March, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XXVll 



much the same appearance both without and 

 within as the old home which was burned 

 by the British and in whose famous East 

 Room Mrs. Dolly Madison was accustomed 

 to dry the linen of the presidential house- 

 hold. The alterations made to the White 

 House some years ago were really in the 

 nature of restorations or, it might be said, 

 of "amplifications" and were planned with 

 such faultless taste that the White House as 

 it now appears is a stately old Georgian 

 mansion in a pleasant part and quite suit- 

 able for the official residence of the Ameri- 

 can president. 



With each recurring inaugural the ques- 

 tion of changing the date of the inaugura- 

 tion comes to the front. The reason for the 

 projected change of course has largely to 

 do with the weather, for early March in 

 Washington is bleak and wintry and extends 

 but a chilly welcome to the half-million of 

 people who gather to witness the inaugural 

 functions. Six weeks later the spring would 

 be far advanced and Dame Nature might 

 reasonably be expected to smile auspiciously 

 upon the beginning of the new administra- 

 tion. The conducting of the inaugural 

 early in March has been the cause of un- 

 told suffering and the numbers of deaths 

 which have resulted will never be known. 

 At the inaugural of General Grant many of 

 the West Point cadets who marched in the 

 parade returned with frozen limbs and 

 great must have been the sufferings of the 

 veterans who faced the chilly blasts of 

 icy wind at the inaugural of the same com- 

 mander at whose command they had so 

 often faced the enemy upon southern battle- 

 fields. Mr. Taft was inaugurated during a 

 blizzard and the hundreds of thousands who 

 stood that day in the slush which covered 

 the streets of Washington must have earn- 

 estly hoped that some day a wise and 

 paternal government will appoint a later 

 dav for this function. 



FALSE COLORS 



THE opal, says a writer in Harper's 

 Weekly, has no color in the sense of 

 pigmentation. To break open an opal in 

 order to observe its hues would be the 

 equivalent to killing the goose that laid 

 the golden eggs. Neither golden eggs 

 nor rainbow hues would be found. Opal 

 consists of hydrated silica. It is not uni- 

 form in texture. If the word surface may 

 be used for interior conditions, it might 

 be said that the opaline silica is in the 

 form of surfaces and layers that lie com- 

 pactly against one another. These layers 

 refract the light at various angles, giving 

 forth the colored flashes in the same way 

 that a pure crystal prism refracts the 

 colors of the spectrum. Technically 

 speaking, these layers of silica are said to 

 possess a different index of refraction 

 from that of the matrix. As the opal is 

 moved the various layers break the light 

 into colors, which change, of course, ac- 

 cording to the position of the stone. The 

 iridescence of nacre, or mother-of-pearl, 

 is also a matter of form and not actual 

 color. In fact, all "changeable" colors are 

 more or less the result of form even where 

 there is pigmentation beneath, such as in 

 certain ribbed silks. When sunlight 

 bears directly upon finely ribbed metal, 

 as a file, there is the same play of colors. 

 In the case of mother-of-pearl an interest- 

 ing experiment has been made. An im- 

 pression of the pearl was taken upon pure 

 white wax. It was then found that the 

 apparently smooth surface of the pearl 

 had still sufficient irregularities to im- 

 press upon the wax a surface that re- 

 sulted in similar color manifestations. 



a a □ <niiJitiii!!]!iit!iuifii> 1 



"IlifJl* D lllllllllllillliillllilfllf □ OIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIUIII 



1 



GUARANTEED 

 PLUMBING 

 FIXTURES 





THE home builder knows that when Standard" Plumbing 

 fixtures are installed in his bathroom, they represent the 

 highest sanitary experience and skill — that better equipment 

 could not be bought. They make the bathroom modern and 

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 unquestioned superiority. 



Genuine 'Standard" fixtures for the Home 

 and for Schools, Office Buildings, Public 

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 of one brand of baths bearing the Red and 

 Black Label, which, while of the first 

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 thinner enameling, and thus meet the re- 



Standard <$amtar.g Iftig. Co. 



quirements of those who demand 'Standard" 

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Dept. 23 



New York 

 Chicago 

 Philadelphia 

 Toronto, Can. 

 Pittsburgh 

 St. Louis 



35 West 31st Street 



900 S. Michigan Ave. 



. 1215 Walnut Street 



59 Richmond St. E. 



106 Federal Street 



100 N. Fourth Street 



Cincinnati . . 633 Walnut Street 

 Nashville . 315 Tenth Avenue, So. 

 NewOrleans, Baronne & St.JosephSts. 

 Montreal, Can. . 215 Coristine Bldg. 

 Boston . . John Hancock Bldg. 

 Louisville . 319-23 W. Main Street 

 Cleveland . 648 Huron Road, S.E. 



PITTSBURGH, PA. 



Hamilton, Can., 20-28 Jackson St. W. 



London . 57-60 Holborn Viaduct, E.C. 

 Houston, Tex. . Preston and Smith Sts. 

 Washington, D.C. . . Southern Bldg. 

 Toledo. Ohio . . 311-321 Erie Street 

 Fort Worth, Tex. . Front and Jones Sts. 



.llllilllllillllHIII" □ 111 



Trade Marks 





i i Trade Names 



Do you use a Trade Mark ? 



Do you own the Trade Marks you use ? 



You should read this booklet to obtain a definite 

 and clear conception of Trade Mark rights 



A TRADE MARK is a most valuable business asset. It will pay you to 

 know now such marks are made valuable, and why and how they are 

 protected. The registration of trade marks is explained in this booklet, 

 which gives a thoroughly comprehensive idea of the requirements for registration. 

 The elements of a good trade mark are fully discussed, and many tests to 

 determine the requisites of a desirable trade mark are given. 



The booklet is printed in two colors 

 and is illustrated by fifty engravings 



Send twenty-five cents today for a copy 



MUNN & COMPANY, :: Solicitors of Talents 



Branch Office, Washington, D. C. 361 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 



