42 
House & Garden 
CURTAINING 
the ARCHED 
WINDOW 
Where the window has 
architectural value as be¬ 
low, it should be cur¬ 
tained with a sheer fabric 
that will show the wood¬ 
work. The material can 
be hung loose from the 
arch and finished with 
crystal drops. Same ma¬ 
terial on drapes and sheer 
scrim for glass curtains 
A stairs win¬ 
dow, with such 
beautiful lines 
as that to the 
left, should be 
left entirely 
uncurtained 
Another cur¬ 
taining for an 
arch it e c - 
tural window 
would be the 
s emi-drap e d 
type above 
Northend 
Northend 
Where the arch has no 
distinctive interest or in¬ 
terferes with the decora¬ 
tive scheme of the room 
it can be filled with a 
gathered fabric. The 
rosette can be of the 
same color as the piping 
on the drapes. Glass 
curtains of net or gauze 
THE CARE of LEATHER FURNITURE 
Qualities of Leather and Cautions in Using Them 
“TTTHAT can I do to keep my leather fur- 
VV niture in good condition?” I asked 
the Man Who Ought To Know. 
“Nothing,” he said, and packed the tobacco 
down tight in his pipe with his big, square 
thumb. 
I handed him the matches. “They say oil 
is good,” I suggested. 
“They say a lot of things,” said he, over 
the flare of the match, “but mineral oil is one 
of the best things on earth to keep away from 
leather. It ruins it. And anyway, you 
wouldn’t want to sit on an oiled chair unless 
you had on your overallettes,” and carefully 
disregarding the ash tray at his elbow he pains¬ 
takingly aimed the match at a flower pot four 
feet away. “The only thing to do with leather 
is to wipe it off with a damp cloth.” 
“But a damp cloth won’t keep it from crack¬ 
ing, will it?” I asked with a trace of impa¬ 
tient superiority. 
“Good quality full grain leather won’t 
crack,” he told me. 
W. W. BURBANK 
“Is that so?” said I. “Well, mine is crack¬ 
ing and it’s genuine Spanish leather, guaran¬ 
teed!” 
The Man Who Ought To Know smiled 
wearily. 
“How many hides has a cow?” he asked, 
irrelevantly, lovingly regarding the ugly old 
pipe cupped in his big right hand. 
“Oh, do be sensible!” I cried. 
“Listen,” said the M. W. O. T. K. “A cow 
hide can be split into five thicknesses—or even 
more. Each one of those thicknesses—or I 
should say thinnesses—is genuine leather. 
Spanish is only the name of the finish—the 
two-toned effect. You go into a shop to buy 
some leather chairs. The salesman shows you 
some and tells you the price and you gasp—- 
“ ‘Why—I saw some downtown at X’s— 
practically the same thing—genuine leather— 
for ever so much less!’ 
“ ‘Yes, madam,’ says the clerk and shows 
you some for ever so much less. 
“ ‘Are those genuine leather?’ you ask warily. 
“ ‘Yes, madam. An inferior grade, of 
course. But genuine Spanish leather—guar¬ 
anteed.’ But he does not guarantee the wear. 
He could not. However, beguiled by the gor¬ 
geous sound of ‘genuine Spanish leather’ you 
buy the chairs. N’est-ce pas?” 
I very elaborately smoothed the ruffle on a 
cushion. He went on. 
“The cow who supplied your chair, may 
Allah rest his soul, had a hide which was split, 
let us say, into four layers. The outside layer 
had the natural grain. The next two layers 
were what are called ‘machine buffed and the 
inside, which is the poorest of all, is known, 
euphoniously, as ‘splits.’ 
“But the cow,” continued the Man, “the ex¬ 
piration of whose mortal lease was responsible 
for the first chair the salesman showed you, 
looking down from the cow heaven saw that 
his hide was left practically in its original 
thickness with only, perhaps, the inside layer 
taken off. That chair had the full thickness, 
(Continued on page 54) 
