FURNISHING 287 



always be covered gradually by framed pictures, photo- 

 graphs, or prints of all kinds. In a nursery, the choice 

 of these photographs may make an impression for life, 

 artistic or the contrary. A young man once said to me 

 that in travelling in Italy one of the chief joys he felt in 

 visiting the famous galleries was the recognition of a 

 picture that had been an old familiar friend as a framed 

 photograph at home. He added that, if ever he had 

 children, he thought one of the best decorations for 

 a nursery would be a dado made of photographs, of 

 various sizes, of some of the masterpieces of the world. 

 The difficulty of this would be that nurseries must be 

 easily cleaned and renewed, and I think the photographs 

 to form the dado would have to be stuck on to thick 

 pasteboard or thin wood. 



I would allow all young people, both boys and girls, 

 as much as possible to do the decorating and furnishing 

 of their own rooms, limiting them, of course, to the sum 

 intended to be spent. Taste in decorating, as in all else, 

 is a constant cause of difference, and what every person 

 objects to most is what is to them old-fashioned that is, 

 what has immediately preceded their own day. 



A detail of family life, but not at all an unimportant 

 one in my estimation, is the providing of a large, firm, 

 folding table in the general sitting-room. It can be kept 

 outside or in a corner of the room, and should never remain 

 open during the day, but be brought out nightly when the 

 lamps are lit and the curtains are drawn. This plan 

 enables every member of the family to have room for 

 separate employment. Everyone knows how crowded 

 the permanent tables become ;> in an habitually used 

 sitting-room. The use of an empty table was first 

 suggested to my mind by some remarks made by 

 Goethe to Eckermann in the 'Conversations.' He 

 strongly recommends bringing out any good books 



