April, 
1918 
33 
Hewitt 
A pleasant grouping of delightful souvenirs of Victorian days. Here you have a quaint old flower bouquet in its 
glass case, a pair of yellow glass candlesticks, and two oval gold mirrors with absurd storks reflected m them. Courtesy 
nf Mrs. Emntt Buel. decorator 
GETTING the GOOD OUT of the VICTORIAN 
A Resuscitation of 1840 Which Is Producing Some In¬ 
teresting Effects in the Modern Decoration of the Home 
T HE day of the china dog and wax flowers 
is still with us, chastened, to be sure, by 
the wholesome 20th Century desire for space 
and light, but here, nevertheless. We may 
have completely disposed of the horsehair sofas, 
and antimacassars of our grandmothers, but we 
are still faced with the fact that the Victorian 
revival is a genuine thing and not merely a 
momentary flutter of interest. So let us take 
it gamely and make the most of it. 
"If one could but convince people that the 
resuscitation of 1840 is not simply an excuse 
NANCY ASHTON 
for dragging out all the discarded rubbish from 
the attic,”—as a well known decorator said to 
me. Show them that the real value and beauty 
of the “Elegant Era” must be sought for, and 
its quaintness used to add atmosphere to our 
homes, not our comfort sacrificed to carry out 
the period to its own illogical conclusions. One 
needs discretion in selection and a carefully 
developed sense of arrangement, as well as an 
appreciation of the eternal fitness of things. 
These qualities, by the way, were singularly 
lacking at the time; as the barked shins of a 
generation back will painfully attest. Can’t 
you see the average caller stumbling over foot¬ 
stools and into whatnots in the heavy opulence 
of an overcrowded drawing room of the day . J 
This tendency to overcrowd the ornaments 
was true mainly of the later Victorian rather 
than the early; and due, if one stops to con¬ 
sider the question, to the increasing output of 
flourishing manufacturing towns in England, 
each bent upon outdoing the other in an effort 
to prove its individual importance. Quantity, 
not quality reigned. 
The library painted a robin's egg blue with ecru flower chintz 
curtains has Venetian red velvet on the furniture. Alabaster clock 
and candelabra, bouquets of painted flowers and Wedgewood lamps 
Beals 
In the morning room, niches have been filled with Moreland 
prints. The black marbleized mantel with its mirror is the center 
of a group of flowered chintz furniture. John Hamilton, decorator 
