88 
House & Garden 
Lighting Fixtures 
These MILLER fixtures are made from 
improved, indestructible MlLLERMETAL, 
which is of superior quality and takes 
a remarkable finish. 
The prices quoted represent remarkable 
values for high quality fixtures. 
Even if you are not contemplating a new 
house, these fixtures will “dress up” an 
old one. 
They can be seen at all Miller dealers. 
Write us for name of nearest one. 
No. 72, 5-light Fixture, $24.50 
West of Rocky Mountains, $26.00 
No. 712, 1-light Bracket, $6.75 
West of Rocky Mountains, $7.50 
Finishes: Venetian and Gold, Verde and Gold — for 
living room. Silver and Black for dining room. 
Prices do not include glassware, bulbs or installation 
Edward Miller & Co 
Established 1844 
Meriden, Conn, 
Books for the Guest Room 
(Continued from page 86) 
tractive guest room,—if in a way you 
are a collector, both for the city house 
or the country house, it is never out of 
place to have a book on period furni¬ 
ture somewhere around. Dyer and 
Teall, modern tyros on the subject, will 
hold your interest, and if you read 
about colonial bedsteads before retiring, 
you are likely to note the style of the 
one you have just slept in while put¬ 
ting on your shoes in. the morning. It’s 
almost an insult to your hostess not to 
comment on the Sheraton four-poster! 
Personally, I should like as much va¬ 
riety ini my room as possible. If you 
must have Tagore’s “Gitanjali” there is 
no reason why you should not also have 
the ginger flakes of Arthur Guiterman’s 
“Chips of Jade” and “Bettel Nuts”; if 
you have Galsworthy’s “The Dark 
Flower”, there is no law which pro¬ 
hibits the inclusion of “The Little 
Flowers of St. Francis”. In other 
words, give your guests latitude, not 
platitude. I could stand as good cheer 
Masefield’s poetry, especially his “Rey¬ 
nard the Fox”, because I love the pass¬ 
ing squire element in life which suggests 
village types and broad fields for the 
chase. The “hunting we will go” spirit 
is disappearing; and even in our mod¬ 
ern bachelor quarters, the sporting pic¬ 
ture, if it is there, is a tradition of the 
decorator, not a taste. I want a goodly 
sprinkling of novels—a romantic dose, 
a rattling tale of the sea by Conrad or 
Jacobs, something that goes rapidly, 
pushed by interest. 
For the truth is, we don’t go away for 
week-ends to do much reading. There 
is the car calling, the golf clubs in the 
hall downstairs—or there is a tramp 
across country. The guest room book¬ 
shelf should be a cracker jar of litera¬ 
ture,—just for a bite here and there. 
I have a nervous friend who can be 
calmed by “The Education of Henry 
Adams”; I have a calm friend who is 
made nervous by Sir Oliver Lodge’s 
“Raymond”. One cannot sleep after 
reading a ghost story, another cannot 
stay awake if she reads poetry at night. 
Seriously, this is a subject to be taken 
seriously. I have only suggested it here, 
but the next step in the study of house 
decoration is books! 
Furnishing the Summer Farmhouse 
(Continued jrom page SS) 
meet in the same room, they will settle 
into a pleasing composure. Well-born 
pieces of furniture, like well-born per¬ 
sons, usually agree in assemblage. They 
give a peaceful impression at least. If 
their stories are vastly different they tell 
them with such soft unobtrusiveness that 
the place they meet knows no discord. 
Do not be afraid that the William and 
Mary dresser will curse the exquisitely 
shaped chair signed Riesener. One may 
talk of Dutch William and his tulips, 
and the other of the frailty of Jeanne 
Becu, but they understand each other’s 
language. Neither will the straight, 
eight-legged Sheraton type sofa, where 
two or three friendly souls can sit so 
comfortably, want to be disparaging 
about the fatter turned legs of the Queen 
Anne walnut stool opposite. 
Generations come and go and houses 
gather the fruit of their expenditures. 
Where there is fine feeling for furnishing 
Time breeds harmonies. Country house 
rooms should suggest to the chance visi¬ 
tant that a host of charming humans 
have flitted through them. 
If making a strange place one’s own, 
and striving for that caressing, restful 
quality beautiful old places have, be¬ 
ware of the new chintz and all new 
fabrics. Beware of any garish elegance 
that has not been humbled by long 
usage. Beware of the strange and the 
“monkey”. Carry the garden into the 
house. Use moss color—the browns of 
faded leaves—take stuffs that sunlight 
has faded. Have nothing too new. 
Imagine the place the loved habitation 
of cheery fox-hunting men who greeted 
each dawn and the returning stars with 
friendliness, and gentle day-dreaming 
women who cared for white rose trees 
and cape jessamine and flitted in and 
out of cool, well-filled pantries and 
scented, still rooms. 
The Romance of Point de Venise 
(Continued from page 39) 
surroundings, and the laces of different 
countries produced by the same methods 
seem yet to be endowed with natural 
characteristics. As for Point de Venise, 
it would almost seem that poor Arachne 
had been sent thither by Minerva, more 
delicately to shape the laces of the Queen 
of the Adriatic than could the workers 
of any other land. 
The second sort of Venetian Point is 
the Punto ad Avorio (Ivory Point), a 
16th Century lace of great beauty. In 
this the stitching was exceedingly close, 
the relief low, and the effect produced 
that of carved ivory. Punto ad Avorio 
was, in reality, a variety of the Punto 
in Aria. The patterns of Punto ad 
Avorio were often taken from the lovely 
designs of the intarsia (inlaid wood) 
workers, the graceful scrolls and floria- 
tions lending themselves admirably to 
this Ivory Point. 
Punto dei Nobili, also called Cardinal 
Point, was an especially elaborate and 
rich Venetian Point made for great oc¬ 
casions, private and civic, and as gifts 
to foreign potentates. The designs were 
intricate and often depicted hunting and 
battle scenes, warriors, castles, towns, 
goddesses, mermaids, coats-of-arms, car¬ 
dinal’s hats, etc. Precious indeed are the 
pieces of this Punto dei Nobili that have 
descended to this age. 
The exquisite Flower Point, Punto 
Tagliato, presents scroll-and-flower pat¬ 
tern in extraordinary richness. As the 
Countess di Brazza Savorgnan pointed 
out in her handbook to the Italian laces 
exhibited at the World’s Columbian Ex¬ 
position, this lace seems almost to be 
“carved in flax”. No other Venetian 
Point is so rich. Originally it was 
worked in threads of silk and gold and 
silver in addition to linen threads. The 
base was Punto in Aria which was 
brought to Flower Point by stitches on 
stitches, buttonholing on buttonholing, 
innumerable microscopic picots, five or 
six, or even more, rows deep. Mention 
may here be made of various modifica¬ 
tions of Punto Tagliato: Punto di 
Spagna (made in Spain) ; Grand Point 
de France or Point Colbert (introduced 
into French lace-making by Louis XIV’s 
minister); Punto di Neve or Snow 
Point, having a ground of starred 
threads; Punto di Rosa or Rose Point, 
having bars closely placed and forming 
a hexagonal net ground bearing many 
tiny scrolls and flowers in relief; Punto 
a Fogliame or Leaf Point, having flow- 
(Continued on page 90) 
