250 DECORATIVE ART IN AMERICA. 



DELAWARE. 



the once glaring monotony of straight lines, 

 white paint, and green blinds has given way 

 before architectural vagaries of gable and peak, 

 and the subdued reds and greens that assimi- 

 late so well with the landscape. Probably the 

 greatest gain is in the disassociation of taste, 

 art, and the outlay of money. That which is 

 so apparent outside is even more evident with- 

 in. For example, the roughly plastered interior 

 is not a surface to be covered over, smoothed 

 down, and coated with glaring white. On the 

 contrary, there is texture in its roughness. 

 The brush-marks are left bold, giving the charm 

 of variety to the surface. This makes a fit- 

 ting background for color. The most beautiful 

 treatment is with gold and slight admixture of 

 color red, green, blue put on in short strokes 

 at different angles. If gold be too expensive, 

 there are tints of subdued red. The paint is 

 thick, and is put on heavily, with curve and 

 sweep. If greater variety is desired, a simple 

 design in stencil is cut and applied in lighter 

 or contrasting tint. Work of this sort is so 

 easy that women have done it unassisted. 

 The wall divisions of frieze, field, and dado are 

 observed, if desired, with equal ease. These 

 can be varied in numerous ways. For example, 

 the dado may be of matting treated with color; 

 the field receives some such attention as is 

 spoken of above ; the frieze is of burlap, coffee- 

 sacking stretched on frames, gilded, tinted, and, 

 if desired, receives wall-decoration in broad, 

 simple tints, such as any one may study from 

 so humble a source as a Japanese fan. 



The principal source of decoration, that 

 which appeals first, is color. This is evident 

 throughout the country. In some places we 

 find it carried very far, and until such decora- 

 tion as we find in pictures and firic-d-brac may 

 almost be dispensed with. The tint of the 

 room, we may say, is a deep Indian blue. The 

 largest surface is found in the small, all-one pat- 

 tern of the wall-paper. The doors are treated 

 as panels, and the window-frames as veritable 

 frames. There are seven or eight moldings ; 

 these are each given a different tint of blue. 

 The more prominent have a metallic luster 

 due to the mingling of silver or gilt; the re- 

 cesses are in gold, very dark blue, or deep red, 

 throwing out the moldings. The panels are 

 in lighter tints. The cove is treated in the 

 same way, the tints leading into the lighter 

 blue of the ceilings, which grow still lighter 

 to the center. Again, this treatment unites 

 various tints. There is a hall, for example; 

 the ceiling is yellow pink, the cove leads down 

 through different tints in the molding, the last 

 being burnished iridescent green, into the green 

 field, and is carried agnin into a dark-red dado. 

 This is daring \york, but work that a nice feel- 

 ing for harmonies in color makes successful. 



Another mode of decorating a room, we find, 

 is to take some picture, or piece of drapery, or 

 some choice bit of color, as a starting-point, 

 and carry it throughout the room. No less 

 admirable is the ingenuity often exercised in 



securing artistic effects. An instance is afford- 

 ed in the use of tea-chest matting as panels, 

 prominently placed, flanking double doors. 

 These are gilded and painted in broad floral 

 designs of yellow and brown. These tints give 

 the dominant note of the room, and are car- 

 ried into carpet, curtains, and draperies, which 

 are accented by the introduction in smaller 

 quantities of more positive color. The har- 

 monizing qualities of gold make it always valu- 

 able. While its true value is only reached by 

 using it pure, there are still many admirable 

 preparations within reach of humble means. 



Draperies make an important element in 

 modern interior decoration. The term " dra- 

 pery " suggests a distinction that should be 

 made. In its modern acceptation, drapery re- 

 fers to beauty of line, and this depends on the 

 natural folds of every stuff. Accordingly, the 

 artificial intricacies of hangings and lambre- 

 quins have given way before pliable stuffs, ar- 

 ranged with freedom and simplicity. Cotton 

 flannels and yellow cotton have proved more 

 desirable than more expensive mohairs, and, 

 except Madras muslin, no lace has been found 

 more artistically desirable than cheese-cloth. 

 Among colored stuffs, blue denim maybe men- 

 tioned as among the most valuable. Hangings 

 of thin silk, suitably lined, and jute velours, 

 are included among handsomer stuffs. These 

 are embroidered in borders in color, with gold 

 largely predominating. The peculiarity of this 

 embroidery lies in copying the vagaries of tint 

 and drawing of the natural flower within cer- 

 tain geometrical limits. For such work, quilt- 

 ing-frames long disused are brought out, and 

 revive in a new way an old recreation. A 

 simpler mode of treating these curtains is to 

 outline the forms, and fill them in with thin 

 water-color washes. A common and signifi- 

 cant evidence of the appreciation of color is 

 seen in the hangings and coverings of silk mo- 

 saics, called " crazy-quilts," many of which 

 show brilliant kaleidoscopic effects. A novel 

 use of work of this kind has been seen in a 

 ceiling, in which was placed a molding of 

 Moorish design over the gay silken fabric. In- 

 terior decoration of this sort has fallen chiefly 

 into the hands of women, who have carried 

 their endeavors into more muscular sorts of 

 work. For their own buffets and cabinets 

 they prepare hammered-brass panels, and for 

 their own dining-rooms stamp the leather that 

 covers the furniture. 



DELAWARE. State GoTernment. The follow- 

 ing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, Charles C. Stockley, Democrat; 

 Secretary of State, William F. Causey ; Treas- 

 urer, John M. Houston; Auditor, Jesse L. 

 Long; Attorney - General, George Gray; Su- 

 perintendent of Free Schools, Thomas N. Will- 

 iams. Judiciary, Supreme Court: Chief-Jus- 

 tice, Joseph P. Comegys ; Associate Justices, 

 L. E. Wales (succeeded by William G. White- 

 ly), John W. Houston, and Edward Wootton. 

 Chancellor, Willard Saulsbury. 





