THE USES OF WOOD 



WOODEN FURNITURE AND THE PLACE IT FILLS 



BY HU MAXWELL 



Editor's Note. This is the eighth story in a series of important and very valuable articles by Mr. Maxwell on wood and its 

 uses. The series will thoroughly cover the various phases of the subject, from the beginnings in the forest through the processes 

 of logging, lumbering, transportation and milling, considering in detail the whole field of the utilization and manufacture of wood. 



MANUFACTURERS seldom design lines of furni- 

 ture for special occasions, in the same way that 

 milliners make Easter hats, which are in season 

 during a few days, but never again. The buyer of furni- 

 ture, however, if he is posted, and if he is gifted with 

 taste and judgment, should never be at a loss in selecting 

 suitable things for his own house or for a friend's. The 

 field permits wide choice. Time, place, circumstances, 

 and persons must be taken into account. What might 

 look well in one house would be out of harmony in 

 another. The taste of one person might be pleased with 

 things for which another would have little use. A coun- 

 try home, unsupplied with electricity, would not exactly 



fit an electric lamp or an elaborately carved walnut or 

 mahogany pedestal. In that case, would not an old 

 pattern of candlestick, of fine wood and on a pedestal, be 

 more suitable? Or would not a cedar clothes chest be 

 appropriate and more in conformity with the surround- 

 ings ? The electric lamp might, with perfect harmony and 

 in excellent taste, decorate the home of the city friend. 

 Take the case of children who are made the recipients 

 of presents. It is pretty hard to induce them to believe 

 that a clawfoot dining table, or a folding bed, or a 

 curved-glass china closet, was really meant for a gift to 

 them, though their names may be on the shipping tags 

 when the expressman delivers the presents. It would be 



APPROPRIATE CHRISTMAS GIFTS OF WOOD 



This charming picture of an interior contains some good suggestions for Christmas gifts all the way from the fine four-poster bedstead and the 

 practical and comfortable looking chairs, to the small table with the attractive electric lamp made of mahogany and the writing-desk on which 

 stands a handsome mahogany clock nad a pleasing, but inexpensive, little camouflage for the telephone all made of wood. 



711 



