — The Use of the Frieze and Dado. — Harmony of the Rooms opening out of Hall with Hall. — Impressions of Color Rela- tive. — Suggestion of Color and Furnishing for a Hall. — Casts for a Frieze. — Engravings and Photos for the Hall. — Mounting Photos. — A Screen of Pho- tos. — Strikinpj Patterns in Hall. — A Bust or Statue CONTENTS. XV in Long Hall. — Tapestry. — Painted Arras. — Em- broidered Arras. — Frieze of Gold Panels, Wall Stamped Leather, Dado Carved Wood. — Bronze Arms. — Sconces versus Central Light. — The Floor. — Carpeting the Staircase. — The Large Square Hall. — Tiled Floor. — Skins of Animals. — Open Fire. — Lighting. — Stained Glass. — Paintings requiring Plain Clear Glass in Windows. — The Painted Ar- ras. — Dark-wood Panellings. — Furniture. — The Or- namenting of Heavy Furniture. — Velvet or Leather Cushions for Hall Furniture. — Central Fireplace. — Warm Hall and Cool Rooms Page 91 Chapter YIII. THE DRAWING-ROOM. Treatment of Small Parlor. — Music in a Small Room. — Figure Pictures for the Parlor. — The Important Things in a Parlor. — De Quincey's Ideal of Luxury. —A Parlor Twelve by Fifteen. — A Note of Tur- quoise Blue. — Brass Ornaments. — The Upright Pi- ano. — Flowers. — The Chairs. — The Tea-service. — Another Small Parlor. — Purple. — The Carpet, Mir- ror, Fireplace. — Sconce. — Flowers. — The Cornice. — The Pictures.— The Curtains.— The Piano. — The Chairs.— A Small Red Parlor.— A Motto.— Tlie Ceil- ing. — A Painted Arras. — Curtains. — Other Furni- ture. — The Large Drawing-room or Ball-room. — The Little Sitting-room adjoining. — Large Draw- XVI CONTENTS. ing-room used as Music-room. — Shelves for Musical Library. — Busts of Composers. — Painted Arras. — Windows Closed with Panelled Shutters. — The Mu- sical Instruments. — Chairs. — Fireplace Page 104 Chapter IX. THE BEDROOM. Bedroom like a Quiet Green Nest. — The Morning Sun. — Light in the Eyes. — A Ceiling representing Leafage. — Pattern on the Wall versus a Plain Tone. — Objection to many Pictures in Bedroom. — A Beautiful Picture at Foot of Bed. — Advantage of Wood Fire.^-The Carpet. — A Large Mirror. — Effect of Harmonious Color on the Mind. — Anecdote of De Musset. — Blue for a Bedroom. — Casts. — Suggestions from Nature for Combinations of Color. — Ceiling Lighter than Walls. — Different Flowers Suitable for Suggestions of Color for Bedroom 133 "CJ&^ Chapter X. THE NURSERIES. A Day Nursery as well as a Sleeping Nursery. — Not too many Children Sleeping in One Room. — Accus- toming Children to Beauty in Daily Life. — High Art for Children. — Educating a Love for Sculpture. — Walter Crane Picture-books. — Flowers Cultivated by Children. — Teaching Girls Embroidery. — Ad- CONTENTS. Xvii vantage of Cultivated Tastes. — Open Fire in Nur- sery. — Advantage of Paint or Kalsomine over Paper in a Nursery. — Green Nursery. — Frieze and Dado. — Fireplace. — No Curtains in Windows. — Ivy. — Panels of Doors. — Much Unoccupied Space on Wall. — Day Nursery. — The Table and Chairs. — A Figured Pattern for Wall or Ornaments. — Brackets for Busts or Statuettes. — The Light. — Choosing a Nurse. — Children who are with their Parents. — The Mother's Dress. — Children's Habits. — Children's Fields. — Mu- sic. — Music at Home. — The Professional and the Amateur. — The Hand-organ. — The Street Musicians. — The Musical Box. — Churcli Chimes Page 143 Chapter XI. THE SMALL APARTMENT. Advantage of the Apartment. — Tendency of Civiliza- tion. — Washing. — By-gone Customs of Housewives. — Catering. — The Uncertainty of the Domestic Cook. — Feudal Custom of Followers. — The Coming Age of Service. — Argument upon Service done out of the House. — The Answer. — Artistic Instincts of Women. — The Dominating House-keeper. — The Overworked Mistress of the Household. — Duties to Husband and Children. — Women who do and who do not make themselves the Companions of their Children. — The Step farther. — Each Household to be Constituted to Suit its Special Needs. — Beauty and Expansion of the Mind of the First Importance 173 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGK MANTEL-PIECE FOR NURSERY FrOuUspiece DECORATION FOR GLASS PANEL OF KITCHEN DOOR 17 DECORATION FOR GLASS PANEL OF KITCHEN DOOR : VEGETABLE PIECE 21 BASS-RELIEF FOR BATH-ROOM. (NO. 1) .... 23 BASS-RELIEF FOR BATH-ROOM. (NO. 2) .... 23 REED FOR TOWELS — BATH-ROOM 27 PANELS 42 PANELS . 43 EMBROIDERED CURTAIN (NO. 1) FOR LOW ROOM . 56 EMBROIDERED CURTAIN (NO. 2) FOR LOW ROOM . 57 EMBROIDERED CURTAIN (NO. 3) FOR LOW ROOM . 58 EMBROIDERED CURTAIN (NO. 4) FOR HIGH ROOM . 59 REVOLVING SIDEBOARD, AND SMALL STATIONARY SIDEBOARD 70 DIAGRAM OF DINING-TABLE WHERE NO SERVANT WAITS 73 A CHAIR FOR A LADY AT DININGTABLE .... 75 A SOFA FOR LIBRARY 82 BOOKCASE WITH HANDLES 85 A SCREEN OF BOOKS, WITH BUSTS, STATUETTES, ETC. 88 A PAINTED ARRAS FOR SMALL HALL 98 AN EMBROIDERED ARRAS 99 XX ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE FRIEZE OF GOLD PANELS, WITH FIGURES . . . .100 PATTERN FOR CUSHIONS FOR DRAWING-ROOM . .111 PATTERN FOR CUSHIONS FOR DRAWING-ROOM . .112 PATTERN FOR CUSHIONS FOR DRAWING-ROOM . .113 FRIEZE OF DANCING FAUNS 118 FRIEZE OF peacocks' FEATHERS FOR BALL-ROOM. 122 CEILING FOR ALCOVE OF BALL-ROOM 124 EMBROIDERED VELVET CURTAIN, WITH JAPAN LIL- IES 125 DARK ROSE-COLORED VELVET CURTAIN, EMBROID- ERED IN LOTUS 129 PAINTED ARRAS FOR MUSIC-ROOM — CLASSIC LAND- SCAPE AND FIGURES 130 FRIEZE, WITH CLASSIC MASKS AND TRIPODS . . .131 CEILING FOR BEDROOM REPRESENTING LEAFAGE . 134 FRIEZE OP DARK BLUE, WITH WHITE SHELLS . .139 DADO OF INTERLACED LILIES 140 DADO OP FLOWERS FOR NURSERY 145 FRIEZE OP BIRDS. (NO. 1) 151 DADO OP FIGURES. (NO. 2) 155 TILE FOR NURSERY 157 TILE FOR NURSERY 158 DADO OF ANIMALS. (nO. 3) 159 TILE FOR NURSERY 161 TILE FOR NURSERY 162 PANELS OF DOORS FOR NURSERY 163 BRACKET, WITH BACK FOR STATUETTE OR BUST, ON FIGURED WALL 167 BEAUTY U THE HOUSEHOLD. Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY. Blind Adherence to Custom in the Conducting of a Household. — Loss of the Ideal for the Realistic. — The Cause. — The Stately, Conventional Style of the Wealthy English the Standard. — Its Unsuitableness to other Circumstances. — Its own Beauty. — Its Ug- liness when Incomplete. — Intrinsic Elegance and Beauty. — Proportion and Fitness True Beauty. — Original Ideals. — Faith in Life. — Independence. — Poverty. — Decision as to the Prominent Feature in our Living. — The Stirring House-keeper. — The Old Woman's Wood -shed. — Cleanliness and Order. — Cleanliness and Morality. — The Scope of the House- hold. — Excuse for Treating so Wide a Subject. There is no stranger spectacle than the obstinate unwillingness that most people have to alter and improve that 2 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. which they so avowedly consider a dis- tressing burden — the usual manner of conducting a household. They wear their cares with a painful, suj)erstitious martyrdom, as the monk of old wore his hairy shirt; and to attempt salvation by a pleasanter road seems to them to be a shirking of the lot of humanity. The household is too commonly the synonyme for all that is wearing and commonplace — the altar upon which two people who have dreamed of happi- ness sacrifice their faith and hope to the sordid and realistic. Often the cause of this is, that to the household management people do not seem to bring the same thought and analysis that they do to other important subjects. In unreasoning blindness they accept precedents. They cling to every weighty fetter that has clogged the prog- ress of their predecessors. Nowhere INTRODUCTORY. 3 does reform enter so slowly as into the household. People are possessed with the idea that there is but one way of liv- ing, and, not being able to attain that, the nearer they approach it the better the}^ live. This way is the way of the wealthy English, which, even with money, is easi- er to follow in an old country, where ser- vice is systematized, and where no lady who has a large establishment is her own house-keeper. This conventional style of living has its own beauty, like the beauty of some stately old gardens, where the trees are cut in artificial forms, and the terraces make a suitable setting for the stiflly- dressed ladies who slowly walk there; but, like these gardens, it needs to be in perfection to be beautiful at all, and the incomplete imitations are more absurd and sordid than any original style could be. 4 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. There is siicli a thing as intrinsic beauty and intrinsic elegance quite apart from the received standards. It consists chiefly in proportion and completeness. It is that which is true to its own laws. When we understand the reason for be- ing, and the laws of any thing or system completely, then we can easily see that when its reason for beino; ceases it be- comes folly, and when its laws are but half fulfilled it ceases properly to be. We want a system in our households fitted to our individual needs, and whose laws are capable of fulfilment. Other- wise we have ugliness and confusion. It is not always possible to attain this without experiment; but it is impossible to attain it at all till we believe in our own ideals, and bravely uphold them against established abuses, against prece- dent, against criticism. We are often too easily convinced of the failure of our INTRODUCTORY. ideals because they do not at once suc- ceed. We are too easily convinced that we have expected too much of life and of people ; too easily remember the half- pitying, half-sarcastic smile with which the " more experienced " looked upon our enthusiastic launch upon the unknown sea; the prophecies that the rose-color will fade, and that we must settle down to the commonplace like other '^practi- cal " people. It is difficult to say why we should be convinced by such frank confession of failure ; why we should im- agine that failure in the recognized rut is better than even the chance of success on a higher plane. The fact is, that people rarely expect enough of life, have too little faith in themselves or others, too little courage in seeking the ideal and beautiful in their surroundings. We only assert that to each of us the millennium 6 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. lies nearer in proportion to our belief in it. Independence is a right to be limited only by the bounds of common-sense and good taste ; and it will be only when we believe it quite unnecessary to emulate our neighbors, and wholly interesting to make our own little plan of life complete in itself and true to its own laws, that w^e shall attain the ease and beauty that make an atmosphere in which the mind and heart may expand, instead of wear- ing themselves smaller and smaller ao-ainst the friction of sordid strivino;. Shame of poverty seems to us as vul- gar as displaj^ of wealth, and good taste may often take the phice of wealth in the atmosphere of the home. Poverty is, in fact, a very adjustable term, and need only be used in rare cases. Where there are abundant means, of course it is easier to keep the details of INTRODUCTORY. 7 house-keeping out of sight ; and to keep all the machinery hidden is scarcely pos- sible without a combination of executive ability, and that sense of beauty which rarely accompanies it, added to unlimit- ed means. The rich, even oftener than the poor, give prominence to the realis- tic. But all this is a matter of propor- tion, and, on a very simple scale, we may so proportion life that it may be filled wnth beauty. The less our means or capacity, the more we must sacrifice to those things that we wish to make of chief importance. This is a question for each to decide — what shall be the prom- inent feature of his living — and there is no surer gauge of the calibre of a per- son's mind. Some make their table, some their dress, some a display of servants, their great expense, and for these objects make the rest of life unbeautiful. Some 8 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. stirring house-keepers seem to take their family on sufferance, as creatures capable of disturbing the order and cleanliness which is the only aim in life. In such a household one lives grimly face to face with all the skeletons of order and econ- omy, and, as a poor recompense, knows that no other home has cleaner windows, or corners half so free from dust. But, after all, it is but a cleanly prison, from which the Goddess of Poetry has long taken flio:ht. We knew of an old woman who used to scrub, sweep, and dust her house, and then, closing doors and windows, would turn the key in the lock and go and sit in the wood-shed, happy in the confidence that the order she had induced was no ephemeral thing. Where a house-keeper of this type has a family, it would, doubt- less, be happier in the wood -shed, and need no persuasion to go there. INTRODUCTORY. 9 Cleanliness and order are among the dearest rights of man, but the means of attaining them should be as hidden as our resources and ingenuity permit. We should be clean, as we should be moral, without knowing it. To be conscious of a perpetual contest with dirt is as ad- verse to the beautiful as to be conscious of a constant war against temptation is narrowing to the moral atmosphere. Each belongs to a low plane of exist- ence. The household is by no means entirely included in "the thought we take for the morrow, w^hat we shall eat and where- withal we shall be clothed," for the larger part of it lies in those things that we do not call " the necessities," but which make up the sum of our educa- tion, the charm of our best senses, and the harmony of life ; and although the subject of the household^ in its widest 10 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. sense, is one so vast in importance, and so varied in its bearings, that it is but imperfectly that the most earnest person can treat it, yet the earnestness with which the subject is approached may be the excuse for treating it at all; and it may, perhaps, in some part be a promise to the reader that the thouo;hts here set down may not be without their value, nor the arguments without their proof. SELECTING A RESIDENCE. H Chapter IL SELECTING A RESIDENCE. Choice of Residence. — The Kitchen and the Bath- room. — Air and Light. — Views. — The Old Woman's Tree. — Choice with a View to our Capacity. — Com- parison of Large and Small Rooms in Advantages. — The Growth of a Home. — Moving. — Beginning Life Simply. — The Realistic. — Couture's Kitchen. — The Range. — A Kitchen Floor. — Kitchen Walls. — Kitch- en Windows. — Shutters. — Kitchen Doors. — Bath- room. — Light. — A Luxurious Bath-room. — Bass-re- liefs. — Fire. — A Simple Bath-room. — Wall Decora- tion. — Rug.— Towel-rack. — Light Color. There is nothing more important than the choice of a residence, if one has the liberty of choosing. Air and light are the first essentials, conducive to health, cheerful spirits, and beauty. There is nothing so gloomy as a room without windows ; and that there should be 12 BEAUTY I^^ THE HOUSEHOLD. somethino; aOTeeable to be seen from the windows is a consideration worth sacri- ficing something else to. We know a very remarkable old wom- an, living in Maine — a person without what we call education, but with a most powerful mind — w^ho has extracted from her limited experience of life more wis- dom than most people who have every advantao:e. It seemed to us chai'acteris- tic of her wisdom that she had chosen her little cottage, in preference to a larger and more pretentious one, because of a fine cedar-tree that grew near it, which was, she said, " such a beautiful tree to talk under !" It is necessary to choose our house, or apartment, with a view to our capacity of keeping and furnishing it. Small rooms are more economical than large, because, besides requiring less service to keep them in oi'der, ornament tells effectively SELECTING A RESIDENCE. 13 in them that is lost in a large room. There is a delightful sense of freedom in large rooms that are handsomely propor- tioned and suitably furnished; but there is, also, something that appeals to the aGsthetic sense in a small place made per- fect in its way. What pleasure there may be in slowly bringing to perfection a little home which shall show at every turn the thought and care, the real affec- tion, that have been bestowed upon it ! A home cannot grow, like a mush- rooin, in a night ; and there is no greater interest than that of always working to- ward a plan that waits for its completion for a future not too near. So that each thing that we do to beautify suggests a greater beauty of which it is but a part. This makes it so wise to choose a home in which one may remain for many years. There is nothing so destructive to a beau- tiful life as the constant "moving" that 14 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. is SO American a habit. We may not count upon our children's children, or even our children, continuing in the home that we have made, but we can hope, at least, fortune favoring, for our own lifetime being spent in it, and for our making it an interesting rendezvous in our old age for our children and grandchildren. See, therefore, how nec- essary it is that we should keep well within our means in choosino- a home. How wise it is for the young to begin life simply, and not think that they must live as expensively in the beginning as their parents, if they are fortunate, do in the end, or as their richer neighbors ! They may always live ornamentally, if they will take the trouble, and make beauty one of their aims in life. It has always appeared to us that one of the most unwinmno- influences in the usual household is, that certain parts of SELECTING A RESIDENCE. 15 the house are abandoned to the ugly and realistic — as if the practical need be so ! We would elevate the useful and practi- cal by making it also decorative. Why should not a kitchen be a pretty and at- tractive place ? We remember, at Villiers le Bel, in the villa of the famous painter. Couture, how the kitchen opened out of the hall on the right, while on the opposite side opened the salon. The doors of both usually stood open, but it was into the kitchen that we most frequently looked. This was as a kitchen should be. The bright copper pots and pans stood over the picturesque, open fireplace ; a large iron hook, suspended in the middle, held the pot or kettle in use ; the tile floor, the handsome cat before the fire, the large, sunny window that opened on the gar- den; Fran§oise, the honne^ in her provin- cial cap, apron, and sahots — all w^ent to 16 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. make the picture. What poetry there must have been about the soup that came from that charming place ! How superior the omelette must have tasted ! We always regretted that we never par- took of it. That was France ; and our kitchens do not boast tile floors or open fireplaces; but there is no reason why a bright, well- kept range should be ugly; and with most ranges there is a projection, form- ing a shelf above, on which bright pots and pans may be ornamentally arranged. On tlie window-sill there may be a few green plants, in pretty, red flower- pots. The common earthen flower-pot is a very picturesque object. The floor of a kitchen may be paint- ed red, which is vastly prettier than oil- cloth, and tidier in appearance than the plain wood floor,' with its inevitable stains, however cleanly scrubbed. There DECORATION FOR GLASS PANEL OF KITCHEN DOOR. Girl carrying steamiDg bowl. Design No. 1 for glass panels of door leading from kitchen into entry. Of course the color of the entry and the window must harmonize or contrast; but the following suggestions of color for this design may be used under favoring circumstances. The colors must be laid in flatly, with the outline clear and firm in black. Curtain of orange, with border of deeper orange, blood-red, purple, and turquoise-blue. Floor of an em- browned carmine. Bowl light gold color, with pattern of very dark blue and turquoise. Flesh of pale cream color. Hair pale yellow-brown. Overdress and sleeves light olive, with turquoise slashings at elbows. Underskirt of a soft dove color. Shoes dark olive, with turquoise slashings, SELECTING A RESIDENCE. 19 is a serious objection to oil-cloth — which is so often used for a kitchen — that, in the frequent scrubbing to which it is subjected, water soaks down about the edges and rots the boards of the floor beneath. Oil -cloth, w^hen it is shabby, is also much uo;lier and shabbier than a worn painted floor. It is well to have all the paint of a kitchen varnished sol- idly with coach-varnish, so that it may be scrubbed without injury, walls and all. The kitchen walls should be of white, or of a light, bright color; and here it seems to us that the fashion of having plates or "plaques" fastened as orna- ments on the wall (a fashion that we have always considered inappropriate in the parlor, dining-room, or hall, where they should be in cabinets or on a side- board) becomes wholly reasonable and pretty. 20 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. There should be no curtains in the kitchen windows, for they are always in the Avay, but outside blinds, or, still bet- ter, shutters. We cannot imagine how the modern blinds have continued to su- persede the old-fashioned shutters, which are more durable, and in every way more effective. When closed tight they do the work they are meant to do, of shut- ting out the light ; and when bowed they let in a gentle, diffused light all over the room, instead of blinding our eyes with those distracting little parallel lines of glaring light that the blinds, when turn- ed, give us. In nine cases out of ten the kitchen opens into an entr}^, and the door lead- ing into the entry has ground -glass in the upper panels. This is never hand- some, and a little white linen curtain over it looks far better ; or, in these ar- tistic days, when half our women are SELECTING A RESIDENCE. 21 painting china, etc., why should not the glass be painted by some amateur of the • DECORATION FOR GLASS PANEL OF KITCHEN DOOR: VEGETABLE PIECE. Design No. 2 for glass panel for door of kitchen leading into en- try. Basket, yellow ochre embrowned in shadows. Cloth of white. Background, blue, with black letters. Cabbage, pale blue- green. Squash, light orange. Leaves, olive, and stalk, yellow- green. Egg-plant, rich dark purple. Carrots, yellowish red, with bright green "tops.'' Corn, pale yellow, with whitish-green sheaves. Let that ear of corn next to the carrots be red. Let the floor be a yellow-brown. household with a pretty fruit piece, or vegetable piece, or game or fish, or some appropriate design of figures — such as Werther's Charlotte cuttino; bread-and- 22 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. butter for the children, or some maiden bearing a steaming bowl, or a tray of fruit or chocolate ? As far as possible it is well to have the kitchen utensils pretty. Some of the most picturesque pitchers, saucepans, etc., are of common earthen -ware, and much superior in design to the white stone-china so much in use in our kitch- ens, besides being very durable. The Bath-room is another spot in the usual household that is looked upon as a purely realistic, utilitarian room. There is no attempt at ornament, and usually it is a dark place, where one has facilities for using water and soap only as a means of cleanliness, not as a pleasure. When we remember what a luxury the bath is, this seems to us one of the strangest of fallacies. A bath-room should be light, should be pretty, and cheerful. Where a wealthy person is building a BASS-RELIEF FOR BATH- ROOM. NO. 1. BASS-RELIEF FOR BATH- ROOM. NO. 2. SELECTING A RESIDENCE. 25 house after his own taste we wonder why the bath-room is not made a truly beautiful apartment, with a wide win- dow on the sunny side of the house, and plants in this w^indow; a broad fireplace, with logs burning there in winter, and a mirror above it; the floor of tiles, the bath of marble. In the walls it would be wholly appropriate to set bass-reliefs. We can think of none more suitable than those exquisite river nymphs, by Jean Goujon, on the Fontaine des Innocents, in the old part of Pai'is. Casts the size of the original are to be seen in the low- er galleries of the Louvre. They may be bought at the Bureau de Vente du Mou- lage, Palais du Louvre, Pavilion Daru, for thirty or forty francs each ; and could be imported very easily by communicat- ing with the dealers. There are many other bass-reliefs, Greek and other, that are quite appropriate. Some may be 26 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. found in the shops devoted to the sale of plaster castings. A large press for linen would be a proper adjunct to the bath-room we de- scribe. A large, soft mat should be placed at the side of the bath, and an- other laid before the fireplace. .But because we cannot satisfy our ideal there is no reason why with sim- pler means we should not attain comfort and beauty. There are inexpensive Jap- anese wall decorations that are made of paper, or, better still, of thin strips of rattan, that look like straw, painted in gorgeous and beautiful designs of birds, butterflies, and flowers. These make a beautiful ornament for the bath-room used laterally as a frieze, or hung per- pendicularly on the wall. A reed or bamboo, either plain or decorated, tied to two brass or plated hooks set in the wall, makes a most ornamental rack for SELECTING A RESIDENCE. 27 towels. Even a white painted wooden rod fastened With supports to the wall is bet- ter for this purpose than the usual hooks. REED FOR TOWELS — BATH-ROOM. A very small bath-room that is paint- ed entirely white, including the w^ood- work even of the bath, will seem far more cheerful and lis^ht than if a darker color is used. 28 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. Chapter III. A CHAPTER ON COLOR. ''Warm" Color.— "Cold" Color.— The Quality of Blue. —The Quality of Yellow.— Difficulty of Exact Rules for Color. — The Old Theory of Complementary Col- or. — Its Falsity. — Nature's Lesson. — Harmony. — Black and White. — Metallic Greens. — Vegetable Greens. — Cold and Warm Greens. — Quantity in Col- or. — Contrast and Harmony. Before we proceed farther we will define the terms we use in describing harmonies and contrasts, and try to give some definite ideas about color, always a difficult subject to treat with words. We are very often asked what is a "'^^arm" and what a '^eold'^'' color. All colors that approach yellow in their tone are warm. The coldest of the A CHAPTER ON COLOR. 29 simple colors is Hue, Red is colder than yellow, anci warmer than blue. If we mix a little yellow with blue (thus mak- ing it a somewhat greenish blue) it is a warm blue; mixed with a little red it approaches purple, but is still a cold blue, but not so cold as pure cold blue that has no suggestion of green. Red mixed with a little yellow (though it be not yellow enough to be called orange) becomes a warm red; mixed with a little blue it inclines to purple, and is a cold red. Yellow is a warm yellow when mixed with red, and a cold yellow when mixed with blue, thus becoming slightly greenish. Pure white mixed with pure yellow also makes a cold yellow. The purples are cold as they approach blue, and warm as they approach red. The greens are cold as they approach blue, and warm as they approach yellow. White may be cold or warm. A warm 30 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. white is yellowisli ; a cold white is blu- ish. Lavender is a cold color, being a purple that is much mixed with cold white and blue. Violet is a warm color in comparison, being a purple much mixed with red and a little warm white. Turquoise blue is a warm blue, being slightly mixed with yellow, and thus in- clining to green. Sapphire blue is cold in comparison, being more inclined to- ward purple, even though slightly, and being entirely devoid of any yellow. Blue stands more alone than any oth- er color. It is less akin to red or yellow than either red or yellow to each other. This is, indeed, its great value as a color. It is a little out of tone, and makes a brilliant, telling note, like cymbals intro- duced amono; other instruments. We speak of pure blue ; for blue may be so toned and mixed as to be made a green that is blue only when contrasted with A CHAPTER ON COLOR. 31 green, while it tells for green when op- posed to pure blue. Blue may be so mixed with red as to be purple when opposed to pure blue, and blue when opposed to purple. Yellow is, in truth, warmth itself; and to speak of " cold yellow " is to speak of it comparatively, not intrinsically; for the coldest yellow is warm compared with the warmest blue. Yellow is a col- or that can be contrasted with various shades of itself more unerringly than any other color. There is no tone of yellow that is inharmonious with any other, which cannot be said of any oth- er color. It is one of the most difficult things to lay down exact rules for color, partly from the impossibility of explaining in words so as to be comprehensible the very delicate shades of difference. One finds set down in books on this subject 32 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. the statement that red, blue, and yello^Y are the primary colors, and that com- plete harmony demands a combination of the three — thus, that blue demands for contrast orano-e, because orano-e is composed of red and yellow, and thus complements blue ; that red demands green, because green is composed of blue and yellow, and thus complements red ; that yellow demands purple, because purple is composed of blue and red, and thus complements yellow. In fact, this is a falsity. In this way we attain a ''screechinor" contrast that is painful to an educated eye. There are, indeed, blues that may be contrasted well with orange, but they are by no means the pure blue; nor can the orange be of equal parts of yellow and red. There are tones of green -blue, usually pale tones, that may be used with small quantities of orange in which either tlie A CHAPTER ON COLOR. 33 red or yellow predominates. Pure yel- low contrasted with purple composed of equal parts of red and blue is unbear- ably harsh ; while a dark purple that is almost blue is rich and beautiful with gold color; and yellow contrasted with a purplish brown is most harmonious ; while brown, which is a composition of black, yellow, and red, is even more harmonious with green than with blue, which ought, according to the received rule, to be its only proper complement. We may take a lesson from Nature in color, and see how she disregards this manufactured theory of complementary colors — how boldly she gives a green calyx and leaves to the purplish -blue fringed gentian ; how her blue morning- glories turn purple on their edges and lie close to their green leaves; how her bright yellow daffodils dance on their green stalks, unconscious of any fault. 34 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. The red poppy has a brownish purple centre ; the sweet-pea mixes purple, rose, creamy white, and blue -white without fear. The red cactus has a leaf that is rather blue than green ; and we surely feel no inharmony in the green trees seen against the bluest sky. In fact, harmony of color often de- pends more on repetition than on con- trast. Pale people sometimes wear red, in the mistaken idea that it gives them color. Unless there is red in the hair or complexion, as often there is dormant red, to be waked by bringing red into juxtaposition, the red makes the pale person appear only the paler. And this is as true in other decoration as in per- sonal adornment. Red and gray have always been accepted as a tasteful con- trast. Really they are, in nine cases out of ten, painfully glaring ; while gray with purple is soft and beautiful, and A CHAPTER ON COLOR. 35 gray with yellow is one of the most ele- gant of harmonies. Black and white are generally sup- posed to be available with any color, or with each other, being neutral. Now, it is to be remembered that they are the two extremes of what the artists call " value." They are the Alpha and the Omega — farther apart from each other than any other color is from either of them; and together they must be used in judicious quantities, a warm white be- ing better than a cold white with black, and solid or opaque black being very inharmonious with some colors. Dark blue and black being but a gloomy con- trast — light blue needing to be of a greenish tone to be beautiful with black, and greens — especially the olive greens, which are composed of blue and yellow and red — are more harmonious with black than any other color. 36 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. Red contrasted with black is too harsh unless it be a dark brownish or purplish red, or the black be of a transparent ma- terial, covering it, and letting the red shine through. Purple requires to be of a reddish pur- ple, not to be gloomy with black ; and a combination of black and yellow is easi- ly vulgar, while brown with yellow is one of the most pleasing combinations. What w^e call metallic greens are cold and bluish, when pale mixed with white. The vegetable greens are yellowish. They may be mixed with white when pale, but are always yellowish. When dark they are mixed with brown or red. A brilliancy that is almost .like jewels can be obtained by contrasting certain cold and warm greens, and even grad- ing the cold greens into greenish blue. White contrasted with green, white with purple, white with yellow, white with A CHAPTER ON COLOR. 37 blue, dark or light, results in harmonies that have great elegance ; while red with white is harsh and startling if it be a pure red, neither embrowned nor em- purpled. The rose tones are fresh and sweet with white ; but mauve, or a pale violet-pink, is more elegant than the yel- low pinks wdth white. There is such a thing as elegance and vulgarity in color, though it is not ea- sily described in w^ords. Brilliant yel- lowish pink with black cannot be said to be distinctly inharmonious, yet it has this vulgarity ; while, contrasted with brown or with gold, or some other yel- lows, with deep olive-green or with cer- tain fawn colors, it has both richness and elegance. Let it be remembered that the quanti- ty of a color in proportion to other col- ors used with it, and its exact value or intensity, has as much to do with the 38 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. general harmony as its kind ; and, also, that any number of colors may be used together, provided that they are harmo- nized and balanced with a subtle sense. Remember that contrast is as impor- tant as harmony, but must be used more sparingly. A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORM. 39 Chapter IV. A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORM. The Word "Picturesque." —Formless Furnishing. — Ugly Pictures. — Proportion. — Line. — Mass. — East- ern Proverb. — Annoying Problems forced upon us. — To make a Room appear Higher or Lower. — Per- pendicular and Horizontal Lines. — Cornices. — Strik- ing and Ineffective Forms. — Space and Ornament. — A Simple Rule in Furnishing. — Central Object. — Grouping of Small Objects. — The Ineffectiveness of a Small, Isolated Object. — Rooms Crowded with Bric-d-hrac. — The Old not always Beautiful because of its Age. — Different Periods of Furniture. — The Renaissance. — The Grotesque. — Forms of Beauty. — The Classic and Egyptian Grotesque. — China Dogs. Form is quite as necessary to beauty (if not more so) as color; and the word " pict- uresque," which is the opposite of " clas- sic," has done more harm, in the accept- ance of the unintelligent, to modern art, 40 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. especially houseliold art, than, in its in- trinsic sense, it could be held responsible for. Picturesque means, to most people, the chaotic, the ugly — recommended by brilliant color — the uncouth, the clumsy. Now, the picturesque, properly speaking, means the opposite of the severe and sculpturesque. It means the original and characteristic ; but it means, also, the beautiful, and must be no chaos, but a new, unconventional revelation of law. That idea of the picturesque in fur- nishing which fills the corners with au- tumn leaves, and seed-vessels, and shells (all beautiful in themselves, but form- less for decoration, and suggesting clut- ter and dust), throws meaningless dra- peries about, loads the tables with hric- a-hvcLG^ and covers the walls with Japa- nese fans, chooses the furniture because it is old, not because it is pretty, and, if there are pictures, prefers faces of hid- A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORM. 41 eous old people, in strange, ugly head- dresses— all this idea of the picturesque shows not an artistic sense, but an ab- sence of the true capacity of selection, of distinction between beauty and ugliness, fitness and unfitness. Proportion is the first element of form ; line comes next. Most of us have to ac- cept such forms as w'e find already made in the rooms we furnish ; but we may apparently alter the proportion greatly by our arrangement of line and mass. An ancient Eastern proverb says: "The building of a house is fraught with troubles, and ne'er brings comfort ; therefore, cunning serpents seek for a habitation made by others, and, creeping in, abide there at their ease." The opposite, with sufficient means, may be quite as true; for the creeping into a habitation made by others is also fraught with its troubles, when, as fi*e- 42 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. quently, the maker is only a builder, and not an intelligent architect; for we have then usually to deal with annoying prob- lems of proportion. A room appears too high or too low, too narrow or too wide. We need only look at the two panels here shown to see that the same wall, treated with a dado and frieze which cut it into horizontal lines, makes that ap- pear broad and short which ap- pears narrow and long when treated in perpendicular lines. Yet, though at first sight we would say that No. 1 was a broad panel, and No. 2 a long panel, they measure exactly the same. A deep cornice makes the room look low (see panel No. 3), and a small 1, horizontal lines; 2, perpendicu- lar lines. A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORM. 43 3, showiug deep cornice ; 4, showing narrow cornice. coi'nice makes it seem high (see panel No. 4). Harmonious color alone will not make a room beautiful. One must guard against two ex- tremes — first, that lack of re- pose which too many and too striking forms produce ; then the effect of weakness that too mi- nute and ineffective forms produce. To imaQ:ine an extreme instance : a lar2;e wall covered with a paper designed in a small check would be j)ainfully monoto- nous ; while the same wall covered with strong-colored, irregular forms, that catch the eye like crooked rustic boughs tied wdth ribbons (we have seen such a pa- per), is worse in the opposite direction. 4i: BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. Plain spaces of wall contrasted with portions of wall broken with objects — pictures or other oi*nament — are quite as valuable as the decorated portions. One of the finest friezes we ever saw in a room was a simple band of soft, warm green, bounded on the lower side by a bronze rod and a narrow border of brill- iant metallic green. On the warm green band were painted dancing fauns charm- ingly and gracefully grotesque. These figures were placed on either side of the windows and doors that cut against the frieze, while in each corner of the room, instead of figures, a tripod and a classic mask was painted in bronze, making a charming harmony with the w^arm green band, which was left with long, un- broken spaces, between where, in the cor- ners, the masks and tripods were, and the doors and windows, where the fig- ures were. A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORM. 45 There are certain very simple princi- ples to be observed in furnishing in the matter of proportion and form, after which all rules must have many excep- tions, being modified by the condition of the surroundings. One invariable rule is not to have the objects in a room too uniform in size; neither must each one differ from every other in size. The first mistake makes your furniture ap- pear like a regiment of regular troops, the second like a company of fantasti- cals, in which the eve finds no rest. There are many things which are beautiful in themselves which add noth- ing to the furniture of a room. Where there are small objects they should be grouped effectively, so as to form a larger whole ; not scattered about, so as to be lost, or, worse still, to seem nothing but a small blot. The extreme of this style of ornament is to be found in the 5 46 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. far-away country farmer's parlor, where a small photograph or tin-type of some friend or relative is fastened up in dread isolation upon a blank wall, where it suggests a blister. Now, to substitute for this photograph the most exquisite Japanese saucer, or tiny Greek glass vase, would not be to materially im- prove it as an ornament. The fault lies, not in the nature of the object, but in its inappropriate •size and situation. We have seen a room actually croAvded w^ith rare and costly hric-a-h^ac^ where the effect was as unpicturesque, and far less comfortable, than a glass or china shop. In the choosing of furniture, old or new, it is well to divest the mind of prej- udice, and judge of its intrinsic beauty. There are bad pieces of furniture made in all pei'iods, and their being solid enough to last a hundred years or so does not make them beautiful, nor fit A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORM. 47 objects for the decoration of our rooms. In some periods the taste was almost universally good or universally bad. There was a period (about fifty years ago) when huge size and a vaneer finish was the characteristic of the style. Even in the furniture belonging to this period one finds occasionally some piece that is good ; but as a rule it is the worst of all styles. The Renaissance was an age when the movement toward beauty was great, and usually guided by a very true instinct. In the furniture of this period one finds the most exquisite things. Yet, if we blindly accept all, we shall find ourselves sometimes with a piece where the desire for delicacy and grace has run into w^eak- ness. Sometimes the supporting legs of some chair or chest of draw^ers are fluted away till they s.eem to hold their burden with danger. 48 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. In the finest periods of carving — Dutch or Italian or Sj^anish — we find sometimes the Gothic, or grotesque, car- ried to an excess ; and the beauty of the work cannot make some hideous mon- ster, which we might see with amuse- ment or even confess to be an appropri- ate ornament in the decoration of some large building, an agreeable companion in the narrow limits of a room. It is not enough that the piece we choose should be valuable or rare, or even be- long to a good period ; it must be heau- tiful. There are, side by side with these grotesques, exquisite cherubs, angels, youths and maidens, flowers, and con- ventional forms of great elegance, gar- lands of fruits, leaves. These ai'e charm- ing objects for a room. There is a kind of grotesque which is not hideous, and has an extreme ele- gance, entirely robbed of the horrible. A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORM. 49 It seems one with the classic lines of the conventional acanthus-leaf; but it repre- sents no caricatured natural object, like the grinning devil, the devouring fang- ed monster, the deformed creature, that would fi'ighten a child. This elegant grotesque has a repose and dignity that makes it entirely appropriate for house- hold decoration — the winged griflSn, the solemn sphynx, almost any of the Egyp- tian emblems. There is a modern fashion which pass- es our understanding — that of using as ornaments in a room china dogs and cats, sometimes so realistic as to be mis- taken for life. The lai'ger and the uglier they are the more their collectors seem to admire them, but must also have a pack of small ones filling their tables or cabinets. The pug-dog, the ugliest of animals, is the favorite ; and of cats, those with malign^ green eyes, that 50 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. glare at one even when the twilight gives one hope of repose, and when a soft, w^arm, living cat would close her eyes and present a smooth back to your sympathetic hand. We know that the fair purchasers of these hideous china objects do not pre- tend to be gratifying their sense of the beautiful or sentimental. We know that their object cannot be scientific. We give up the riddle. THE DINING-ROOM. 61 Chapter V. THE DINING-ROOM. Importance of Sun.— Portraits. — Landscapes.— Flow- ers. — English Idea of a Dining-room. — Windows. — Drawing tlie Curtains. — French Taste in the Dining- room, — The Renaissance Style. — A Small Dining- room. — Light in Color. — Dead-white Wall. — Pale Colors. — A Suggestion of Color for a Dining-room. — Velvet versus Satin as Chair Covering. — A Green, Blue, and Yellow Combination. — Tlie Six Sides of a Room. — Kalsomine, Papers, and Paint. — China. — China as a Wall Ornament. — The Table. — Sequence of Courses. — Original Service. — A Breakfast on the Piazza.— The White Table-oloth.— A Dark Table.— Decoration of the Table. — A Colored Dinner. — Ar- rangement of Napkins. — Ribbons. — Decorating the Fruit Dishes. — Service witliout a Servant. — Setting of the Table. — Chairs. — Arabian Verse. — Lounging Chairs. — Appearance of a Servant. The Dining-room, if used as a break- fast-room, as is usual, should, if possible, 52 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLa receive the early morniug sun, for it is here that we take our first impressions of the day, and no warmth that the sun can give us at any other hour of the day is so cheerful as these first, fresh beams. It is good to have portraits hung in the dining-room, for two reasons. The friendly faces that Ave love or have as- sociations with thus receive our earli- est greetings, and we theirs, before our minds are preoccupied with other thoughts ; and if the portraits are, as they should be, not mere passing impres- sions of the people, but subtle studies of all that life has modelled into their faces, w^e can never see them so well as by this clear morning light. It is good to have landscapes hung in the dining-room, for they have a peace- ful, restful influence, such as figures sug- gesting the deeper drama of life, and ap- pealing more strongly to our intellect THE DINLXG-ROOM. 53 and emotions, do not have. Througli a fine landscape we seem to open our doors and windows, and walk out into the sweet, caressing breath of nature. Little fii>:ures, introduced in a subordi- nate way, only seem to increase this effect, as Corot's nymphs or dancing fauns in his dewy scenes. The dining-room should have flowers, if we can manage it — growing plants and flowers — unless it is in the coun- try and opens into the garden. There should be a blazing, open fire in the winter, autumn, and spring. All these things are more important than fine fur- nishino;. The English idea of a dinin2:-room — heavy and ponderous, very dark in col- or, approaching the gloom of a Gothic church — grew up because at a dinner- party the obscurity of the dinner sur- roundings makes the most striking con- 54: BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. trast with the concentrated glory of the table, with its costly service, and the guests in their light dresses. In this case, unless there is a separate breakfast- room, there should be large windows, that cheerfully flood the room with light in the morning, and have heavy velvet, cloth, or tapestry curtains, that may be drawn across them at night. The fash- ion of a large plate-glass mirror drawn out like a shutter across the window at night seems to us very objectionable, for it apparently deprives the room of win- dows; and even when the windows are not used for the purpose of light, the suggestion of ventilation, and the dark landscape that we should see Avithout if we opened the drawn curtains, is po- etic. The EnMish fashion of "drawino; the curtains," by-the-bye, is to be greatly commended ; and we are happy to ob- serve that the fast -growing custom of THE DININCx-ROOM. 55 rods and rings for curtains is making this more common than it used to be, when a vastly futile display of skill in upholstery was used in draping curtains that were never undraped, and so were practically ornaments, and not curtains at all. We find ourselves greatly in sympa- thy with the French taste, that makes the dining-room light; and where the object is not showy entertainment, but family life, and a cosy hospitality, the lio:ht and cheerful stvle cannot be sur- passed by any gloomy magnificence. In- deed, were we making a dining-room re- gardless of expense, the ornate style of the Renaissance would seem to us to add joyousness to the feast that we might spread there, which should be dainty and original rather than over-bounteous. If the dining-room be very small, the liofhter the better in color. A dead- 56 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. EMBROIDERED CURTAIN (nO. 1), FOR LOW ROOM. white wall is always painful, and makes some people who are sensitive to color THE DINING-ROOM. 57 extremely nervous ; but white tinted with green, and ornamented with green, or gold or white with yellows, may be EMBROIDERED CURTAIN (iNO. 2), FOR LOW ROOM. 58 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. EMBROIDERED CURTAIN (nO. 3), FOR LOW ROOM. exquisite. A pale terra -cotta color for the walls, with a floor stained dark red, ebonized doors, or doors of pine stained a dark red, like mahogany, will make a THE DINIXG-ROOM. 59 fine setting for furniture upholstered in dark red plush, or leather, or satin. Leather or satin is far more comfortable EMBROIDERED CURTAIN (nO. 4), FOR HIGH ROOM. 60 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. for a chair than velvet, which some peo- ple find not agreeable to the touch. In a dining-room in which the walls were kalsomined with a rich, soft tone of green (not at all metallic in color), the ceiling of a pale, rich turquoise - blue, chairs painted black, with cushions of green or orange, or some of both (as it is better that the chairs in the room should not all be alike), would be charmino; in effect. The floor stained with raw sienna, or sienna and bitumen mixed, brass ornaments, and olive cur- tains, with bands of embroidery in which dull, soft reds are mixed with orange and pale turquoise-blue — this could be a room of no great cost. The ceiling is next in importance to the walls; the wood -work next; and then the floor. Until these six sides, as we may call them, of the room are har- monious in color, it is a waste of time THE DININGROOM. 61 and money to expend either upon the furniture. Nothing; tells in a room till this is done ; and one had better dine on a table made of a packing-box, and sit in a chair of the same kind, in a room where walls, ceiling, and floor are a pleasure to the eye, than have the richest furniture in a room with uncolored or ill-colored walls. The least expensive, and one of the very prettiest, ways of coloring walls is kalsomine. None but the very expen- sive papers are half as agreeable in sur- face ; and we prefer kalsomine for a dining-room, unless the color is to be white, in which case something ap- proaching white, and broken with soft gold, or yellow, or green, or silver, may be more easily found in a French paper, or obtained by oil-paint and the use of stencils, which, however, is more expen- sive. 6 62 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. The china ornamentally exposed in a dining-room should be such as is always, or at least sometimes, in use. There is nothing handsomer to set on a side- board. Here plaques (which may be used as fruit-dishes) are in place; but as soon as china becomes an ohjet de vertu — to be seen as a curiosity, or admired, like a picture, as fine art — it seems to us that its fit place is in a glass -covered cabinet, from which it can be taken and held in the hand and examined. As wall decoration (except in the kitchen, where other wall decoi'ations are out of place) it is senseless, and in surface too cold and hard; while on the sideboard, where it suggests use, and where it is massed with other china, with which it can be well contrasted in color, it may be truly fine. It would be quite as rea- sonable to have some charming antique forks or spoons fastened on our walls as THE DIXIXG-ROOM. 63 to have plates. They are often beauti- ful, yet no one thinks of keeping them anywhere but in a cabinet or in use at table. Almost every one who desires to have their table well served is hampered by precedent. We never could see why fancy and originality should not have play in this department as much as in any other of furnishing. There is good reason for the conventional sequence of courses, both as a matter of digestion and of aesthetics. We cannot better by altering them. But the service may be entirely original with each household. Let the poetic fancy of the hostess be shown by the fitness with which she substitutes for the hackneyed forms we all know new forms adapted to her own resources. Once, when staying with a friend in the country, we were met by her at the 64 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. foot of the staii's, as we came from our room in the morning, with the pleasing announcement, " Breakfast is served on the piazza." It was June — the small pi- azza of an unpretentious cottage, shaded by trees, and made harmonious with the sono; of the birds. The table was dress- ed with fresh dog -wood blossoms, on which the early dew still lingered. The breakfast was, as a breakfast should be, light and simple ; but it was served in Japanese china (always beautiful, and in this case not very expensive), and the fresh country butter served in a beauti- ful shell, on which was a spray of dog- wood blossom. We have sat at many finer breakfast-tables, but this one stands out in our memory as the best we ever saw. The conventional white table-cloth has its beauty and its reason in the fact that it concentrates the light upon the table. THE DINING-ROOM. 65 But let not the young housekeeper who beo-ins life on small means imao-ine that this is an essential. A dark table (pol- ished, if possible), with a white napkin at the head and foot, and the dishes symmetrically disposed, may be quite as pretty — in itself almost prettier. Arrange your table so as to make prominent the prettiest things that you have, be it your china, your glass, or your silver; and abandon the idea that everything must match. We think that a table would be more elegant that had no piece of silver, glass, or china exactly alike. Of course, it must not look like a makeshift ; there must be intention and harmony. One might often vary the manner of setting and decorating their table. We could well imagine do- ing this in a surprising manner, if we could spend lavishly upon it ; and, this being possible, a little thought and inge- 66 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. nuity may show each person how they could accomplish this with such re- sources as they have. Imagine that we are giving a dinner on a birthday or other festive occasion. We surprise our guests by making each course of a peculiar color of its own. To begin with — no color breaks the whiteness of the white cloth, which may be trimmed with that heavy lace that ladies make so much now as fency work. A wreath of white lilies surrounds the circular mirror -tray that occupies the centre of the table. On the mirror lies a lily and bud. The wine and water glasses are all white; the china is white. (We have seen some very beautiful Chi- nese china in which the entire ornament was made by relief and incision, and the effect was extremely rich.) The chief or- nament of the table is in cut-glass pitch- ers, filled with water, etc. Having eaten THE DINING-ROOM. 67 our oysters, the white soup-tureen, con- taining a white soup, is placed upon the table. The soup is removed. Our wine- glasses are filled with red wine. A bas- ket of red roses is placed where the lilies were. The white glass water-filled pitch- ers are replaced by decanters filled with red wine. We eat our pink salmon, served on red Kaga ware, from red Kaga plates. With our next course vase- shaped yellow champagne glasses re- place our claret glasses. Our dishes and plates are yellow. A vase of yellow tulips replaces the basket of red roses* Our vegetables are dressed with yellow sauce or fried yellow. Our roast is yel- low-brown. The salad course is green, and we have green plates and glasses, and a wreath of ivy, in place of the tu- lips, and vases of ferns at the corners of the table. For dessert we take off the white cloth and have fruits and ices, and 68 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. flowers of many colors, and china and finger-bowls of every shade. That each finger-bowl should have, resting on the plate that holds it, a little wreath of flowers, would be charming. All this, change of flowers is a mere matter of the trouble that one is so willing to take on a festive occasion, if one lives in the country, where there is a garden, or can procure wild flowers. Of course, in the city it is more expensive. But all that w^e have described may be far less cost- ly than what is daily spent in the city upon dinners and entertainments. We have described but a few courses, but the whole thing is told when the idea is presented. Sometimes, for a change, it is pretty to have the napkins rolled like cylin- ders, or a cornucopia, round a small, long roll of bread, such as one may find at the Vienna bakeries, and tied with a ribbon. THE DINING-ROOM. 69 In doing this it is more effective to have all the ribbons alike at all the plates. If you have pretty candlesticks, some- times light your whole table with many candles, and the effect is extremely brill- iant. Glass cups on your candles are essential, to prevent the wax from run- uino; down on the candlestick and table. If your chief decoration is fruit, the effect is much heightened by dressing it with appropriate flowers. A high dish of grapes is very beautiful dressed with purple or red passion-flowers, or both together, hanging in garlands from the dish. Beneath the fruits lay their natu- ral leaves. The common daisy (" white- weed" the farmer calls it) and ferns make a beautiful table- dressing, and fruit-blossoms of all kinds. Where there are but few people at table — two or four — there is no reason why, without confusion, and even with 70 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. elegance, one may not dispense entirely with the waiting of a servant, if the host and hostess have each at their side a very small sideboard, like a little set of shelves, such as either of the designs be- low. The revolving one is the most con- venient, as fresh plates may be kept on one side, and the plates that have been used set on the other. On the top, which is sta- tionary, set the finger-bowls, dessert, or dishes needed to be kept hot, on a brazier. There being but four at table, the host and hostess may remove from their respective ends of the table the dishes and plates of the last course, and set on those of the course to follow. It is wisest not to attempt REVOLVING SIDEBOARD, AND SMALL STATIONARY SIDEBOARD. THE DINING-ROOM. Yl many courses, and to have cold dishes, such as salad, etc., already on the table. At each plate should be the number of forks, knives, etc., needed for the whole dinner; so that only those that have been used are removed, and none need be supplied during dinner. So much silver, also, serves as a great ornament to the table. If there is no table-cloth the large nap- kins before the host and hostess should be folded up and laid aside before the dessert is placed upon the table. The hostess may have the cafe noir (already made) on the little side-table, ready to set upon a lamp, to heat while the des- sert course is going on. All this may be quietly done, if the arrangements are complete, so that the guests are uncon- scious of any serving at all, and only are conscious of the freedom of having no servants about, and of a peculiar cosiness. 72 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. The diagram opposite gives sugges- tions for the setting of such a table. A round table is always prettier, and, for its size, takes up less room than any oth- er form. It adds much to the beauty of the scene if the chairs on which the ladies sit are high-backed, and have velvet, or plush, or satin, forming a background for each hidy's head. These chairs may be made of pine and stained, and need not be costly. (We give an appropriate ex- ample on page 75.) The hostess should gracefully choose for each of her guests the chair of that color most becoming to her ; for the glory of the hostess is to set her guests at their greatest advan- tage. There is a poem, translated from the Arabian, which has this appropriate verse : *' With conscious pride I view tlie band Of faithful friends that round me stand ; DIAGRAM OF DINING-TABLE WHERE NO SERVANT WAITS. A. Candles. B. Dishes of one course. C. Flowers. D. Dinner- plates with napkins and bread. E. Knives and forks. F. Carv- ing forks and knives and gravy spoons. G. Glasses. H. Small corner dishes of olives, pickles, nuts, and bonbons. I. Straw- covered flask of oil, bottle of vinegar, and mustard-pot, for salad dressing. K. Salad bowl, with fork and spoon. L. Decanter of wine. M. Pitcher of water. N. Dish of fruit. O. Two small dishes of cakes. P. Small silver trays of pepper and salt. Q. Large napkins spread before host and hostess. THE DIXING-KOOM. 75 With pride exult that I alone Can join these scattered gems in one ; For they're a wreath of pearls, and I The silken cord on which they lie." There should be a few lounging-chairs in the dining-room, so that when the gentlemen are left to smoke, after dinner, A CHAIR FOR A LADY AT DINING-TABLE. 76 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. those who wish to do so may rest and smoke without restraint. Where a servant waits at table it should be a servant faultless in appear- ance, or there had far better be none. It is quite unimportant that the appearance should be conventional, but of its kind faultless, and absolutely neat and orna- mental. Where any one can afford it we cannot see why they should not indulge in the luxury of dressing a servant after their own taste, instead of leaving this to the uncultured fancy of the servant. THE LIBRARY. 77 Chapter VI. the library. Library and Dining-room in One. — Library Alone. — The Anteroom. — Strong Contrasts Avoided. — Olive- green. — Blue. — Yellow. — Windows. — A New Sys- tem of Shades. — Carpeting.— The Greek Art for the Library. — Bronze t^ersus Plaster and Marble. — Sofas and Chairs. — Lecturns. — A Comfortable Sofa. — The Table. — A Secretar3^ — The Bookcase with Glass Doors. — The Simple Bookcase of Boxes. — The Leather-hanging on the Bookcase. — Objection to Red. — Mottoes for Bookcases. — A Screen of Books. — The Fireplace. — Mottoes and Verses for the Fire- place.— Carved Bricks at Back of Fireplace. — Terra- cotta. — Metal. There is much to be said in favor of having the library one with the dining- room, if the house is small and the books not too many. It gives facility for refer- ence to the books during any discussion 78 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. that may take place at dinner — the most delightful time for conversation or inter- esting discussion, when the labors of the day are over, and the family or friends are gathered for an undisturbed hour of intercourse. But, in treating the library as a room by itself, we would first recommend that it should be as retired as possible. If circumstances permit it should be guard- ed by an anteroom, so that no passing footsteps in the hall shall disturb its se- rene atmosphere. Its color should be subdued. Strono; contrasts should be avoided. It should not be so dark in tone as to absorb the light. Green, approaching olive in vari- ous shades, is one of the most restful colors to the eye; and blue is to some people's sight an extremely agreeable color. We think that all reds should, be avoided in a library; and if yellow THE LIBRARY. 79 be used, it should be subdued and em- browned. There should be broad windows and plenty of light, and that adjustable. There is no way moi*e agreeable of tem- pering the light than by a system of shades of different colors. The}' may be of silk, gauze, or any other matei'ial, run- ning upon separate rods. One, two, or more may be drawn across the window at the same time. In a library suppose there should be one shade of rich, dark blue, one of gray, two of different shades of green. By using the two greens sep- arately and alone, b}^ using them both together, and by using either of them with the blue or wdth the gray shade, you may produce five distinct tones of green light, among which any reader may surely find the particular green light that suits his eyes, while the blue shade may be used alone or toned by 80 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. the gray ; or, putting them all back, you may have the clear light of day. There is good reason for the library being carpeted, and even wadded be- neath the carpet, so that no step is heard. No school of art seems so appropriate for the library as the Greek, with its grand and simple repose. The white of a cast or marble is too brilliant, as it , catches the eye, and dominates, in a low- toned room, every other object; unless, if marble, it is darkened and yellowed by age, or, if a plaster cast, it is oiled or stained ; but bronze — not too dark a bronze — is not to be improved upon. The choice of bronzes must be made very carefully. Many are sold that are very imperfect copies of the antique, and in quality of bronze often poor. One needs to be a judge of bronze to be se- cure in purchasing them, or to be sure THE LIBRARY. 81 that they bear the stamp of the best casters. The finest bronzes are as expen- sive as they are beautiful ; and if one is not ready to incur this expense, they are much wiser to buy fine French casts, and oil or stain them. The modern French bronzes are often brought to great per- fection. Barbidienne is one of the best bronze -makers. Sofas, lounging chairs, and one or more lecturns to hold heavy books, and to make it convenient for the student — who likes to rest by reading a while standing — are, of course, the nec- essary adjuncts of the complete library. The most comfortable sofa is not the expensive tufted and spring sofa, but a plain, simple, very wide box of wood, with a back and sides, a soft mattress for the seat, and as many square cush- ions as can be easily set against the back and sides. This may be entirely covered with sateen or leather, or the 82 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. wood may be stained or of natural wood, and the mattress and cushions covered. Of course, wherever the wood is left exposed, carving or panelling is an improvement. A SOFA FOR LIBRARY. An indispensable piece of furniture is a large table, not littered with or- naments, but free to hold any books or papers that may be laid upon it. The table should have convenient drawers, containing writing mateiials. A capa- cious secretary is the greatest luxury that a library can possess. THE LIBKARY. 83 In the matter of bookcases there is much to be said for and against glass doors. If one has not a librarian, to con- stantly care for and dust the books, they become more or less injured by stand- ing uncovered, and so one very willingly forgives the cold glitter of the glass, in itself so ugly, as one permits a water- color di'awing to be seen under the same disadvantage, to avert its destruction ; particularly as in taking out the books thus protected one does not soil one's hands, which is inevitable where books stand uncovered and undusted for weeks; and he is no lover of his books who will allow the house- maid to include them in her daily duties, for she is usu- ally far more dangerous than the cor- rupting moth and dust. But, if glass doors are used, the key should always be in them, to make the books easy of access. There is nothing more forlorn 84 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. than the unused look of a locked book- case, with no key in sight. But really for beauty we do not think that the most elaborate bookcase is any improvement upon a succession of sim- ple boxes, set one on the other, forming shelves. The solid sides may be carved or ornamented with elaborate steel or brass handles, suggesting that each box may be lifted down, and travelled, w^itli its enclosure of books. The hanging leather, nailed with brass -headed nails to each shelf, that is so commonly used, has its advantage in shedding the dust, but it is not usually pretty; and the bric>:ht I'ed leather that is so universal is very objectionable, as it catches the eye uncomfortabl}^ An interesting way to arrange a libra- ry would be to have it classified perpen- dicularly; that is, all the shelves contain- ino; one class of books to run from the THE LIBRARY. 85 floor up to the top of the bookcase, and on the top of the highest shelf to have BOOKCASE WITH HANDLES. an appropriate motto carved. Then a]ong-side of this collection would run, from the floor to the top, another class of books, with also an appropriate motto. There are people who delight in in- 86 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. scriptioiis and mottoes in clear, legible words ; there are others who like them if hidden in some obscure lano;ua2:e. . To the first we recommend mottoes in Eng- lish, or well-known modern languages; to the second we suggest that the mod- ern mottoes should be in strano-e charac- ters, not easily read, or that they shall be translated, or found equivalents for in obsolete tono-ues. The Eastern Ian- guages are full of mottoes that any scholar can guide the less learned to. Many well - known mottoes present themselves amono; the modern Ian- guages. One from the French is suit- able for the biographies — "Savoir c'est pardonner" (to know is to pardon). For the metaphysical works the familiar, il- logical, but attractive, motto — "I think, therefore I am," either in the English or Latin. Over the works on loo;ic there is a motto that is given in many languages THE LIBRARY. 87 — "Nothing is produced out of nothing." In Latin it is, "Ex nihilo nihil fit;" in Grreek, OvSlv yivsTai iK Tov ju?) ovTo^ ; and in Indian and Arabic, "Navastuno vastu- siddhih," and " A-Satah saj Jayeta kutas." Over the religious works, "The highest aim of knowledge is the soul." Seneca has, " God conies to men ; nay, what is nearer, comes into men ;" the German, "Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott." Ov^er works on morality an old Eastern motto could be used — "Do good to-day; time passes, death is near." Over works of analysis there is an Eastern motto — " Visvato-mukha," which means facing in all directions. Over grammars and elementarv works — " Aller anfano; ist schwer " (all beginning is hard) ; or, "C'est le premier pas qui coute" (it is the first step which counts). Over his- torical works — " Happy the people that has no history," etc., etc. 88 BEAUTY L\ THE HOUSEHOLD. A SCUEEN OF BOOKS, WITH BUSTS, STATUETTES, ETC. Where the number of books is very large for the size of the room, and the room is not, after all, too small for such an arrangement, setting the books back to back across one end of the room — forming thereby a screen several feet lower than the ceiling, leaving an alcove, as it were, behind it, and a passage-way through — is a very convenient and pret- THE LIBRARY. 89 ty arrangement. This alcove should have a window of its own, if possible; or it may be used only at night, with gas or lamps. The top of this bookcase makes a very suitable shelf for busts or statuettes, wdiich have thus the advan- tage of being seen from both sides. The fireplace in the library should be of wood or of colored marble or stone, or of terra-cotta — never of white marble. Here a motto carved about the opening for the grate is very suitable. It may be original — such a one, perhaps, as '' Let your flame w^arm and illumine, but not destroy ;" or, " The colder without, the warmer within ;" or one may use the family motto, or even a whole verse. There is an Eastern riddle to which the answer is, Fire. It runs as follow^s : " The loftiest cedars I can eat, Yet neither paunch nor mouth have I. I storm whene'er you give me meat; Whene'er you give me diink I die." 90 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. * Or we may invent appropriate verses. We give for just what it may be worth the following impromptu, as a suggestion: Power alone is of no worth ; Its use is its excuse or blame. I bring destruction to the earth, Or warm the infant with my flame. A very beautiful eftect can be had by carving the bricks at the back of the fireplace with some appropriate design or with a coat of arms. If the fireplace be made of terra-cotta this is very easi- ly modelled in that material, wdiich will stand fire as well as bricks, and offers a variety of soft red and yellow tints. The blackening from flames is no disad- vantage. A grate well used and burnt is far handsomer than the newest and clean- est. The interioi' of the fireplace may be of cast metal. They are often made so now, and this ofi^ers chances for original designs, which can easily be cast. THE HALL. 91 Chapter VII. THE HALL. The Smaller, the Lighter in Color. — The Use of the Frieze and Dado. — Harmony of the Rooms opening out of Hall with Hall. — Impressions of Color Rela- tive. — Suggestion of Color and Furnishing for a Hall. — Casts for a Frieze.-^Engravings and Photos for the Hall. — Mounting Photos. — A Screen of Pho- tos. — Striking Patterns in Hall. — A Bust or Statue in Long Hall. — Tapestry. — Painted Arras. — Em- broidered Arras. — Frieze of Gold Panels, Wall Stamped Leather, Dado Carved Wood. — Bronze Arms. — Sconces mrsus Central Light. — The Floor. — Carpeting the Staircase. — The Large Square Hall. — Tiled Floor. — Skins of Animals. — Open Fire. — Lighting. — Stained Glass. — Paintings requiring Plain Clear Glass in Windows. — The Painted Ar- ras. — Dark-wood Panellings. — Furniture. — The Or- namenting of Heavy Furniture. — Velvet or Leather Cushions for Hall Furniture. — Central Fireplace. — Warm Hall and Cool Rooms. The treatment of the Hall, if it is a mere passage-way, or an important feat- 92 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. ure of the house, cannot, of course, be the same. But there is one very safe rule — that the smaller it is, the lighter it must be in color. There is nothing more gloomy than a little, dark passage-way of a hall. For one large hall there are a thousand small ones, and we will speak first of these. A narrow hall will appear high for its proportion, and in making it seem lower you make it also seem wider. To do this a frieze and a dado should be used. In coloring your hall you should con- sider the rooms that open out of it, and make it contrast well with these. For our estimate of the beauty of a color or general tone depends largely on the last impression that the eye has received. To prove this to yourself pass in succes- sion before your eyes scarlet and mauve (a soft, pinkish violet or violet- pink). Either may be beautiful alone, but the THE HALL. 93 mauve in this succession appears of a sickly, dirty hue; or a rich, red purple and a pale, cold blue. The blue then appears of a disagreeable, chalky tone ; while a light, warm, greenish blue will gain only brilliancy by being seen after purple ; and the pale, cold blue follow- ing certain tones of pale, yellow pink, or white, or fawn, or dark blue, might be exquisite. Not only will you see your rooms af- ter having your eye filled with the color of the hall, you will also see your hall from within the rooms when the door is opened. Your eye, toned to your rooms, has the hall suddenly flashed upon it. Its relative color will in this case be of far more importance than its actual color. A hall of very pale green, w4th a ceil- ing of- old gold, and a frieze of white casts in bass-relief, floor and wood-work 94: BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. of an orange color (so dark as to be al- most bronze), and sconces of brass, might have opening out of it a room of dark red and gold, with a little cream -color, dark blue, and white ; a room of purple and several light shades of soft gray- ed peach -color, like the blossom of the ground-nut, some warm, dark gray, black, and a soft, light, vegetable green ; and a room of pale red terra -cotta, with old gold, gray, green, stone-yellow (a very warm cream- color), a few soft red pur- ples (rather light), white and j-ellows, from light gold to deep red orange, and you will find that rooms of the above combinations of color will help the hall described above, and the hall will set them all at advantao;e. In usins: casts for a frieze in the hall it is a great improvement to have a broad band of color painted, and place your casts upon this. Let there be a THE HALL. 95 moulding or picture-rod below this, and hano; the small, rich encrravino-s, or, bet- ter still, fine photographs, in the central portion below which comes the dado, which may be panelled in wood or painted. A narrow hall, in Avhich one gets no distance to look at the objects or decora- tions hung on the wall, is an admirable place for a fine photograph or engraving which needs to be looked at closelv. In a large room there is nothing so cold or undecorative as photographs, especially with their usual white card-board mount- ings. This difficulty may be somewhat obviated by making the mountings of a dull o;old, showino; no white at all. But then one or two such photographs, con- sidered as decoration, are more effective than many ; and in a room of any size pictures in oil or water colors are more eff^ective. One very fine way of using 96 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. photographs is upon a screen, %vhich may be opened or folded at pleasure. In this case the gold mountings are essential. But in a narrow hall one is near enough to appreciate the composition and de- tails of the photographs, and thus may have before their eyes examples of some of the finest pictures in the world that they cannot otherwise possess. In a hall where one only passes, and does not sit and live, it is possible to have such a set and striking pattern in the dado as in a room would become tiresome, and attract the eye too exact- ingly. Where the hall is long, and one may look from one end to the other, a bust 01* a statue, on a pedestal, is very effective, and gets a set-off, from its isola- tion, that it can never have in a room where there is furniture, or there are other objects. Tapestry is really more decorative THE HALL. 97 on a wall than anything else, because it does not depend upon light ; the surface is always good, and there are no portions of the design lost by the glaze of light that obscures an oil-paint- ing seen in an unbecoming light. It is very difficult to get fine old tapestry, with its faded yet telling tones, and that peculiar harmony and luminosity that make a fine preparation for the eye to receive the eftect of almost any well- colored room that may open out of the hall. In place of this old tapestry we recommend the revival of the ancient painted arras. Its eifect is magnificent, and any artist who can successfully paint a large canvas can paint an arras. It is done either in distemper, upon coarse cloth, or in thin oil-paint mixed with turpentine. It shows the texture of the cloth through, and looks more like old tapestry than anything else, 98 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. A PAINTED ARRAS FOR SMALL HALL. while the old tapestry has rarely the beauty of drawing that may be attained in the painted ari*as. In these days of artistic embroideries tapestries may find a substitute in mod- ern embroidery. An embroidered frieze, an embi'oidered arras below, and the dado of wooden or painted panels, could be made exquisite, and suitable for a narrow or a large hall. TilE HALL. AN EMBROIDERED ARRAS. Another charmino; treatment could be used of a frieze of gold panels, with painted figures, a central portion of stamped, painted leather, and a dado of panels carved in wood. Let the figures on the gold painted panels repeat every color that the painted leather shows. On such a wall as this bronze arms, shields, helmets, and armor are effective. Sconces on the wall are a much more 100 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. effective wav of lio-htins; the hall than the usual drop-light in the centre. The floor of the hall should never be carpet- ed; marble or wood, even simple, stained wood, where one cannot have a wax pol- ish, is better than carpeting, for the floor FRIEZE OF GOLD PANELS, WITH FIGURES. should be easily washed. People enter sometimes carelessly from the street, with boots not quite clean, and a carpet is out of place. The staircase, we think, should be always carpeted, at least with a narrow carpet running down the centre, even if THE HALL. 101 the stairs be of handsome wood, wax- polished. The carpet looks far more comfortable, and makes the stairs much less laborious to ascend. The unyield- ing surface of the wood is very trying to the feet. Where the hall is not a mere passage- way, but a square, capacious hall, such as one finds sometimes in a country- house, one may make it one of the most picturesque parts of the establishment. Give it a tiled or polished floor, large skins thrown down, an open fire, the staircase an important feature. It may be lighted eitlier from a gallery above the staircase or by windows of its own. Windows of stained glass are most ap- propriate, if there are no paintings hung on the walls ; but, in the case of paint- ings being hung in the hall, the windows should be of clear, fine plate -glass. A painted arras in a large hall is particu- 102 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. larly effective. It should be fastened, with hooks and rings, to a rod that should run below the frieze. Dark wood panellings over the entire walls of a large hall give an air of solidity and durability, and make a fine background for i^ictures ; but this treatment needs the hall to be not only unusually large, but very clearly lighted. The chairs, seats, or other furniture in such a hall should be heavy in design. It is a great mistake to suppose that a large and heavy piece of furniture needs a heavy ornament or carvino;. Nothins; is more effective than bands or panels of very delicate, exquisitely - elaborate carving contrasted with large, plain surfaces. Velvet or leather cushions are more suit- able for a hall than satin. A beautiful fashion for a very large hall is to have the fireplace built in the centre, like a sort of column, with a THE HALL. 103 double or triple sided opening. In the chimney may be shelves, or niches, in which ornaments, or arms, or lamps may be set or hung. A fireplace, however, whether in the centre or wall, is a neces- sity in a large hall, or it becomes a reser- voir of cold air that constantly supplies the rest of the house, and makes the opening of a door synonymous with a draught. It is a great mistake to have the hall colder than the rooms. The halls should be always warm ; then the rooms may be of cooler temperature, and one may see a door open without fear, or leave the room without catching cold. Most people have their rooms too warm and their halls too cold. 104 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. Chapter VIII. THE DRAWING-ROOM. Treatment of Small Parlor. — Music in a Small Room. — Figure Pictures for the Parlor. — The Important Things in a Parlor. — De Quincey's Ideal of Luxury. — A Parlor Twelve by Fifteen. — A Note of Tur- quoise Blue. — Brass Ornaments. — The Upright Pi- ano. — Flowers. — The Chairs. — The Tea-service. — Another Small Parlor. — Purple. — The Carpet, Mir- ror, Fireplace. — Sconce. — Flowers. — The Cornice. — The Pictures.— The Curtains.— The Piano. — The Chairs.— A Small Red Parlor.— A Motto.— The Ceil- ing. — A Painted Arras. — Curtains. — Other Furni- ture. — The Large Drawing-room or Ball-room. — The Little Sitting-room adjoining. — Large Draw- ing-room used as Music-room. — Shelves for Musical Library. — Busts of Composers. — Painted Arras. — Windows Closed with Panelled Shutters. — The Mu- sical Instruments, — Chairs. — Fireplace. The treatment of the drawing-room, sitting-room, or parlor (whichever we THE DKAWING-ROOM. 105 call it) depends entirely upon its uses. If it is in a quiet little household, where entertainments are not given, it should be furnished for cosiness rather than brilliant effect; and there is something very attractive in a small parlor that is rather dark in color. It gives the effect of a quiet corner, into which one retreats from the turmoil of the outside world. Red is one of the best colors for light- ing up at night for a small room, and presents such a variety of shades, easily combined, that there need be no monoto- ny. Purple may be also very beautiful, if judiciously graded from the dark to the paler, pinker tones. Some purples look an ugly brown at night, and some purples gain brilliancy by gas • light. Brown of rich tones, which may be graded up through the richer, deeper shades of orange, may make a beautiful room by gas-light, and either of these 106 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. colors make a telling background for pictures at niglit. A small parlor should be carpeted ; for even if used as a music -room the piano and other instruments will be quite loud enough for the small room, in spite of carpets and curtains ; and nothing is more disagreeable than an instrument too loud for the room, which produces an uncomfortable vibration and sense of confusion. When we say ccu'- peted we mean not an immovable carpet, nailed down on the edges, which seems to us an abomination that collects dust, and is only to be tolerated when the floor is too bad. We mean a rus; that shall cover the floor, but may be taken up and shaken on occasion — even a rug made of carpet in breadths — not necessa- rily a large w^oven rug, which is hand- somer, but more expensive. In the parlor is the place for figure THE DRAWING-ROOM. 107 pictures. The whole suggestive drama of life, of the beautiful expression of the human face and figure, as art may ideal- ly represent it, seems in harmony with the room where we meet for the inter- change of sympathy and to make our contribution to the entertainment of oth- ers. An open fire and pictures are the most important things in a parlor — hav- ing, of course, begun with the six sides of it (ceiling, floor, and walls) being har- monious in color — an open fire and pict- ures, a piano and curtains. One of the next cosiest things for a parlor is a little tea-table, with tea served in pretty china or silver. De Quincey said his ideal of luxury was a room crowded with books, and a beauti- ful woman perpetually pouring out tea. That the beautiful woman should vi- brate, as it were, between the open piano and the tea-table, as we sit beside 108 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. the fire sipping our tea, would seem to be au even moi-e satisfactory dream. We can imagine such a parlor, only twelve by fifteen feet in size and nine feet in height ; the walls of a dark rich orange, a narrow frieze of gold-color, on which the leaves of the horse-chestnut, just turning brown, are painted, with their thorny balls in gold ; a ceiling of pale gold-color, with a design of the same chestnut (we have seen a design of a ceiling like this, by Miss Greene, of Boston, which was one of the most charming things we ever saw); beneath the narrow frieze a gilt picture-rod. Let the mop -board be of a brown -orange tone, either of stained wood, polished, or of painted wood, highly varnished, and w^ith a very narrow bead of gold sur- mounting it. Upon the wall, suspended with covered copper wires, as near the color of the wall as possible, let figure THE DRAWING-ROOM. 109 pictures be hung ; curtains at the win- dow of brown plush, of a rich shade, em- broidered in shades of yellow from pale gold to an orange that becomes brown. Let them be lined with cream- white, or with yellow. The door, the same color as the mop-board, may be covered with a portiere of a shade of orange, a little lighter than the wall, and embroidered in brown and gold, and lined with a pale tone of greenish blue, like a green turquoise, so. that it is difficult to say if it be green or blue. If this, in its turn, were ornamented with a facing of about two feet wide, which showed an em- broidered pattern of brown and orange, the effect would be charming. The car- pet should be dark, of browns and yel- lows. The open fire should be in a brass grate, or on brass andirons, more properly called " dogs." The mantel- piece and fireplace may be of dark, 110 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. carved wood, or of some of the marbles or stones that are, when polished, very dark purplish brown, since it were an Aladdin's dream to make it of dark green malachite. A mantel -piece of dark wood, with bronze bass-reliefs in- troduced at the sides of the fireplace, would be very beautiful. In such a room an upright piano is large enough, and may be very much prettier than a grand. It adds to its beauty greatly to have panels of paint- ed figures introduced — of course suppos- ing the panels to be well designed and painted. A low glass dish of yellow or of purple pansies set on the piano, or a Satsuma china bowl of yellow roses, or a high glass vase of yellow tulips or white lilies, will give a sentiment to the room that nothing but flowers can give. A sofa made simply of wood, as w^e described the sofa in the libraiy, covered THE DRAWING-ROOM. Ill with sateen of a rich, dark brown, and having the seat of the same sateen, and the cushions, be there two or more, each PATTERN FOR CUSHIONS FOR DRAWING-ROOM. unique ; either one of the greenish tui*- quoise-blue, embroidered in brown and cream -color and gold, and the other 112 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. PATTERN FOR CUSHIONS FOR DRAWING-ROOM. cushion of gold color, embroidered in or- ange and brown and turquoise -blue of the same greenish tone ; or a cushion of cream -white, heavily embroidered in gold, and one of deep orange, embroider- ed in pale orange and white; and one of turquoise-blue, embroidered in brown THE DRAWING-ROOM. 113 and white. There is a kind of deep^ square easy -chair called a "Newport chair." One of these, covered with a brownish-orange sateen, and with a cush- ion of varied yellows, would, with the sofa and piano, be enough large pieces of furniture for the size of the room. The next in size mio-ht be one of those com- fortable straw or rattan low easy-chairs, painted brown and gilded in parts, and varnished, and with cushions of deep or- ange or brown sa- teen. A music-rack of polished, dark wood; a music-seat of the same, carved, and designed in a pattern of a lyre for the back, and with a cushion of rich orange ; two or three small chairs, of different patterns, with PATTERN FOR CUSHIONS FOR DRAWING-ROOM. 114 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. seats ill sateen, varying from brown through deep orange to gold color; two tabarets, exactly alike, which might be even of the same plush as the window- curtains; a little tea-table, of polished, colored woods inclining to yellows; and a tea-service, if not of silver or sil- ver-gilt, of red Kaga ware or Satsuma, which is cream}' white, with orange-gold green, etc., upon it. This would be a small parlor that the most esthetic re- cluse could entertain his one chosen friend or his own little family circle in with perfect content. The effect would be of cosy, sombre richness. But now let us imacrine a more mod- est dream of a small parlor. We will suppose the size to be still twelve by fifteen ; the wood-work and doors paint- ed purple, of a tone that remains purple at night, and with the surface dull and velvety, like a deface amethyst. Any THE DRAWING-ROOM. 115 painter is capable of making such a siir- fece. Let the mantelpiece and fireplace be of the same wood, similarly painted ; about the opening for the fireplace tiles of cream-white, with a pattern of passion- flowers, of a paler, pinker purple ; the grate of brass. The carpet of this room may be black, which will make the pur- ple wood -work more purple by night; before the fire, or in the centre of the room, a rug, in which purples of dark and pinkish hue are mixed. Over the fireplace a mirror, in a frame of wood like the mantel-piece; a mirror, in two parts, with a panel of wood dividing them, against which a gilt candelabra, or tripod, holding a light, is set, or a gilt sconce, for candles, is hung. A large vase of white and gold, holding calla lil- ies, azaleas, white and purple fox-gloves, or some tall sprays of pale pink gladio- lus, standing on the mantel-piece, will be ornament enough. 116 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. Let your walls be of a lighter purple than your wood -work, covered with a small stencil pattern in bronze, a deep cornice of bronze and gilt, with a gilt picture -rod. Let your pictures be in luminous, light tones of flesh, and white or soft pale draperies ; the ceiling of a tender, violet pink. The curtains of your window, put up with lings and a brass rod, should be of sateen or plush of a purple a little lighter than the wall, and embroidered with a dark purple passion-flower, and lined with white, or with the same color as the ceiling. On the upright piano a gilded china basket of violets; a piano-seat made of a simple box, covered with sateen of a pale pur- ple tone, with a cushion, on which white lilies may be embroidered. A sofa, of straw or rattan, painted black, with parts gilded, and with cushions of pur- ple, and of the same pinkish tone as the THE DRAWIXG-ROOM. 117 ceiling ; a deep, low chair of the same kind — an easy-chair — of purple sateen ; one or two lightly moulded wooden chairs, with straw seats, painted black, the wood of the chairs being gilded or painted purple, like the wood-work; a pretty, light tea-table, painted like the wood -work; and a tea-service of silver or of Japanese bronze, or china of white and gold, or pale green, or turquoise- blue, and you have a room that is as pretty, if less expensive, than the orange and brown one we have described. We must describe a small red parlor before we pass on to the larger, more ambitious drawino;-room : The walls of a pale terra-cotta color, with a frieze of darker red, about a foot and a half wide ; a little classic dancing figure, with a mu- sical instrument painted upon it at inter- vals of about four feet; and over the door a ribbon painted with an insciip- 118 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. tion, in any language. " Giv^e me not riches, but repose," is one from the Ara- bic. Below the frieze let there be a bronze picture-rod and figure pictures on FRIEZE OF DANCING FAUNS. your wall. Let your ceiling be of bronze, the eflfect of which can be produced by paint, wnth either a conventional pat- tern in red all over it, or a wreath of THE DRAWING-ROOM. 119 red cactus or red passion-flower painted round it. Let your wood be stained to represent rosewood, and your fireplace be of the same or of terra-cotta, with brass grate or dogs. Over the mantel-piece either two painted panels of figures, with a bronze or rosewood panel between them, hold- ing a sconce or a mirror, or a little paint- ed arras representing classic figures, with a border of flowers. The curtains of the window may be of deep red plush, lined with a lighter tone, or of a sateen darker than the walls in color, and embroidered either all over in a rich, dark red flower, or red flowers and red leaves of many shades ; or the curtains may be of three shades of red, growing lighter toward the top, and the highest portion or the lowest portion embroidered. The room is not high enough, as we have imagined it, to have 120 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. an embroidered band in the centre of the curtain. Or the curtain might be single, very full, and made of plush, with a border all round of sateen, which could be embroidered. A sofa, covered in a material displaying in the pattern many shades of red, some inclining to em- browned purple ; cushions on the sofa of several shades of red, some of them even so pale as to be like some of the lightest shades of terra-cotta, a red that is faded yellowish. The chairs of black, painted straw, or rattan, with cushions of varying reds ; some chairs of rose- wood ; a tea-table of rosewood, with Kao-a china service. Before the sofa a rosewood sofa -table, with a table-cloth like a scarf that is thrown across the long way of the table. Let the table- cloth be of red velvet, with embroidered ends of lighter tones; and on the cloth lay a few books — one or two of parch- THE DRAWING ROOM. 121 ment, one or two of red or russia leather; and a bronze statuette and a glass vase, containing tea or red roses, will complete the ornaments. An upright piano, a piano -seat of rosewood, with red cush- ions ; a little table in one corner, with writing materials, and some shelves above it for books. Of course the three little rooms we have described do not at all fill the needs of the magnificent household where receptions are given in the even- ing, or wdiere one needs a lai'ge room for music or for dancing. Such a room as this needs to be light in color and large, with a polished flooi* and a high ceiling. Imagine it with a deep fiieze of pea- cocks' feathers painted on a pale, brill- iant blue ground. A ceiling panelled in bronze, with deep gilt mouldings. In one panel a life-size woman's figure, in classic white drapery, seated singing and play- 122 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. ,\A. iuo' on a lute, with great branches of white magnolia, with its large green leaves, stretching above and behind her. iVn op- posite panel painted with a youth's fig- ure, who lies behind tall reeds; and, with pipes in one hand, which he hohls be- hind his back, he lifts the other hand in an attitude of listening, and seems to over- hear the singer. Let the white magnolia blossoms and sky fill the other panels. We will suppose one long side of the THE DRAWING-ROOM. 123 room to be unbroken. Let there be lai'ge mirrors running from the dado to the frieze, showing no frames, but di- vided by pale blue satin panels, with a damask fi^-ure woven in the satin of a slightly paler shade. From each of these blue satin panels let there be a sconce of Venetian glass, w^ith pendants, and let it be filled with white wax-candles. The opposite side of the room has a carved white marble fireplace in the centre, and the mirrors, blue satin panels, and Vene- tian sconces continue on the rio-ht and left of the fireplace, above which a Vene- tian glass mirror. There should be no central chandelier — it is never fine in effect. At the upper end of the room there might be a lai'ge window, formed of a grouping of narrow windows. If set in deep, forming an alcove, treat the ceiling separately, wnth a delicate deco- ration. Across this a velvet curtain of 124 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. rich blue, deeper in color by many shades than the satin panels, and upon it an elaborate embroidery of white Ja- pan lilies. On either side of this cur- tained window on the wall hang painted arras of pale tones, classic and floral in design. The lower end of the room has CEILING FOR ALCOVE OF BALLROOM. a door at either side, each door curtained with heavy, creamy-white silk curtains, embroidered thickly with blue, from dark to light. Between these curtained doors a large mirror, with a light blue panel of satin, and the Venetian glass sconces on either side. One of the doors EMBROIDERED VELVET CURTAIN, WITH JAPAN LILIES. 10 THE DRAWING-ROOM. 127 leads to a conservatory, and the other to a little sitting-room. The dado of the large room we have just described should be of panels of gold and bronze, with a pattern in relief. Such ottomans or chairs as are in the room should be some of white, some of gold, some of blue. The room would bear very well a white statue set before the large mir- ror at the lower end. The grand piano must not touch the wall ; and there could be nothing more picturesque than a gilded harp standing near the piano. The little sittinor-room which one finds through the curtained door may be rose- colored ; the walls hung with a chintz- patterned silk in rose-colors, grays, and whites. A carpet of deeper tones of rose, curtains in the little bow- window of rose-color and subdued white; white lilies growing in pots of porcelain, a few water-color paintings on the walls, a lit- 128 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. tie sofa in deep-colored rose satin, a sofa- table, with flowers in vases and bowls ; a small, cosy fire on brass or silv^er-plated dogs, a pretty clock on the mantel-piece, which may be of marble, with a narrow velvet scarf of deep color thrown across it, so that in touching it one is not chill- ed. A subdued light in the room from a brass or silver lamp suspended by chains from the centre of the ceiling, which is of the palest rose-color, scarcely more than tinted, and covered with a spider's web in gold ; across which, here and there, in some of the corners, a spray of pale pink blossoms stretches. The cornice should be of subdued gold and bronze, and the door covered with a deep rose - colored velvet curtain, em- broidered in pink lotus-blossoms. But there might be a person of other tastes who wanted his large, uncarpeted room for the simple enjoyment of mu- THE DRAWING-ROOM. 129 sic. One side might be covered from floor to ceiling with shelves for the musi- cal library. In the corners of the room busts or statuettes, on pedestals, of the DARK ROSE-COLORED VELVET CURTAIN, EMBROIDERED JN LOTUS. 130 PAINTED ARRAS FOR MUSIC-ROOM CLASSIC LANDSCAPE AND FIGURES. great composers. A painted arras on the other long side, representing Pan and nymphs in a great classic landscape or Apollo and young Marsyas. The large window might be used by day to let in broad light, and by night be closed with panelled shutters, without THE DRAWING-ROOM. 131 curtains, yet not disguising the window, as if there were none. The uncovered portions of the wall could be painted in pleasant tones of green. A dado of dark green, and a frieze of pale green, with FRIEZE, WITH CLASSIC MASKS AND TRIPODS. classic masks, tripods, or instruments painted on it; and a ceiling of bronze or pale green, with a rich acanthus-leaf pat- tern on it. Then the lights must be ar- ranged so as best to cast the light on the 132 BEAUTY m THE HOUSEHOLD. music. Sconces on the wall seem best for this. The grand piano, the violin- stands, the harp, the big violoncello lean- ing up against the wall. We need noth- ing in this room besides but plenty of comfortable chairs, some of straw or rat- tan, some of wood, with cane seats; some of sateen, or with soft cushions thrown in them. We need not mention an am- ple open fireplace, for one of the difficul- ties of a large room is to keep it warm. THE BEDROOM. 133 Chapter IX. THE BEDROOM. Bedroom like a Quiet Green Nest. — The Morning Sun. — Light in the Eyes. — A Ceiling representing Leafage. — Pattern on the Wall versus a Plain Tone. . — Objection to many Pictures in Bedroom. — A Beautiful Picture at Foot of Bed. — Advantage of Wood Fire. — The Carpet. — A Large Mirror. — Effect of Harmonious Color on the Mind. — Anecdote of De Musset. — Blue for a Bedroom. — Casts. — Sugges- tions from Nature for Combinations of Color. — Ceiling Lighter than Walls. — Different Flowers Suitable for Suggestions of Color for Bedroom. It seems to us a pleasant idea that the bedroom should be like a quiet green nest. It is much more wholesome to have the bedroom on that side of the house where the sunshine enters. The morning sun is best ; but, as it is ruin- ous to the eyes to habitually sleep in the 134 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. light early in the morning, there must be ample means for shutting the sun out until the sleeper rises. It is beautiful, in a green bedroom, to CEILING FOR BEDROOM REPRESENTING LEAFAGE. .. Dark green ground, horse-chestnut-leaf superimposed, color a yellow-green, light ; clover-leaf superimposed upon the chestnuts ; color of clover a gray-green. 2. Pale green ground, yellow-green chestnut-leaf superimposed upon a dark green ivy vine. 3. Pale green ground, blue-green oak-leaf and acorns superimposed upon it; yellow-green chestnut-leaf on that— olive-green laurel on that. 4. Pale green ground ; broad leaf of pale olive on that— chestnut- leaf of yellow-green on that. THE BEDROOM. 135 have the ceiling represent leafage ; and for this one pattern superimposed upon another, and another still upon that, each of a slightly differing tone, makes the softest and most agreeable effect. A plain band of green for frieze below the green cornice, of a darker green; a pict- ure-rod of bronze- colored green. The main part of the wall of a soft, dull green, a little darker than the general tone of the ceiling, and a line, an inch broad, of more metallic green, to divide it from the olive dado. There is a great deal to be said against having a pattern on a bedroom wall. It easily becomes w^earisome. There is much to be said against many pictures on a bedroom wall. One wants to be affected with quiet and repose; to see, dreamily, some one familiar picture as they drop asleep; to wake with their eyes resting, only half consciously, upon 136 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. some exquisite, familiar thing, and come back to it again, when the eyes have wandered about the quiet-colored wall, without encountering surprise. For this reason we would hang at the foot of the bed the most beautiful photograph that we can find, mounted upon dull gold, with no white. Let the head of the bed be toward the window, so that the light does not shine in the eyes. The green wall is broken by the door of olive tone, or a curtain of green cover- ing the door. The door-handles should be brass in a green room. The panels of the door may be of the same tone as the wall ; the mantel-piece painted olive, like the door, with the panels at the sides like the wall in tone; the tiles about the fireplace of pale greenish-blue, or of a very light metallic green ; the hearth of bricks, pale red or yellow, or of tiles like the other tiles; but bricks THE BEDROOM. 13Y stand the heat better. The wood fire on dogs has a great advantage for a bed- room, as one may undress by it, and then let it go out after they are in bed ; and it is so easily kindled in the morning to dress by. The carpet may be of a deep, dark tone of green, perfectly plain. The bed and other furniture is pretty of polished or varnished rosewood or mahogany, with brass mountings. The green cur- tains that run on rods, and are dropped and drawn close at night, may be in the daytime tied back with a ribbon of rich, red orange, and it will look as if a trop- ical bird had flown into the nest. A little secretary, an easy-chair or two, and on the mantel-piece one or two good casts, a little corner bookcase, filled with books, a long mirror, and your green nest will be most luxurious. That the exact tones of the wall should 138 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. be very harmonious will add to the peace and cheerfulness of your thoughts, even though unconsciously. We were always touched by an anecdote told of De Mus- set by his brother Paul. When Alfred De Musset was returning from Italy, a sadly broken invalid, he wrote: " In char- ity give me another bedroom than my own. At the idea of seeing again, on waking, that ugly papei* of a crude green I believe that ennui and annoj'ance cov- er my four walls." "To satisfy this desire of the conva- lescent," continues the brother, " I has- tened to give over to him my bedroom, which had a paper of a very soft tone, and which had two windows lookino^ on the garden." Blue is a very pleasant color for a bed- room, especially in summer, when it looks very cool and refreshing; and there are few more exquisite contrasts than th^e THE BEDROOM. 139 dark Prussian blue and the light, rich turquoise, and these two combined with white. Imagine a frieze of dark Prus- sian blue, with a large white shell paint- ed at even distances, quite far apart; a gilt picture-rod below it, and the cornice and ceiling of the palest turquoise ; the FRIKZE OF DARK BLUE, WITH WHITE SHELLS. main part of the wall a richer turquoise- blue, and a dado of the Prussian blue, not quite so dark, but five times wider, than the frieze, and an interlaced pattern of white Japan and day lilies upon this; curtains of white-and-blue chintz; the furniture painted white, with a little 140 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. gilding; and some cushions of blue, dark and light; the mantel-piece painted white, and blue and white tiles about the fire- place; a carpet of plain, dark blue, with DADO OF INTERLACED LILIES. a li2:hter blue- and -w^hite border; the doors and wood-work painted Avhite; a white cast or two against the wall ; one or two water- color paintings; a long THE BEDROOM. 141 raiiTor, with a white frame. This would be a most maidenly-looking room. If one w^ants suggestions for a bed- room, let them go into the garden, see what flowers mix harmoniously and not too brilliantly; bring in a handful of morning-glories as they grow, or a bunch of sweet -peas, with their soft purples, and whites, and pinks, and green leaves, with a grayish bloom on them, and let them color their bedroom just like this, remembering that the ceiling must be usually lighter than the rest, and that they may not "break up" the w^alls with too many tones, but may put as many as are harmonious into the furniture. Sometimes a bed of petunias offers suggestions for an enchanting room, or the spring wild flowers; but do not at- tempt red for a bedroom — it is too brill- iant, not restful enough for the eyes. Yellows are better. A bunch of yellow 11 142 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. pansies, or a bed of varied yellow chrys- anthemums, will give you soft enough tones to follow safely. Daffodils are too brilliant; it is only the tea-roses that will be quiet enough, with the peculiar green of their leaves, with one grayish, reddish purple side. Doors and w^ood- work of a bedroom painted in these two colors of the tea-rose leaf, and the walls of that soft, peculiar tone of the tea-rose, with paler ceiling, and a moss-green or subdued purple carpet, would be beauti- ful enough. Curtains of a little deeper saffron tone, and a hearth of the palest red brick, with a pale, yellowish terra- cotta mantel-piece, would have a charm- ing harmony. THE NURSERIES. 143 Chapter X. THE NURSERIES. A Day Nursery as well as a Sleeping Nursery. — Not too many Children Sleeping in One Room. — Accus- toming Children to Beauty in Daily Life. — High Art for Children. — Educating a Love for Sculpture.^ Walter Crane Picture-books. — Flowers Cultivated by Children. — Teaching Girls Embroidery. — Ad- vantage of Cultivated Tastes. — Open Fire in Nur- sery. — Advantage of Paint or Kalsomine over Pa- per in a Nursery. — Green Nursery. — Frieze and Dado. — Fireplace. — No Curtains in Windows. — Ivy. — Panels of Doors. — Much Unoccupied Si)ace on Wall. — Day Nursery. — The Table and Chairs. — A Figured Pattern for Wall or Ornaments. — Brackets for Busts or Statuettes. — The Light. — Choosing a Nurse. — Children who are with their Parents. — The Mother's Dress. — Children's Habits. — Children's Fields. — Music. — Music at Home. — The Professional and the Amateur.— The Hand -organ. — The Street Musicians. — The Musical Box. — Church Chimes. If there are children, the most impor- tant rooms in the house are the Nurseries. We use the word in the phiral, because 144 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. where people have the opj)ortunity there should be a day-room, as well as a sleep- ing-room or rooms, for the children. Too many children should not sleep in one room ; for no number of doctors and no amount of medicine can repair the mis- chief of sleeping in close or exhausted air. That the nurseries should be sun- ny and cheerful is a matter of health. That they should be beautiful, however uncostly, is a matter of education. Let your children be accustomed to being simply but tastefully dressed ; to having their meals served in not only an orderly but an ornamental manner; to seeing on the wall pictures of a good style. There are pictures of classical beauty that are of subjects to interest the child- ish mind. Photographs or lithographs may easily be procured of Raphael's "Madonna della Sedula." No modern THE NURSERIES. 147 mother with her child is simpler, and I have never seen a chihi who was not de- lighted with that picture. The two lit- tle angels in the " Sistine Madonna " are published, life-size, in inexpensive litho- graphs. Michael Angelo's " Charity " — a group in bass-relief, representing a wom- an with several children — can be pui- chased for less than many people spend upon a foolish toy that the child breaks in a day. It is important to educate children in the love of sculpture as well as painting. We could never see why a child's attention is so rarely called to sculpture, while from its babyhood it is amused with pictures of varying grades of merit. There are modern groups of French statuary of which casts can be procured — some here, and some in Paris — that are interesting to a child from the subjects, and instructive to them on account of their beauty, such as "Char- 14:8 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. ity" by Paul Dubois; or the beautiful old things by Lucca della Robbia. And in the lighter walks of art the Walter Crane picture-books are as beautiful and imaginativ^e as can well be. What is more poetic than the three girls sailing in the three swan-shaped boats, singing and playing on instruments ? " The First of May" is even on a higher plane. Almost every child loves flowers. Let them be taught to cultivate them. A box of growing flowers in the nursery window (the day nursery) may be an endless source of interest; and though doubtless till the little hands grow more skilful some earth will be spilled upon the nursery floor, a dust-pan and broom can easily remove it ; and there is no rea- son why a child of ten years old, having made his experiments in the nursery under instruction, should not be fitted to keep the dining-room and parlors al- THE NUIISERIES. 149 ways ornamented with beautiful grow- ing plants. What a healthful and graceful occu- pation for the leisure hours ! And chil- dren delight in being useful, in taking their part and interest in life : they are not often enough encouraged to do so. Some boys would not have the pa- tience to cultivate flowers, but that such charming work should be going on about them would be an education in itself. Gills can be taught embroidery at an early age, and then there will be even difficulty in preventing them from ap- plying themselves too closely to it, if they are so directed that the results are really beautiful. There is no delight like the use of the creative powers of the mind, and if children can really ma- terially add to the beauty of the house- hold in which they live, they materially add to their own happiness, and life is 150 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. full of interest to them, and a whole world of delight is within their grasp. Many children lead the lives of prison- ers of state. They are well taken care of physically, but they have no atmos- phere, no chance for development, no freedom. Others lead a life little above that of the animals: they are fed and clothed, or they are deprived of animal pleasures by way of punishment if they are restive. They are treated with no dignity. Others more fortunate live in free companionship with their parents; but their tastes are left to develop themselves, or not develop at all. It is well to remember that a love of the beautiful is one of the greatest joys to its possessor, a very refuge in time of trouble, a gilder of the most common- place parts of life, and often an enormous safeguard against all the low vices. An open fire in the nursery is not THE NURSERIES. 153 only a great ornament, but acts as a ven- tilator and health-giver. It is only by the greatest necessity that one should ever allow a nursery to be heated by a furnace, or even a stove. It is better to paint or kalsomine a nursery than to paper it, for the reason that some papers are prepared with in- jurious dyes; and, besides that, one can- not be always sure that the paste used in papering is not sour. Sometimes it becomes sour after it has been on some time, and poisons the air even when it is not very perceptible to the senses. We will imagine a sleeping nursery in which the walls are of a soft vegetable green — not any green prepared roitli ar- senic — with a frieze of birds and branch- es, like the accompanying drawing, No. 1 ; a dado of figures, like drawing No. 2 ; or of animals, like No. 3 ; or of flowers ; the wood -work of an olive green; a large 154: BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. fireplace, with a liigh mantel-shelf, and all the wood-work of this fireplace paint- ed olive green ; tiles of white and rose- color. We suggest a design in the fron- tispiece. Above the mantel-shelf hang upon the wall a large lithograph of the "Madonna della Sedula;" on the man- tel-shelf a clock, a cast or two, and the night taper. There should be no curtains either at the windows or beds. A baby who sleeps in the daytime may have cur- tains, but they should be drawn back at night for the free j)assage of air. It is difficult to keep curtains in order in the windows, where children are sure to climb; and that a room especially for their use should be made inconvenient with restrictions is absurd. But, in place of curtains, ivy may be grown very dec- oratively. There should be no flowers in the sleeping-nursery, but green plants THE NURSERIES. 157 TILE FOR NURSERY. are said to throw out good and absorb bad air. Flowers have a contrary effect. The panels of the doors may be paint- ed in flowers or interesting figures. The 12 158 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. floor is best painted or stained of a tone a little darker than the wood-work, with TILE FOR NURSERY. a carpet of some soft, mixed tone of green or purple, laid down like a lai'ge rug, and THE NURSERIES. 161 bound, with loops also at each corner, by which it is fastened down. Such a TILE FOR NURSERY. carpet is easily taken up and shaken ev- ery day or two, which, with the constant 162 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. use children give a carpet, is a neces- sity. Let most of the wall between the dado and frieze be unoccupied space; it is more restful to the mind and eye for a TILE FOR NUllSKRY. sleeping-room. In the room we are de- scribing the ceiling may be of a soft greenish-blue, or of a subdued pinkish- violet, contrasting not too suddenly with the green walls. The little cribs should be set with the head to the light and the foot to the THE NURSERIES. 163 wall, so that the child in sleeping does not have the light in its eyes. On the PANELS OF DOORS FOR NURSERY. wall at the foot of the cribs might be hung the Kaphael angels of which we 164: BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. have spoken, or anything equally appro- priate. This is enough for decoration. A screen may be placed before the door to intercept any draught. This may be covered with -Walter Crane pictures, or animals, or flowers, or anything really good. A clothes press, a solid wood seat in the w^indow, that may receive unin- jured the kicking and climbing of little feet, a few pretty chairs, and you have a simple, beautiful, and not expensive, nursery. The day nursery may have flowering plants in the windows; an open fire- place, guarded by a high fender, made firm, so that it cannot be knocked over by any romping; either an entirely bare floor, painted or stained, or it may be furnished with a movable carpet, like the sleeping nursery. The bare floor, if well laid, and if the room is dry and suflSciently warm, as it should be, has THE NURSERIES. 165 great advantages. The carpet becomes soon won], and the children trip and fall on its edges or the last worn place, which it is not always possible to see in time to mend before an accident oc- curs. There should be one or two toy closets, a large table, on which the children may amuse themselves with drawing or paint- ing in water-colors. A black-board or two hung on the wall, to receive those valuable transient sketches that cause so much merriment in the nursery; chairs of convenient heights. This last is very important, for children contract injurious habits by sitting on chairs too high or too low for the table where they are working, and often harm their eyes as well as their figures by this means. There should be a bookcase, with suit- able books. The walls of the day nursery may be 166 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. more broken with ornament and pict- ures than the sleeping nursery. It may also have a figured pattern paint- ed upon it. If this is the case where busts or statuettes are placed (too high to be knocked over or broken), the bracket that holds them may have a plain background of wood attached, as in the drawing on the opposite page. It is vastly important to see that the light is suflScient where children use their eyes in reading, drawing, or other ways; to see that they do not read in a glare of sunlight or in dark corners. It is no unimportant matter, in choos- ins; a nurse for children, that she should be of pleasing appearance, with an hon- est, modest, cheerful expression of face ; for children copy the expression of those around them imconsciousl}^, till we often see really a strong resemblance between children and their nurses. Notice that THE NURSERIES. 167 BRACKET, WITH BACK FOR STATUETTE OR BUST, ON FIGURED WALL. no children have as refined an expres- sion of face as those who are in the hab- it of being with their parents. The nurse 168 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. should be always scrupulously neat and tasteful in her dress; and children should be accustomed to see their mother dress- ed with care and a sense of beauty. One often hears mothers say that it ruins one's clothes to be with children, and that thej^ find themselves obliged to put on an old dress for the greater part of the day. No doubt it ruins inappropriate clothes; but there are ginghams, cali- coes, cottons, or flannels, serviceable and cheap, that are beautiful in color; and there is no reason why a garment, simply made, should not be beautifully made. Children's tastes and habits will be formed before they are ten years old by what they see about them, and their fut- ure will be largely influenced by this. Of course there are people of remark- able talent, or original mind, who wnll strike out new paths for themselves, and THE NURSERIES. 1G9 they are as truly these people as chil- dren as when maturity has brought these characteristics into prominence ; but we speak of the mass of people — after all, so much the larger part of the world that it is more important that they should be spoken of They usu- ally retain the exact mould that they have been made in, and go on in the path that has been laid before them. What an injustice to narrow it at the beginning ! As far as possible widen your chil- dren's faculties on all sides; let them face in all directions and have a broad field to choose their path in. Among oth- er important parts of education let them hear music. Not every mother is a good musician, and this is not always sufficient reason that her children should be de- prived of music. Many people who are fond of it do not avail themselves of the 170 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. advantages they could afford to give themselves and their children in music. There is, on the whole, no way so satis- fiictory of hearing music as in a room, and there often are teachers of music who are more skilful musicians than they are teachers, who for the same price as they get for giving lessons would gladly come and play for an hour, and thus familiarize the children with really fine music. We do not see ^vhy this kind of entertainment is not more frequently offei'ed to their guests by hosts and hostesses, who are ready to spend on their suppers, or other less important things, a hundred times the money. Many professional musicians who are not great are delightful to hear in a room, and we have only to compare them with the usual amateur to see how superior almost any professional is THE NURSERIES. 171 to almost any amateur; though occasion- ally one finds an amateur of rare merit and sentiment who has a charm that is peculiar to the professional. Not that we would speak slightingly of the ama- teurs (blessings upon them !) who, often with a mere, sketch or memory of that which is great, wake our whole atmos- phere to harmony. It is not every one who may have the unspeakable delight of numberino; a fine musician amono; the members of their household, so that as one goes in and out, works in some adjacent room, or walks along through the passage-ways, the air is filled with music that falls unasked for and de- mands no spoken thanks, but is like the sunlight or other free gifts of Heaven. Because we delio:ht in an orchestra of ' trained musicians playing a symphony of Beethoven's, we are not among those who despise a good hand-organ when we 172 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. can have uothing better, provided the organ plays good tunes. We sympa- thize with the children who crowd to the window to hear it, or to hear the street musicians with a harp and violin. We do not, in default of all else, even despise a well-tuned musical-box, which gives us at least the rhythm if not the tone of music. It has not what one calls '' expression," that is, the sense of in- dividual feeling ; but if it gives us a real- ly fine composition, or even a very grace- ful one with a fine rhythm, wh}^ not en- joy it, and offer it to our children, if we can give them nothing better? We be- lieve in reality that many people do en- joy a musical-box who are ashamed to say so, and yet who will listen to the harsh chimes of a church and say, " How charming !" when such chimes are almost always a half note out, and unbearable to a sensitive ear. THE SMALL APARTMENT. 173 Chapter XL THE SMALL APARTMENT. Advantage of the Apartment. — Tendency of Civiliza- tion. — Washing. — By-gone Customs of Housewives. — Catering. — The Uncertainty of the Domestic Cook. — Feudal Custom of Followers. — The Coming Age of Service. — Argument upon Service done out of the House. — The Answer. — Artistic Instincts of Women. — The Dominating House-keeper. — The Overworked Mistress of the Household. — Duties to Husband and Children. — Women who do and who do not make themselves the Companions of their Children. — The Step farther. — Each Household to be Constituted to Suit its Special Needs. — Beauty and Expansion of the Mind of the First Importance. The small apartment offers many ad- vantages for people of moderate means. The tendency of civilization is to make it more and more possible for people of moderate means, who will intelligently 18 174 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. avail themselves of the advantages the times afford, to live with comfort and elegance. Within a few years the facilities are so great for having the washing done out of the house, as to encourage the hope that soon it will only be done at home in large establishments, where the complete laundries are entirely separate from the kitchen. Go into any kitchen on " washing-day," and perceive how the air is impregnated with steam and soap- suds, and how the walls are damp Avith congealed vapors. Imagine how conven- ient it is to cook, and how healthful it is to eat what is prepared, in this atmos- phere ! In the olden days preserves, pickles, and bread were invariably made in the household. When intrusted to the usual servant they were but uncertain in re- sult, and the labor was immense. When THE SMALL APARTMENT. 175 executed by the faithful housewife it was a tax upon her time and strength that was incompatible with her other duties. Yet, when it began to be more the custom to buy these things from a grocer and a baker, there was an army of housewives who looked upon them with suspicion, and talked of poisoning. To-day they have universal acceptance. Catering has become a special indus- try in these modern days ; and, though w^e do not for an instant insist that there are not dishes, such as an omelet, a saddle of mutton, and a chop, that can be better cooked in one's private kitchen than cooked in the best restaurant and brought to your door (only because these must be eaten on the instant that they are cooked, and are ruined with reheat- ing), we assert that many dishes are better reheated^ and that most, or at least many, domestic cooks are unequal to 176 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. making a fine omelet, and are so uncer- tain in their results that such irregu- larity would ruin the finances of a res- taurant or catering establishment of good standing, and that were this the only consideration the sacrifice would be nom- inal even then. But another consideration is, that the less complicated the practical parts of a household the more successful they are likely to be, and that one may change one's caterer with far less confusion to one's daily course of life than one's cook. A large number of servants used to be a sort of patent of social standing. It was a concession to the feudal idea of the great man with an army of follow- ers, and only those few wealthy people who kept up great households lived with any comfort at all. It seems to us that in a not too distant future we see, as through a vista, the time when this THE SMALL APARTMENT. 177 ideal will give way to one far more ra- tional and suited to modern institutions; when all the realistic portions of service will be done by competent people out- side, and it wnll be only the ornamental parts which will be accomplished by one or two employes of a higher intelligence than are now easily attainable in the house. This would seem a truly ele- gant method of living. One may argue thus: ^'Ah yes; the cooking, the washing, even the ordinary sewing, can be done out of the house ; and the greater the demand for this, the greater the facilities that will be offered ; that is easily conceded ; but the cleaning — what of that? One cannot send one's house out to be cleaned." To this we answer that, to begin with, that house is cleaner which has no cook- ing and no washing done within its walls; that the modern facilities for 11 178 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. water (at least in the cities) greatly lighten the laVjors of the house-maid. There are beds to make, floors to sweep, dust to be removed, the table to be served. It will not take a retinue of servants to do this thoroughly and or- namentally, directed by an intelligent mistress, who need thus only give half an hour daily to the cares of her house- hold. How many a woman, who now patiently devotes her life to the merely sordid realisms, would feel like a released prisoner under such a system! The artistic instincts are often strong- er in women than in men, and the pop- ular delusion that the majority of women are satisfied with a life of sordid detail, by which no one is benefited, and their families actually robbed, is absurd. In fact, a few over- energetic, unpoetic, un- thinking women, who pass for " practi- cal" because their horizon is limited, THE SMALL APARTMENT. 179 SO dominate the world of house -keeping that most women are really persuaded that they do not do their duty unless they follow in these professors' footsteps. The fact that women chiefly have for ages done the work of the household, or superintended it, instead of occupying themselves with the more ornamental portions of life, or following more in- tellectual and lucrative professions, is to he accounted for in only one way — that, being less muscular and. robust than men, they have been unable to enter into a world where muscle was king. The trade of war was not within their capac- ity, and in the early days of the world it was by the sword that men lived. Neither could the women be made effec- tive as pioneers, to cut down the forests and build habitations. The men had to do this; and some one had to sew, cook, and wash ; and there were none but the 180 BEAUTY IN THE HOUSEHOLD. women to do it; and it was enough, added to the bearing of children. But muscle is no longer king. The weakest man in physique is the equal of the strongest, their minds being equal ; and the slender physique of the wom- an is no drawback, and for many of the more imaginative professions women are oftener fitted by nature than men are. Their training is usually defective, be- cause prejudice still hampers the minds of the parents who bring them up and the world that offers them opportunity ; but, with much more trainins: for house- hold practical matters, they often bring less talent to the work than they do to more intellectual work. Men ai'e, as a rule, far better cooks than women. They care more for eating, and have more ideal about it. Many women have tal- ent for serving a meal ornamentally — very few for cooking it. The Chinamen THE SMALL APARTMENT. 181 have shown us that men can wash as well as women. We only speak of all this to prove that the world has labored under a prejudice in supposing that \vomen have special talent for the prac- tical portions of the household. We be- lieve that far greater success can be ob- tained by training women to attend to the ornament and beauty of the house- hold ; to so plan the household that the scale of living is so adjusted within the means that the commonplace does not occupy most of the time, that they may be able to do greater justice to their husbands and their children. These latter are exacting cares and pleasures that they cannot delegate to others. Many an intelligent, well-educated woman pays a less competent person than herself to instruct her children, while she occupies herself with the work of the house-maid, cook, and seamstress. 182 BEAUTY IX THE HOUSEHOLD. Other wiser mothers leave their house- holds to a certain confusion, while they choose the better part, and make them- selves the companions of their children, and the careful guardians of their health, manners, minds, and morals. And verily they have their reward. Compare these children in intelligence, health, expres- sion, sentiment, to those abandoned to servants, and you will see which are the superior. One step farther would help such mothers to live with their hus- bands and children in an atmosphere of peace and beauty — the larger part of the household service done outside the house, and the arrangements within such as to meet the special needs of that household. Where there is little service it is well to choose one's belongings with a view to this ; so that it may not require a su- perhuman effort to keep things in order. THE SMALL APARTMENT. 183 Let US be content to so order our living with reason, and with simplicity of de- tail, that we may give prominence to the really important things of life — among which Beauty and the expansion of the mind surely stand in the foremost rank. THE END. RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (415)642-6233 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW SeV17 1989 £,oPCT2 3 2004 APR \m7^ %,^^ C\^^ iAi.i i v> 1995 R'PC"""^ED lUl 1 3 1995 SENt 6n ILf i^ - E-.^ I . 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