FURNISHING 277 



proof that a house is kept sweet and aired, and therefore 

 healthy, than the fact that no room ever smells of tobacco. 

 After many years' experience in all sorts of houses, small 

 and large, country and town, I can vouch for it that no 

 house ever does smell of smoke, if cigarettes, cigars, and 

 pipes are allowed everywhere, provided only that a 

 thorough draught can be got through the rooms. I well 

 know how sensitive some people are about tobacco, but it 

 is wonderful how much this dislike can be overcome by 

 custom and a desire to do so. A smoking-room other- 

 wise than as a man's general room, where he can read and 

 write, is, I think, a very objectionable thing, and con- 

 ducive to a great waste of time. Let a man smoke 

 during his employments, and not look upon smoking as 

 an occupation in itself. People should guard against the 

 sentiment of the cheerful country hostess who received 

 her guest with ' This is Liberty Hall ; you can smoke in 

 the garden.' 



Another book, called 'How to be Happy though 

 Married ' (Fisher Unwin), has had an immense sale, and 

 is a much cleverer, better-written book than its rather 

 flippant title might lead one to suppose. I strongly re- 

 commend it to young housewives. It has a short chapter 

 on furnishing, with which I cordially agree, and much in 

 the book is well worth reading and remembering. 



Mr. William Morris's ' Lectures on Art,' published in 

 1881, helped me more than any other book I know ; it 

 cultivated my ideas and refined my taste. The first time 

 I went to Mr. Morris's old shop in Queen's Square, quite 

 as a girl, it was indeed a revelation. It had the effect of 

 a sudden opening of a window in a dark room. All was 

 revealed the beauty of simplicity, the usefulness of form, 

 the fascination of design, and the charm of delicate colour. 

 Added to this, came the appreciation of the things that 

 had gone before, and which in my time had been hidden 



