316 Missouri Agricullural llcport. 



ACETYLENE LIGHTS FOR THE COUNTRY HOUSE. 



A demonstration of the use of the acetylene light plant was given 

 in the Engineering Building Thursday afternoon of the Conference 

 week, by Messrs. Bowls and McVey. They have written a bulletin on 

 the subject, which any one interested may obtain free by addressing the 

 Engineering Experiment Station, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 

 Another bulletin, also for free distribution, on ''Gasoline Lighting of 

 Country Houses," will be issued by the same station in the near future. 



HOUSE DECORATION. 



(Miss Ella Victoria Dobbs, Manual Training Department, University of Missouri). 



The term "House Decoration," calls to mind with most of us per- 

 haps, first the pictures and whatever bits of ornament are used in ad- 

 dition to the purely useful tables and chairs ; then we think of the kind, 

 quality and style of the curtains, wall covering, hangings and rugs in 

 their relation to decoration, and last of all perhaps, the necessary furnish- 

 ings themselves are considered from the standpoint of beauty. I am 

 sure we will all agree that the successful results are obtained only when 

 all these elements are in harmony, and I am also sure that we must really 

 begin at the other end of the list. Our efforts at decoration are evidences 

 of our desire for the beautiful — but what is beauty? One says, "Beauty 

 is in the eye of the beholder," which being interpreted, means that we 

 find the beautiful only when we have the spirit of appreciation. An- 

 other says, "Beauty is indefinable, but we may at least learn something 

 of the way in which it manifests itself," and this study of the ways in 

 which beauty manifests itself we call art; but we are apt to think of it 

 as a mysterious possession of a favored few and not as a thing that lies 

 close at hand to be enjoyed by all who will. 



Because it is this spirit of appreciation that lies back of all success- 

 ful house decoration, I shall consider my subject quite broadly, and if 

 I am able to help any of my hearers to get a clearer view and a stronger 

 hold on the one or two controlling elements which enter into all that 

 goes to make up the home beautiful, I shall do greater service than if it 

 were possible for me in these few minutes to give a complete course in 

 making rugs, stencilling curtains, constructing mission furniture, or any 

 other useful factor in liouse furnishing. 



It is sometimes easier to define a thing by telling what it is not than 

 by trying to tell what it is. A few years ago a woman who had more 



