WAY-SIDE HINTS 



own efflorescence, nowadays, will out-match 

 the loudest extravagances of the milliners. 

 We seem to have drifted into an epoch of the 

 largest and crudest flamboyance — in morals, 

 in brokerage, and in carpentry. A sober, sim- 

 ple-minded man is worse than lost amongst 

 the new brood of architectural improvers. 



Notwithstanding all this, I venture to plead 

 for a wholesome severity of taste; if simple 

 material is to be dealt with, it should be dealt 

 with simply. If we have a homely old-style 

 house to modify and render attractive, do not 

 let us make its modification a mockery by the 

 blazon of Chinese scroll-work. There is a 

 way of dealing with what is old, in keeping 

 with what is old, and of dealing with what 

 is homely, in keeping with what is homely. 

 A sensible middle-aged lady of the old school, 

 if she have occasion to present herself afresh 

 in society, and assert her prerogatives once 

 more, will not surely do so by tying tow- 

 bags at the back of her head and widen- 

 ing her skirts indecorously. But she will 

 bring her old manner with her, and so equip 

 the old manner by the devices of a judicious 

 art that we shall wonder and admire in spite 

 of ourselves. 



In illustration of my views about homely 



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