November, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



IX 



CHRISTMAS NUMBER OF AMERICAN HOMES AND 



GARDENS 



THERE is little doubt but that every friend of Amer- 

 ican Homes and Gardens will find the December 

 issue the most beautiful number of the magazine which 

 has yet appeared. From cover to cover the December 

 issue will be one of surpassing interest and beauty. Al- 

 ready the feature of the illustrations in American Homes 

 and Gardens has won it an enviable position in the maga- 

 zine world, which standard the Christmas number will 

 maintain without resorting to any of the bizarre effects, 

 that the Editor believes are adjuncts to dignified magazine 

 making. The opening article, containing many remarkable 

 illustrations, including a full page frontispiece, will be on 

 the subject of Cedars of Lebanon, being the story of the 

 famous cedars of the Holy Land and other prototypes 

 found in some remarkable specimens of the same species, 

 which have been successfully raised in America. A Cali- 

 fornia Bungalow of the Swiss Chalet Type is the sub- 

 ject of an article by Air. Charles Alma Byers. This article 

 will be illustrated with exterior views, interior views and 

 floor plans. The page feature will be devoted to describ- 

 ing aquamarine glass, an exquisite production of the age. 

 Curtains for Windows will be the subject of a contribution 

 from the pen of Miss Ida J. Burgess, a well-known interior 

 decorator and artist of note. The beautiful town house 

 of Miss Elsie De Wolfe will be described and illustrated 

 by Mr. Harry Martin Yeomans. A California villa of 

 the Roman type will form the centre page feature, and 

 Mr. F. F. Rockwell, the well-known horticulturist, con- 

 tributes a practical and interesting illustrated article on the 

 subject of House Plants. An English half-timber house of 

 unusual attractiveness will be described, and the Collec- 

 tors' Department will contain especially noteworthy articles, 

 one of which, "Old Cottage Figures," will be contributed 

 by Miss Mary H. Northend, and another, "Old Screens," 

 illustrated with photographic reproductions of some new 

 examples by Elizabeth Lounsbery. The main section of 

 the magazine will contain the usual departments of 

 "Within the House;" "Around the Garden," and "Helps 

 to the Housewife." 



THE COLLECTORS' MART 



MANY readers of American Homes and Gardens 

 seem to labor under the impression that a charge is 

 made for the Want, Exchange and Offering advertisements, 

 which appear in the Collectors' Mart from month to 

 month. American Homes and Gardens makes no charge 

 for inserting Wants, Exchanges and Offerings in connection 

 with collectors' interests. Furthermore, this service is not 

 restricted to subscribers. All friends and readers of Amer- 

 ican Homes and Gardens are invited to make their wants 

 known through the Collectors' Mart columns. Read care- 

 fully the instructions at the head of this department, which 

 will be found upon another page of the current issue. 

 Likewise, American Homes and Gardens makes no 

 charge for inserting inquiries, which appear in the Col- 

 lectors' Department, nor is this "Queries and Answers" 



department confined to subscribers. All friends and readers 

 of American Homes and Gardens are invited to avail 

 themselves of this service. 



THE NEW TARIFF AND ART 



HAPPILY the absurd time provisions imposed by pre- 

 vious tariff bills on works of art brought into Amer- 

 ica has been done away with, and at last free art has come 

 to be a reality — thanks to the untiring efforts of its cham- 

 pions, and to the influence of the President, of Mr. Under- 

 wood and of Senators Root and Lodge. There has been 

 almost inconceivable strength in the opposition to free art 

 exhibited in times past. That the entrance of art free of 

 duty would demoralize American taste is one of the in- 

 genious arguments which, from time to time, were ad- 

 vanced, among others equally ridiculous, by those who 

 fought to maintain a tax on art. "Duty" has been the 

 polite and official name for this tax. Nevertheless, a tax 

 it was, and American art suffered in consequence of its 

 being exacted. The American Art News in one of its 

 editorials remarks that "the adoption of free art marks 

 one of the greatest steps forward in the higher civilization 

 of the country that has yet been taken." The editor of 

 American Homes and Gardens suggests that it might be 

 as pertinent to say that the removal of the tax on art 

 marks an awakening of public intelligence from the stupor 

 that has hardly been compatible with the higher ideals of 

 any progressive civilization. 



THE BURLINGTON FRANKLIN HOUSE 



A HOUSE used by Franklin, one of the first houses to 

 be erected in the town of Burlington, New Jersey, 

 was once occupied by Benjamin Franklin when a resident 

 of that city. It is known to have been erected prior to 

 1685. It is an old cabin having brick walls, gamble roof 

 with an overhang on the entrance side and has been pur- 

 chased by the Annis Stockton Chapter of the Daughters 

 of the American Revolution, of Burlington. When Benja- 

 min Franklin first went to Burlington he was poor, ill 

 clothed and had only a few pennies in his pocket. On 

 his way from Philadelphia to New York he was detained 

 in Burlington by reason of having missed the boat for 

 Philadelphia. Looking around for shelter, an old woman 

 consented to extend to him the hospitality of a dinner of 

 beefsteak. After a short conversation with Franklin the 

 old woman discovered that he was a printer and recognized 

 that he would succeed from the determination which was 

 evident in his conversation. Although she advised Frank- 

 lin to set up a shop in Burlington he continued to follow 

 out his original intention by going to Philadelphia, as his 

 services there had already been bespoken. However, 

 Franklin returned to Burlington some time after, at which 

 time he printed the New Jersey Colonial Paper Money. 

 It will interest our readers to know that the Annis Stockton 

 Chapter will probably reconstruct the house and make of 

 it a museum. The Editor of American Homes and 

 Gardens suggests that it would be an excellent plan to 

 exhibit there a collection of representative examples of all 

 the paper money of New Jersey printed by Franklin. 



