A FEW USEFUL HINTS 189 



decoration the opening subject of his speech. It 

 was this particular work which led to my being 

 commissioned to go to Berlin to strike an English 

 note in the decorations which were to greet H.M. 

 King Edward VII., on the occasion of his recent 

 visit to the German capital. 



I remarked when I was in Berlin that the Germans, 

 although they decorate exteriors in a very extrava- 

 gant way, appear to have but one idea, which 

 consists of line upon line of wreaths and garlands 

 arranged in a stiff and almost funereal way, and 

 consequently one of the works which I created was 

 unique and had so many admirers that the traffic 

 became blocked, and had to be frequently cleared 

 by mounted police, and yet there was nothing extra- 

 ordinary about the work, and it was certainly much 

 less costly than many of the others. Its principal 

 charm lay in the fact that the colour-scheme was 

 correct, the architectural lines of the building were 

 religiously preserved and the decorations made 

 subservient to them. 



It is a pity that real flowers and foliages are not 

 more generally used in this style of work, instead of 

 the hideous strings of gaudy coloured flags and 

 bunches of tissue-paper which are supposed to repre- 

 sent roses. A much less extensive scheme of 



