Decoration in the Home 



AS TO ITS SILENT, BUT POWERFUL INFLUENCE* 



BY A. "BLAIR RIDING TON 



THE fiirnishings of a home are so 

 often subordinated to the feeding 

 and clothing of its ocenpants that 

 the subtle influence of this ^'dress of home 

 life" is lost sight of. Even ^hen at its 

 iDest its direct influence can rarely be 

 pointed out. though we all recognize it. 



The story of the poor mother who won- 

 dered what could possibly have induced 

 her boy to run away to sea^ and whose 

 friend pointed out the picture she herself 

 had hung at the foot of his bed illustrates 

 the case in point of how our lives are 

 altered often unconsciously for the better 

 or worse by the things we look at. 



In a large way the decorations of a 

 nation or an age reflect somewhat the 

 character of the age, and in their use they, 

 in turn, undoubtedly exercise a reflex ac- 

 tion on the children living amid such 

 surroundings. The simple severity of the 

 Puritan character is reflected in the plain, 

 but charming furniture he used, the stur- 

 diness of the Englishman is well exem- 

 plified in the heavy furnishings he delights 

 in, while we see at once the appropriate- 

 ness of French ideas for a reception room 

 where the lightness of appearances rather 

 dominates our intercourse with those out- 

 side the limits of the home circle. 



The influence of the home decorations 

 on ourselves has not been fully recognized 

 until late years, and perhaps its sudden 

 realization has nowhere been more mani- 

 fest than in the schoolroom. Former 

 wastes of blackboard and blue tinted walls 

 with an occasional oasis of map are rap- 

 idly being filled with the best pictures of 

 the world's best artists, the vrindows blos- 



[*This is the first of a series of four illusti 

 element in home life. Mr. Eidington speaks 



som with flowers, and no longer is the 



schoolroom a dreary vacancy with a cer- 

 tain number of seats for so many scholars 

 to study out a humdrum day. 



While I do not look on home art as a 

 panacea for all the difficulties of home 

 life, yet it is so often a barometer of the 

 characters and disjDositions of the home- 



IN THE PURITAN KITCHEN 



people that I am inclined to urge a com- 

 parison with some other — perhaps more 

 humble home — whose atmosphere delights 

 at every visit. As your home your charac- 

 ter will be, so take advantage of every art 

 that will improve both. 



The feeling of the special lights and 

 shadows of each room should permeate 

 all home decoration. By this I mean not 

 only that dark corners and blank walls 



■ated articles on the influence of the decorative 

 'm the experience of an artist and an architect.] 



