130 THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 



haven of rest and enjoyment; for they do rest 

 the eye, they do relax the long-strung tension 

 of nervous energy, they do afford a sweet, 

 soothing enjoyment. We may not always sense 

 it, but try bare walls, when physically and men- 

 tally jaded, and note the effect. 



Happy that home that has artistic taste equal 

 to the selection and arranging of such pictures 

 as "that daily viewed, please daily and whose 

 charm outlasts the flight of years." A room 

 with pictures in it and a room without pictures 

 differ by nearly as much as a room with or 

 without windows. Nothing, we think, is more 

 melancholy, particularly to a person who has 

 to spend much time in his room, than bare, 

 blank walls. Pictures are loopholes of escape 

 to the soul, leading it out into other and joy- 

 ous spheres. It is such an inexpressible belief 

 to a person engaged in writing or reading or 

 any confining indoor work, on looking up, not 

 to have his line of vision chopped squarely off 

 by dull and odious white walls, but find his soul 

 escaping through the frame of an exquisite pic- 

 ture, to other beautiful and perhaps idyllic 

 scenes where the fancy may revel for a moment 

 delighted and refreshed. 



Is it winter in your world? Perhaps it is 

 summer in the picture. It may be dull and 



