Candle Lighting and Candlesticks 
THE PLACE IN THE HOUSE FOR THE INDEPENDENT LIGHTING THAT THE CANDLE 
SUPPLIES — A WORD ABOUT ANTIQUES — THE BEST OF MODERN MANUFACTURE 
by Katherine Newbold Birdsall 
I T is rather remarkable, when one 
comes to think of all the modern 
improvements which have pushed 
aside the old methods of lighting the 
home, that the candlestick has held its 
own throughout all these years. The 
candle has proven itself a dependable 
light when others fail, and there are 
few households to-day that do not pos¬ 
sess candles for use as well as candles 
for ornament. When gas, electricity 
and kerosene fail us, the light of our 
forefathers comes to the rescue. This 
useful phase, in addition to the es¬ 
thetic pleasure which candlestick deco¬ 
ration gives, has obtained steadily for 
many generations. 
For use on the dining-table there is 
no real substitute for the candle—no 
light that will give the same artistic 
welcome and sense of comfort. Nor 
is there anything so practical. The 
light in a dining-room should of 
course be centered on the table; to ac¬ 
complish this by gas a fixture above 
the table is needed—an immovable 
ornament which requires that the table 
always shall be in its place under the 
fixture. Electricity from above is sub¬ 
ject to the same discomfort. If the 
table is wired for electric candles or 
lamps, the wiring is apt to prove awk¬ 
ward, and the table must remain in the 
one position. With both gas and 
electricity the dining-room is well- 
nigh useless if one should desire to re¬ 
move the table. Table lamps, while 
inviting in their soft light, are unat¬ 
tractive because of the kerosene—who 
will guarantee that kerosene shall not 
have an odor! The candle is the only absolutely independent 
source of light supply that is available for the purpose of direct¬ 
ly lighting the dining-table. 
The only safe portable light is the candle—be it wax or electric. 
The latter is not practical, inasmuch as the battery is so heavy 
that the candlestick 
itself weighs too 
much to be easily 
movable. The wax 
or tallow candle, 
with its stick, 
weighs so little as to 
be no burden in the 
hand. No guest 
room nor family 
bedroom seems com- 
p 1 e t e 1 y furnished 
without at least one 
candle which mav be 
used for trips about the darkened 
house when one does not wish to 
arouse the other occupants by excess 
of light, and for bedside lighting when 
one does not wish to arise to reach gas 
or electricity. 
There is something about the can¬ 
dlestick at once homelike and decora¬ 
tive which appeals not only to the col¬ 
lector of antiques but to the average 
house furnisher who does not know 
pewter from nickel nor old brass from 
the clever present day counterfeits. 
For purely decorative uses the 
counterfeits of the old French. English 
or Colonial styles, serve their purpose 
as well as the scarce and high-priced 
originals. Manufacturers of to-day 
have counterfeited so carefully the 
forms of old candlesticks in all the ma¬ 
terials that obtained in those days, that 
it takes an astute collector to discover 
whether the piece he admires is a 
product of the Seventeenth or of the 
Twentieth Century. Certain shapes, 
and hall-marks of the maker, some¬ 
times the maker’s name and date, dis¬ 
tinguish the pieces of value in the col¬ 
lector’s eyes. Of course to buy the old 
candlesticks one must pay a high price 
in these days of many collectors. 
But quantities of the Twentieth Cen¬ 
tury “antique” designs, like the copies 
of old furniture of various periods, are 
most exact, with workmanship that 
makes for long wear. If we accept 
copies of furniture of Sheraton, 
Adams, Heppelwhite design, why not 
accept the modern made candlestick, 
provided the copy is a good one and 
the metal to suit our tastes? Silver and brass being decorative 
metals are most desirable from the average point of view. The 
modern “solid” silver, if a good weight and make be selected, 
will serve to pass on to posterity equally as well as the more la- 
boriouslv made candlesticks of bygone centuries. If you are dis¬ 
gruntled over the 
fact that you have 
inherited no silver 
candlesticks from 
your ancestors, let 
not the following 
generations make 
the same plaint of 
you! Silver-plate 
candlesticks are 
made in the same 
period shapes as the 
real silver, and 
everyone knows the 
The great ecclesiastical candlesticks have a distinct 
decorative effect as used in the studio of Mr. Stowe 
Phelps 
Antique candlesticks and candelabra of silver that show some of the best shapes and designs 
of the Colonial period. Their simplicity makes them especially desirable for use 
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