54 
H o u s e & Garden 
Inside the door leading out to the garden one may come 
across a niche, filled with books above and drawers below. 
Here can be kept the kinds of books one reads out-of-doors 
— novels, and short stories and perhaps a gardening book or 
two. Sweaters for cool nights can be kept in the drawers 
COMING on BOOKS 
UNEXPECTEDLY 
MONTROSE J. MOSES 
T HE five foot book-shelf has set me 
thinking. Strange how the mind 
can play fantastically with a sug¬ 
gestion; and from it there slowly evolves 
some new avenue of truth that beguiles 
you, and at the same time is useful. If 
it is possible for one to think of suitable 
poetry for porches, books for bedtime, 
wicked literature for wicker chairs and 
tables, tales for the tub, and so on, why 
do not books in general influence archi¬ 
tecture more than they do? 
An architect will spend hours studying 
the proper relation of a bay window to 
a group of trees nearby, but a window in 
relation to a special binding of Keats 
does not disturb him. A decorator will 
haunt the shops until certain upholstery 
pleases the senses, as a meerschaum color¬ 
ing hits the fancy of a fastidious smoker. 
Of course the architect knows that a li¬ 
brary is included in the specifications of 
every modern house; vistas of volumes 
are part of his decoration. 
But books have a will of their own. 
They are like the mighty waters of a 
river that overflows into rivulets, estu¬ 
aries, ponds, and so on. An architect 
never counts on the overflow of books. 
And there is where he is mistaken. The 
test of any good library is not alone that 
it is well stacked with stately editions 
and rich bindings of colored cloth and 
gold: it lies in the suitable, get-at-able, 
unexpected places—by window seats, at 
the top or bend of the stairs, even with¬ 
in reach of the telephone, where central’s 
“Wait a minute, please” might be 
(Continued on page 74) 
You can tell the sort of people who live in a house by the 
kinds of books they read, and the odd nooks and corners 
where you find them. In a cultured household you don’t 
have to reach very far for a book. Convenient shelves can 
be built each side of a bay window seat 
