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'rill' average householder, the home-builder, or the |)asser-by glanc- 

 ing casually into the modern show window of the up-to-date depart- 

 ment store sees in the attractive and ofteutime beautiful interior 

 decorations the handsome pieces of furniture, the luxuriously faced 

 jiiano, or in the highly artistic window ornamentation merely a 

 beautiful exposition of something which for all he knows might 

 liave grown from the ground or fallen from the sky in exactly the 

 form in which he sees it. It is natural for us all to accept things 

 as we see them. We board luxuriously appointed Pullman trains 



HI..\rK \V.\LNUT LOGS AND BUTTS ON YARD OF FRANK PDRCELL 

 Of KANSAS CITY. MO. 



feeling that they have come into being somewhat in the nature 

 of the various creations which Aladdin produced by a simple rub ou 

 his magic lamp. We accept all these things as our just due feel- 

 ing that we of the twentieth century naturally merit all of the 

 good things, conveniences and the luxury that are provided for us. 

 And as a general thing we do not even stop to analyze the possible 

 processes of production of the many beauties and comforts that 

 we can enjoy or that are placed at our disposal. 



This is probably true more in connection with the many beautiful 

 and highly useful articles made from wood than of any other class. 

 We are used to sitting in chairs when we wish to rest during the 

 <laytime, and to lie in beds when we want to sleep at night. We 

 have always eaten our meals at tables and generally speaking have 

 built our bouses of wood, but we' accept all these things merely as 

 something which is simply there for us to use. 



It should be interesting for the layman to delve into the many 

 steps which have been pa-ssed through, for instance, in creating a 

 beautiful bedroom suit made from mahogany, a handsome chair 

 made of oak, or a .beautiful dining room table of walnut. The aver- 

 age individual has absolutely no conception of the many sources 

 of supply of these various woods, nor as to the manner or form in 

 which they were gotten from the woods and turned into the raw- 

 material from which the finished article is made. He might have 

 an exceedingly limited working knowledge of some of the processes 

 going into the manufacture of furniture, but going beyond that 

 into the manufacture of lumber or veneers, he is entirely at sea, 

 and when you go even further ami ask him what he knows as to 

 the method of selecting the beautiful walnut and the mahogany in 

 the IngP. and the pains necessary in getting them from the woods, 



he understands about as much of what you are talking as he would 

 if you were discussing Perry's data issued in proof of his discovery 

 of the North Pole. 



Considerable has been written as to the way in which mahogany 

 is gotten from the woods, the way the trees are located and felled, 

 and the way hewn logs are gotten down to the waterways, and 

 from there to the ocean. Very little has been said, however, regard- 

 ing the painstaking work necessary in selecting the raw material 

 and producing the beautiful pieces of furniture made of our own 

 domestic walnut. Ten or fifteen years ago walnut in furniture, 

 stair work and interior trim was considered the height of fashion 

 and luxury, but possibly because of the inability of the wood finishers 

 at those times to create the bright, cheerful finishes which the 

 average home-builder now demands and possibly also to a degree 

 because of the increasing prices of walnut, this most desirable 

 wood gradually lost its popularity until up to a few _vears ago it com- 

 manded but a vei'y small proportion of the prestige which it for- 

 merly enjoyed. 



Of late years, however, considerable advancement has been made 

 in the matter of finishing walnut. In fact, in a great many cases 

 the old, sombre pieces of walnut furniture which when properly 

 put together will last practically forever, have been brought down 

 from the attics and refinished with the modern idea of cheerfulness, 

 and bright beauty in mind. As a result, a more complete realiza- 

 tion has come as to the possibility of creating a renewed demand for 

 household articles made from this wood dressed in its more modern 

 attire. 



Furniture manufacturers, piano men, and those contracting for 



SOMK Illlilir.y-FIGURKD BLACK W.\LNTJT BUTTS ON YARD OF 

 FRANK PURCELL, KANSAS CITY, MO. 



handsorhe show window displays have been venturing further and 

 further into the use of walnut with the proper finish, and in fact 

 some of the productions of the highest type of furniture in Chicago 

 and other markets are displayed more and more frequently in bed 

 room suits, dining room suits and in fact in some cases in living 

 room suits, made of walnut throughout. 



The character of the wood used in the ordinary run of various 

 types of household furniture does not necessitate any unusual effort 

 as far as the selection and manufacture of the wood is concerned. 

 As a general thing the logs are picked up by men and concerns who 



