URBANITY AND TN those archaic days when humor 
THE SUBURBANITE A was young and a joke had to be 
driven home by the thrust of a sturdy 
elbow, some wit invented the risibility of the suburbanite. It 
gained in favor — students of the dead languages become friendly 
with it in various of the classics. Plautus was fond of this 
ancient witticism in Roman days, and, although no record is extant 
as to the reception of the fun at the commuter's expense, from the 
position it occupied in the play we judge that if Plautus was a 
successful dramatist the Roman audience gave sympathetic recog¬ 
nition to humor of this sort. Perhaps some Roman Cohan con¬ 
vulsed his hearers by requesting silence while the citizens of Ostia 
left to catch the last boat, or others hurried to be in time for the 
late conveyance to Tivoli. 
To-day among the fun-makers’ stock in trade the suburbanite 
theme holds a prominent place, and in spring and winter if all the 
jokers’ subjects could be gathered and grouped it would probably 
be found to preponderate in this census of wit, not only numeri¬ 
cally, but, if the test could be made, by weight. There is not a 
paper in the land that does not have some one of the stereotyped 
representations of the man from the suburbs. 
As a result of the constant iteration of this theme the out-of- 
towner has become shy, apologetic. City dwellers may receive 
instant recognition at the mention of their metropolitan habitat, 
but the mere statement of a suburban residence has the opposite 
effect. The poor suburbanite has no increment of dignity to be 
gained from his home. Whenever its whereabouts are discov¬ 
ered, he either meets with a polite “Oh !" or else one of the hun¬ 
dred and fifty-seven varieties of commuter story. 
And literature and language have made this suburbanite joke a 
firmly fixed custom. Perhaps you think that your figure is trim, 
your apparel in style, your eyesight good, your carriage bold, dis¬ 
tinguished, genteel! If you daily cross the metropolitan boundary 
line, that is impossible; once over that Rubicon you become a 
bundle-burdened, bespectacled, seedy, awkward plodder. Don’t 
try to disprove the general impression; your dictionary will back 
up the comic papers. What are the synonyms of courteous, cul¬ 
tured, polished? Why, urbane, civil, politic, and each one is de¬ 
rived from a root meaning of or pertaining to the city. 
But if you are a suburbanite, if you are branded with the 
opprobrious epithet “commuter,” take cheer. Your sentence has 
been commuted from death to life imprisonment, as it were. The 
brilliant metropolitan pace kills; we who live beyond the pale of 
culture must admit it. In the mad chase after fashion, the bril¬ 
liant fencing of wit, it takes a man of strength — and a long wind — 
to keep up. We outsiders may pursue our quiet round at least 
content in our lot. We will live longer in our peace. So, here’s 
to eye-glasses and paper bundles, to rubber plants and baby car¬ 
riages, we adopt the insignia of the cartoonists’ conception. Our 
sentence is consignment to a lotus land of blue sky, the patch of 
green ground, the rolling turf of the links; to whole roads bor¬ 
dered by those curiosities of cities — trees. We are deprived of 
the scientific improvements of janitor service and air shafts; we 
still climb up steps in absence of that modern catapult, the apart¬ 
ment-house elevator. We are more or less rural; even if there 
may be no hayseed in our hair, for the most part we substitute for 
grand opera the symphonies of the barnyard, the voices of the 
woods and fields. Our gallery is painted along the hedgerow and 
in the half-acre garden pictures. Much of our stage is the living- 
room carpet where the children play. For literature, there is all 
the material of the Commuter Cycle — old enough in theme to have 
earned dignity. Perhaps we may lack the urbanity to appreciate 
its subtleties completely, but in our rustic fashion we are quietly 
amused. 
FASHIONS IN T N the elaborate showrooms of a great fur- 
FURNITURE A nishing and decorating house a cour¬ 
teous, soft-spoken salesman was just com¬ 
pleting a sale. This is part of what he said; “Oh ! dear, no,, 
madam, the Georgian style is quite passe; none of the best people- 
are buying it. But Jacobean, that’s all the thing this year! In¬ 
deed, one might say it was very fashionable at present.” 
The prospective purchaser became quite convinced at this. Her 
order was Jacobean. To the person who overheard this conver¬ 
sation it sounded reminiscent. It recalled that part of the Barrie 
play where the fond mother gives the commission to a gentleman 
to buy a razor for her son. Her instructions were to purchase 
one for a young man about five feet nine, with blond hair and blue- 
eyes. 
What can be expected of the public taste when furniture of the 
period styles is sold by a dealer under the argument that it is in 
fashion this year? One might just as well expect an architect to* 
advise his clients to have a faqade with Corinthian columns upon 
his house because Doric detail has “gone out." 
It is the peculiar psychology of fashion to neglect fitness as a 
determining factor. Sometimes novelty, sometimes eccentricity,, 
sometimes chic, sets a style in garments. The mysterious arbiter 
unalterably fixes it. Although unexpressed, there is a clear under¬ 
standing- that it will be evanescent. This year’s gowns “go out" 
next year. We do not wish to deny that fitness is absent from 
fashion. Often it is present, but merely incidentally a part. Mode- 
means temporary favor, prevailing only in incidents of time. 
The period styles are developments, natural evolutions. His¬ 
torical influences become crystallized in form and detail. Now it 
was the growth of the new learning, now the new discoveries in 
Pompeii, now the spread of commerce, which affected them. The- 
craftsmen of each period adapted the new ideas of their civiliza¬ 
tion to the old forms their predecessors had left them, and modi¬ 
fied these new elements to the usage of their time. It may be- 
argued that this is nothing more than fashion. We do not agree 
because of the factor of permanence in each style. 
But these styles reflected the kind of life of the people. It was 
gay, it was decorous, or it was a time of strict restraint and sim¬ 
ple pleasures. At any rate the period styles had a utility element 
they were created to form an appropriate background to the life 
of the people, they reflected tastes which, though predominating 
at the time which gave them birth, still are characteristic of many 
to-day. Since they are in the realm of art, their interest is lasting,, 
for art is of all time. Seek, therefore, that period which meets the 
demands of your own life. 
In modern usage we have these resources of the great furniture 
groups to draw upon. We do not say that Georgian is better than 
Jacobean. There is the place for each. Both may exist just as 
there is room for the romantic and the realistic novel. Each style 
has its peculiar feeling, its fitness depends upon the atmosphere 
which is made desirable by local conditions. The kind of house, 
the type of life of the individual, the character of the neighbor¬ 
hood and the function of the particular room—and its color 
scheme—these all are considerations bearing on the proper selec¬ 
tion of furniture. People are different; their requirements, 
thoughts and manners are different. The decorator, whether he 
be the houseowner or the professional, must make a study of the 
specific problem from the standpoints suggested above. 
There is no Prince of Wales, no Paris, to decree what furniture 
and decorations you should select. You and good taste in part¬ 
nership are the judges. You may not use period styles at all. but 
whatever method you choose, use it because it answers your needs 
and your artistic sense, being thankful that we are not compelled 
to dress our homes as we are our bodies. 
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