Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/232

 188 Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal. [Sept., NECESSITY FOR THE MUTUAL CONFORMITY OP HOUSES AND FURNITURE. By George J. Henkels, THE easy communication with Eu- rope — together with the desire for travel, which appears to be national with Americans — has improved our taste, both in furniture and architecture. The old cities of Europe abound with objects of interest to Americans, from the grand old cathedrals and churches, with their renowned paintings and sculp- ture, embodying the genius of Raphael, Michael Angelo and other celebrities of past ages ; their palaces, adorned with a munificence of expense, which Ave can copy, but, for cost's sake, dare not ex- cel ; and the grand architecture of the buildings to be admired, by generations yet unborn, for their beauty of design and solidity of workmanship. The furniture of the medieval ages, ornate in conception and in carving, was, in the- time of Louis XIV., enriched with elegant designs in porcelain, and often even with solid ornaments of gold and silver. In those days, when the mon- arch was absolute master of the people, the amount of labor bestowed on build- ings and furniture was of no moment, as the artisan was forced to be content with just enough wages for the most miserable sustenance. In America, where the artisan is a part of the government, and by his vote can neutralize that of the most wealthy or influential citizen, who may wish to leg- islate contrary to either the artisan's in- terest or his wishes, we would cut a sorry figure in attempting to erect such monuments of art, as St. Peter's at Rome, the Cathedral at Cologne, and others of almost equal celebrity, which have been constructed within the past thousand years. Even these works of Christianity appal us with the magnitude of the labor ex- pended upon them ; and how much less can we comprehend the sj^stem of labor that enabled the pagan kings and em- perors to erect such stupendous works as the Great Wall of China, the grand temples, (the ruins of which attest their former magnificence,) and the Pyramids of Egypt, erected by the Pharaohs whose mummied remains declare that their physical construction was not su- perior to our own. Even now, in the nineteenth century, the boasted era of enlightenment, when " Aspiring men would be angels, and angels would be gods," we, with all our scientific knowledge and enlarged ideas of mechanical power and construction, could not, by the combined power of the whole world, raise one of the large stones and place it on the Pyramid of Cheops as we there see them. Aye ! and we even have no mechanical appli- ances, that could remove them from their present position. We know of no means of transportation for the im- mense solid marble columns, that for- merly supported the grand temple of Karnac on the Nile. We could not even remove them from the quarry whence they were obtained, much less transport them nearly four hundred miles, as was done in their case. The contemplation of the magnitude of such ancient and principally heathen works of labor and art is a profitable occupation for the scientific and mechanical part of our
 * Cabinet and Upholstery Warerooms, N. W. corner of Thirteenth and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia.