February, i p 1 0 
17 
Every man’s room should likewise contain a couch long enough to hold him comfortably. 
Smoking paraphernalia should be within reach 
of this trait will, in all likelihood, show themselves. If he has 
a passion for hunting, there will be trophies to attest his sport¬ 
ing prowess and, more than likely, a rifle or gun will meet the 
eye. A fisherman is apt to display some visible evidence of 
the truth of his fishing yarns as well as the rods, lines and 
hooks with which he landed his much prized catches. A golfer 
or a yachtsman will, nine times out of ten, in some way pro¬ 
claim his tastes in the fittings of his room. An inveterate 
traveler will have about him, as pleasant reminders, various 
odds and ends that he has picked up in the course of his 
journeys. A painter, a writer, a natural scientist, a collector 
or any other person of pro¬ 
nounced tastes and a mind to 
ride his hobby or, perhaps, to 
indulge in a combination of 
pursuits, will almost invari¬ 
ably betray his leanings by the 
nature of the objects with 
which he chooses to surround 
himself. 
In short, whatever may be 
a man’s particular bent, his 
room may properly be ex¬ 
pected to show in its compo¬ 
sition and appointments an in¬ 
timate personal note that will 
faithfully mirror his individ¬ 
uality in such a way that no 
other person could be mis¬ 
taken for the possessor. 
Some Popular Fallacies 
Exploded 
Certain popular fallacies 
seem to be largely entertained 
regarding the proper furnish¬ 
ing of a man’s room. The 
first is that it should be let 
alone in mid-Victorian ugli¬ 
ness— taking it for granted 
that mid-Victorian is the 
mode proclaimed by the mo- 
biliary left-overs that often 
fall to the share of a man’s 
ably comfortable in a merely 
physical sense, nothing else 
matters very much. This no¬ 
tion is based upon the mis¬ 
taken supposition that the 
average man cares little or 
nothing for the smaller 
touches of refinement and 
beauty compatible with an 
educated and discriminating 
taste. 
A very large number of 
men, perhaps it would be 
safer to say the majority, de¬ 
cidedly do care for such 
things and, though compara¬ 
tively few may possess the 
creative instinct that enables 
them to construct successfully 
a decoratively good environ¬ 
ment from start to finish, 
there are scarcely any who 
will not appreciate it. The 
man who is really solicitous 
for surroundings that are 
worth while is not at all to be 
reckoned effeminate. 
The other obnoxious and 
mischievous fallacy is that a 
man's room must be stuffed 
to repletion with all manner 
of smoking paraphernalia. It 
is unreasonable, foolish and 
in exceedingly bad taste to 
display smoking accessories 
until a room looks like a tobacconist’s shop. If the entire out¬ 
fit is not intended for practical use, then it makes a very poor 
decoration and has no business to be there. There is no excuse, 
so far as the requirements of either good taste or utility are 
concerned, for having smoking articles in evidence other than 
those that are actually used by the occupant or needed for 
the entertainment of his guests. 
The Importance of Colors 
It is perfectly possible to furnish a man’s room, and fur¬ 
nish it in an individual way, so that it shall incorporate both 
room—and that, so long as it 
is fairly convenient and toler- 
Although it has a large work table and commodious shelves this room suffers from the type¬ 
writer stand—a clear instance of the man tolerating a mid-Victorian monstrosity 
