XVI II 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



Marc v i, 1 9 13 



GOOD TASTE 



u|T is open to doubt," says an editorial 

 1 writer in the New York Evening Post, 

 "whether in practice we are as faithful to- 

 day to the principles of good taste as we are 

 conscious of them in theory. Our pride in 

 having escaped from the Victorian ugliness 

 in architecture, in. furniture, and in decora- 

 tion is undoubtedly justified. In search for 

 the beautiful we have gone back to the 

 antique, the Middle Ages, and the eigh- 

 teenth century in England. The things 

 with which our great middle classes sur- 

 round themselves are in line, in proportion, 

 in color, more beautiful than they were 

 forty years ago. But when it comes to the 

 more abstract elements of sincerity and ap- 

 propriateness, we have less cause for self- 

 congratulation. Victorian houses were 

 gloomy and Victorian furniture was un- 

 comfortable. But there is exaggeration in 

 the intensity with which we have gone in 

 for comfort. Contemners of the Victorian 

 taste are in the habit of saying that the 

 houses and the furniture of the period were 

 as narrow and drab as the life of the time. 

 But what a dangerous admission to make, 

 that the surroundings and the thoughts of 

 people of that time were harmonious!" 



"Are our own lives in harmony with our 

 surroundings? We have built houses in 

 imitation of old English manor houses and 

 furnished them in imitation of the eigh- 

 teenth century. Or we have surrounded 

 ourselves with the simple lines and cool 

 colors that Munich has borrowed from the 

 ancient world and from the Orient. But 

 what business have our restless twentieth 

 century lives in this austere setting? Pre- 

 sumably, it is the aesthetic sense that draws 

 the present generation to long, dim rooms, 

 with low-beamed ceilings and large red fire- 

 places. But what of the higher asstheticism 

 which arises when the soul is in agreement 

 with its environment? As examples of 

 formal beauty, these modernized Tudor 

 houses that are filling up the suburbs will 

 do very well. But to create the spiritual 

 atmosphere that goes with such a house re- 

 ouires an effort. Of what relevancy are 

 fireplaces and low ceilings in an age that 

 reads by electric light and plays tennis?" 



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TEMPER AMONG BEES 



THERE is an idea prevailing that bees 

 are desirous of inflicting pain upon 

 man, whereas they are lovable creatures, 

 and well worth close study. It is by 

 noticing when they resent us interfering 

 with the internal economy of the hive that 

 we can take percautions to avoid our wills 

 clashing with theirs. The best time to 

 manipulate a colony of bees is during the 

 middle of the day, when the great bulk of 

 the bees are foraging, and the worst is just 

 after a heavy thunder shower, when all the 

 nectar has been washed out of the flowers, 

 and the bees are consequently doing noth- 

 ing. Let the over-anxious endeavor to do 

 anything among the bees during this in- 

 terval and he will pay dearly for it. Again, 

 at the end of the season some beekeepers 

 are so foolish as to leave frames, after 

 extracting, in the vicinity of the hives; it is 

 dangerous then to approach the hives, and 

 if a road be near passers-by may also suf- 

 fer. Bees then seem perfectly crazy, and 

 it is useless to go near them until the com- 

 motion has subsided, and the dripping 

 frames are either emptied of their sweets, 

 or night has come, and the frames have 

 been removed. This feeding on honey in 

 the open always incites to robbing, whereas 

 syrup-feeding on pea or other meal-feeding 

 does not cause any trouble. 



