HOUSES AND GARDENS 



woodland tree, perhaps, such as the mountain-ash, with its orange berries and 

 white flowers, may form the basis for the decoration of the walls. In the 

 choice of such subjects a certain appropriateness is desirable, and thus a 

 dining-room might well be adorned with the grey leaves and purple clusters 

 of the grape, or a bedroom with the drowsy poppy. The cottage character 

 of a small house may be enforced by decoration with the simpler woodland 

 flowers, such as the daisy or buttercup, and wherever these are used they 

 should vary in their treatment according to the special conditions and limita- 

 tions of a material or craft ; and while embroidery or painting might admit 

 of an approximation to realism, such processes as stencilling, metal work or 

 wood-carving would each demand a special convention. For the conventional 

 treatment of patural forms should mainly consist of a modification of actual 

 forms to suit the possibilities of particular materials and methods of work, 

 and such considerations will often make it desirable to depart from actualities 

 and to give but a more simplified symbolic rendering of the natural form. 

 The success of the work will depend not so much on the accuracy with which 

 a given flower is copied as in the sympathetic knowledge displayed of the 

 limitations and possibilities of materials and tools. 



CHAPTER TWENTY 



MOTTOES FOR THE HOUSE 



|]T has been said that a room should express in its decoration 

 and furnishing something of the individuality and charac- 

 teristics of its occupants, and that its general aspect should 

 inform us in an inarticulate way of the kind of person who 



lives there. 



It must be confessed, however, that the expression of personality 

 which a room is capable of conveying in this way is not very explicit and 

 may be misleading, but when decoration becomes articulate in the writing on 

 the wall it affords a more definite revelation of the character and tastes of 

 its owner. 



In an age when conversation is often limited to trivial and insignificant 

 subjects, such a form of expression is not without its uses, helping us to 

 understand something of the ideas and conceptions of life which a man is 

 prepared to subscribe to. 



But the instinctive reticence which makes us unwilling to blurt out our 

 thoughts to every acquaintance may suggest the advisability of making 

 these writings somewhat cryptic in their character, and to still further 

 conceal the heart of our mystery it may be well that they should not only 

 be written somewhat illegibly but also in a foreign tongue. Mottoes should 

 then be disposed with the idea of decorating a space with a compact and 



47 



