Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/335

 mind a room, the walls of which are papered with what looks Hke a striped blue silk with silk spots on it, and which wears extremely well. The carpet has a certain amount of blue in it, the art serge table-cover is a lovely shade of blue, an Indian wrought copper plaque candelabra hangs on either side of the Sheraton sideboard, the chairs are Chippendale, and the mantelpiece is most uncommon. It consists of two polished mahogany posts, that evidently helped to support one of the old carved four-posters, and these are fixed at a considerable distance from the vivid blue tiled fireplace ; while above them is a mahogany shelf, the tops of the posters passing through holes made in the shelf, and below it a mahogany panel, with glass in the centre. Above are three blue and red jars, and the whole effect of the room is charming. Through the wide, leaded window unrolls 313 WOMAN'S HOME and, so far as the pleasure of the gazer is concerned, a complete failure. This collector is not necessarily the born seeker after beauty; he is usually a crank who concentrates on one aspect of the beautiful, and by so doing misses the great truth that it is in the proportion of one part to another that true harmony lies. He also misses the fact that if he appreciates rare curios and bric-a-brac, he has only to go and look at them in a museum, when he will see better far than any he is ever likely to be able to afford. And the most exquisite work of man cannot afford us the pleasure of the things made by God — it may be some enchantment of landscape, of sky or sea, or merely a flower, but it floods us with the knowledge that beauty is to be had for the taking, that ugliness in our lives, in our surroundings, is solely of our own making, and we can avoid it if we please. A good example of a simple but well furnished dining-room a glorious view; and let me say here, that while, of course, in ths country, lace curtains are an absurdity, even in town they can be done without. They are never clean more than a day, they obscure the look-out by their frowsiness, they harbour dirt, contami- nate fresh air ; in flats, where one is over- looked, they are still unpardonable, for strips of muslin-edged lace, that divide in the middle and give a free entry to air and sun- shine, are quite adequate. Only when an alcove positively howls for a drapery should one be used, and then it must be substantial ; all flummeries must be banished if any nobility of line is to be preserved. Of course, it happens sometimes that in the search for beauty a man loses his head and way, seeks the bizarre, the uncommon, or goes to extraordinary trouble and expense to collect furniture belonging to a certain period, the result being chilly, unbeautiful. People who have a surfeit of luxury and show have very little knowledge of what beauty is. It is not a matter of furniture, and show, and lavish entertainment, which often accomplishes ugliness and revolts us by its sheer vulgarity, by its set determina- tion to dazzle instead of charm. One could point easily to multi-million- aires of the present day who, with all the treasures of the world at their disposal, will hang one of Watts' prints beside an oil- painting in their dining-rooms, proudly display the most delicate water-colours on a voyante paper, scatter priceless Persian rugs about their floors without the slightest regard to their scheme of colour ; so that you walk from one " object of virtue " to another, and wax profane over the shocking misuse of material that should have kept you dumb with ecstasy if isolated and properly arranged.