LIFE IN WASHINGTON 247 
Goode, there was a love of elegance which the easier 
conditions of later years made it possible to gratify in 
suitable measure. But in museums a sober dignity is 
the first essential and the professional decorator a wastrel 
and a pest. Upon the contents of the museum let every 
aid to beauty and taste in arrangement or setting forth 
be employed to enhance the public interest in that for 
which the museum exists, but keep the walls free from 
frescos and the furniture from the carver. All that they 
should offer is an unobtrusive background. In his rela- 
tions with his subordinates Baird was admirable. Orders 
were given quietly and with consideration. His way 
with the young student was a mixture of fatherly over- 
sight, kindly criticism and careful training. They came 
to him as to a father confessor, and the half humorous 
philosophy he installed in his advice was not only healing 
but wise. He was never profane; no one would have 
ventured on a risky story in his presence. I have heard 
that once or twice in thirty-seven years he was known 
to be angry, but it was regarded as an astounding phe- 
nomenon by all who knew him. 
