XTbe **fjtt*rltmtl- Urrarfc. VOL VI. OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1896. NO. 2. HOUSEHOLD FURNISHINGS. that unbroken chain which con- The literal fact of furniture being arP nects the soul of man with the extension of the IN body is easily enough surface of the furniture shown. The earth, human body of to-day is which touches the house on one side so constituted as to be able to receive and the on the other is an such body impor- and such sensations, perform such tant link. 7"he word is here used in the and such labors,. sustain such and such all the household larger sense, covering stress. It is an instrument varying all from the bed- from appliances, movables, greatly the body of the early sav- stead to the teaspoon. They are all age, or of a lower animal. In some of the of the house all it is part furnishing ; ways in others inferior superior, ; serve for the extension of human such as it it is, is conditioned upon the power and activity, and all are evolved furniture which allows its varied ac- by the same great law which gives us tivities. feet to stand on and teeth to chew If the human hand had to do all the with. Let us follow a for moment the work itself, as the monkey's paw does, lines of development which have filled it would not be the human hand. If our moving wagons with household we dug with it, we should lose the impedimenta. finer susceptibilities of touch at once, It is in this field that we find most and grow heavy claws. If we used it fully exemplified that marvelous advan- for spoon and fork, with teeth our only of the knives if tage human creature who makes ; we were forced to do a tenth to himself innumerable ulterior con- part of the day's work "with our bare veniences in passive and active furni- hands," we should soon have no hands ture the for to do it with. would ; writing desk, instance, They lose the being passive and the pen active, and distinctive characteristics which make thereby multiplies and develops his them hands. The infinite subtlety of de~ power a thousandfold. All furniture velopment shown in -the special tools is based on bodily needs, and its value of some trades, needles for instance, is to be measured by its right meeting paint brushes and the exquisite sub- of those needs.. divisions of a dentist's tiny instru- so rest these with them the hand A chair is meant to sit on, and ments ; carry the body without lowering it to the of delicate and varied use. And were 1 earth so the exertion it not for such tools we should not entirely ; saving of getting up again. It is safer, easier, have that hand as it is. The elephant's cleaner than lying on the floor. Origi- trunk and its one finger is a wonderful a the flea has a outfit of nally mere stool, the back was added organ ; good in its mouth but to further rest the trunk muscles and vivisecting tools ; the arms. there is nothing else in nature that ap- All reserved. Copyright, 1896, by THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD COMPANY. rights Vol.-6.-l. 98 THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD. preaches the human hand with its de- to be under glass for protection, is not That which makes it a hand beautiful in common use nor is the rivatives. ; instead of a paw is the capacity for china whose easy use would be its sure varied use, and the capacity for varied destruction. The spider-legged table, its tools. are and the insect of chairs the use depends upon They family ; that parts of the body, like patent detach- things creak when you sit down able finger nails, transposable teeth and tip over when you get up, these are and the like. not beautiful. It is plain then, this being so, that If a thing is of a light arid frail ap- the laws of construction, their use and pearance, as a bamboo chair, it should beauty, must be considered in continu- be also so simple in construction as not ous regard to the human body. They to suggest waste labor. And if a have, of course, their own absolute thing is rich in inlaid work or carving, beside matters of it should be solid to endure condition ; durability enough have to be considered as well as adapt- time and /strain, else its beauty car- ries a ability, and the relative value of differ- constant element of distress and ent materials. so ceases to be beauty. To the household economist the Beauty, be it observed, is not by any " chair represents so much physical rest, means a mere matter of opinion." of so has its laws and dies the modified, course, by personality ; Beauty upon of its own so much re- thereof. It is much beauty ; infringement quite possi- lation to other articles associated with ble, of course, to believe an ugly thing the to be association of it, and so much durability. To beautiful, through a chair is not false low average purchaser j udged, ideas, education, perceptive the first of these con- faculties and the like but because a surely, even by ; siderations, and the others are lost thing seems to a person to be beautiful sight of altogether. it does not by any means follow that it Our forefathers, who made things so is so. Take, for instance, the African fat strictly for use, and that in most cases admiration for extremely women, governed as strictly by economy, the Chinese admiration for deformed missed but one factor of beauty, and feet, our own admiration for deformed of usa- waists that a that is ease. The beauty any ; given object conveys able thing, from a leg to a ladle, is pleasure to the eye by no means proves based on three conditions : use, ease it beautiful. We Americans, as a whole, " and economy. You must have some- have a low national taste, and need thing to stand on, must you ?" says much honest study before we can " here's a true And even after Nature. Very well, leg ; recognize beauty. doesn't work easily ? I'll fix it." And we have learned a good deal about it, forthwith she adds joints and knee- there remains the endlessly varied ap- pans and all manner of ropes and pul- plication according to our personal and leys- to make it go. Then when it is industrial and social and economical strong to stand on and easy to use, she limits. When it comes to house furni- shears off all and "behold ture, that, like home architecture, is superfluities " how beautiful the limb is ! modified by so many necessities as to The maker of the ladle is governed make any clear high beauty impossible. by the same considerations. It must Suppose we begin to plan for parlor a ladle to with it furniture : be perfect begin ; carpet, tables, chairs, sofas, must conform in every curve and line curtains, etc. Everything has to be to the comfortable use of its holder, modified by many considerations. If and it must have no needless weight or it is a family room, it must riot offend substance. Here is where certain the personal taste of any member of fail of the The varied use of ostentatious teaspoons beauty ; family. every there is too much material for either article by many people modifies its our ease of use or their necessary dura- possibilities immensely. If there are fol- bility. The pitcher that does not pour boys, a certain grade of furnishing if cats and cannot be if another ; well beautiful, though of lows ; babies, It gold. The glass so frail that it need s dogs, another. Furnishing depends. HOUSEHOLD FURNISHINGS. 99 depends on so many things that we or professional use of the dentist's cannot hope tor high beauty in the chair, barber's chair, invalid's chair household but still in ordinary ; cer- household Jor use certain low-toned tain rooms in some houses there might harmonies are best; things restful be noble i furnishing ; n others much useful, quietly beautiful, not too that is and in all a pro- pretty ; and nounced. harmony A Bengal tiger on a hearth sweet reasonableness, now almost un- for rug, instance, one of the favorite known. It is quite possible also for designs of rug in many middle-class each of us to learn to know fur- good English houses, can never be con- niture when we see it, as well as good sidered as soothing, and it is happily architecture, and if our household ex- being replaced by something less sug- igencies require cast-iron and tow- gestive of barbarism. cloth things, to see to it that they The background for all be furnishing harmoniously constructed. comes under the head of decoration, Let us consider in detail one article, and is a study in itself. For the fur- say a chair. Being meant to niture support itself there are always three the weight of the human body, the principal considerations: (i) the size chair's that of personal beauty requires the apartment in which it is to be it shall show power to do this, and not the placed ; (2) purpose of the room, more. If a chair looks greatly strong and (3) the object or use of the to enough support a weary elephant, it is articles themselves. To these con- not beautiful nor if it looks as ; though siderations others must be made sub- a cat's weight would strain it.