Door knockers of three types from old Colonial homes. Many reproductions of patterns such as 
while an old one may still be picked up occasionally 
these are now obtainable in various finishes,. 
Some Hardware Suggestions 
THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING FINISH HARDWARE THAT WILL MATCH IN STYLE AND 
CHARACTER THE LIGHTING FIXTURES AND OTHER FURNISHINGS—THE AVAILABLE MATERIAL 
by Carleton Monroe Winslow 
Photographs by T. E. Marr and others 
O N a recent visit to New England the writer had occasion to 
spend some hours in a smoking-car on the ancient Knox 
and Lincoln division of the Maine Central Railroad. Local daily 
papers and the favorite authors eventually proved dull, and an 
examination of the interior of the car was instituted to see what 
might prove of interest. The interior wood finish was bad 
enough, but what held the attention was the hardware and other 
metal work with which the car was “trimmed.” The character 
and design of this hardware is too well known to need much 
description here. Made of cast iron, its surface covered with 
crude, queer, “Oriental" design and washed with a thin coat of 
bronze plating, it was typical of 
the hardware which was in 
vogue about the year 1870, and 
immensely suggestive of the 
great advance made both in de¬ 
sign and construction of hard¬ 
ware since those days. 
Interest in both bad and good 
hardware being stimulated, the 
writer upon arrival at his destina¬ 
tion, looked about for other ex¬ 
amples. The Victorian era re¬ 
vealed itself in “Gothic” hard¬ 
ware, hardly better than the 
“Oriental” variety mentioned 
above, an epitome of everything 
'to be avoided. Other unpleasant or rather unpleasing examples, 
were the black and white door knobs and "Eastlake" varieties— 
shamelessly cheap. Mixed with this was some of a more mod¬ 
ern but still commonplace kind, of better quality but having no 
“style” nor relation to its environment. It was just ordinary, 
and showed lack of desire, effort or possibility of getting some¬ 
thing better. 
The foregoing has been mentioned to show the state of affairs 
that exists where the home-builder pays little or no attention to 
the finish hardware of his house. Such hardware is still manu¬ 
factured, offered for sale and frequently selected by the carpenter 
and sometimes the owner, for 
houses where better conditions 
might prevail if the owner would 
only realize that the hardware, 
while a subordinate element in 
the construction of his home, is 
by no means an unimportant 
one. In these days there is no 
reason why the finish hardware 
should not be appropriate and 
harmonize in style and character 
with the house and its other fit¬ 
tings, such as the lighting fix¬ 
tures and furniture. Things have 
improved since 1870. The Cen¬ 
tennial Exhibition gave a won- 
