May, 1918 
31 
I he psychological effect of a cool, pleasant 
room is most happy. It encourages us and the 
furniture, which has been sitting about dis¬ 
consolately, beginning to look a little weary and 
worn and feeling a trifle bored. Our present 
methods are as effective as of old and much 
more beautiful. We still remove the velour 
hangings, but cover our furniture with attrac¬ 
tive chintz or any colorful fabric of good de¬ 
sign and durable quality. 
Not only is this a decorative plan, but an 
eminently practical one. The advantages of 
tubbing are obvious, to say nothing of the pos¬ 
sibilities of change and variety. The delicate 
fabrics are just as carefully guarded during the 
dusty months by attractive coverings as by dull 
and commonplace ones. 
Well Tailored Slip Covers 
To be a real asset the slip cover must be 
made to fit perfectly. There is nothing more 
trying than a slouchy looking cover, and it 
fails in its purpose of keeping out the dust. 
In these days they are being made so care¬ 
fully and fitted so cleverly that only the closest 
inspection convinces you that it isn’t a perma¬ 
nent arrangement. In a great many cases, in¬ 
stead of the old-fashioned tapes to tie, there are 
practical snap-fasteners, which insure a well- 
tailored effect. 
As to the selection of material, there is no 
end to the possibilities. For the formal draw¬ 
ing room one may have an English chintz of 
good design. This is to be made either with or 
without a valance, ruffled or shaped, piped in a 
contrasting shade, or edged with the narrowest 
fringe. The glazed chintzes are also exceed¬ 
ingly popular and come in a great variety of 
design and color to suit divers tastes. 
An original treatment for a rush seated 
chair. A straight piece of chintz with a 
central basket design has worsted tas¬ 
sels which weigh it down. Miss M. A. 
Lewis, decorator 
For the upstairs sitting room and bedrooms, 
there are inexpensive cretonnes, or if you pre¬ 
fer, plain gay colored poplins, which may be 
bound in a contrasting shade, or striped linens 
of varying widths and great smartness. 
Covers for All Chairs 
I here has long been a general assumption 
that only the overstuffed furniture could be 
decked out in this fashion, but there really is 
no good reason why a perfect-fitting slip cover 
should not be made for the dining room chair, 
for example: 
I recently saw a walnut Queen Anne chair 
which had a chintz cover, of flower design for 
the back and another for the seat. The chintz 
was a cream color bound in blue, and the 
effect was most pleasing. 
Another high back chair with most of the 
walnut frame showing had a wide striped 
glazed chintz in lemon yellow and white, which 
completely covered all the upholstered part of 
the chair, including the small arm rests. 
There is really nothing temporary about this 
fashion of slip covers. In many of the most 
attractive houses they are used continuously the 
year round. In the impressive company of 
damask and brocade you may find the chintz 
slip cover flourishing benignly. It has a way 
of making you feel at home at once. And we 
surely have not erred in emulating our Eng¬ 
lish friends who know so well how to create 
this atmosphere of cheer in their most formal 
rooms by this simple method. 
Two Rooms of Distinction 
A living room of great distinction is shown 
on page 30. The slip covers are made of an 
ecru colored chintz with a decorative design of 
turquoise blue bowls with crimson and rose 
flowers. The curtains are crimson damask and 
the small tables, mirrors and lamp shades are 
in black. 1 he walls are a delightful green 
blue, which makes an attractive background for 
the pleasing arrangement of the furniture. 
Another very effective treatment which I saw 
recently was in a morning room in a country 
house. The slip covers were made of a cool 
apple green with decorative medallions on the 
smaller chairs, of a bird and flower design, 
bound in blue. There were green and blue 
striped linen curtains at the windows and on 
some of the furniture. The effect was restful 
and pleasing. 
“HOLM LEA” 
A Private Park that Is a Botanical 
Garden as Well 
I I is not often that the art of the landscape 
gardener and the science of the professional 
botanist and horticulturist can be combined on 
one man’s estate, particularly when that man 
blends with these two qualifications the love 
that has made this estate his home. 
At ''Holm Lea,” the residence of Professor 
Charles S. Sargent, in Brookline, Mass., this 
unique combination has resulted in one of the 
most beautiful private parks in this country. 
As director of the Arnold Arboretum, the tree- 
museum of Harvard University, and in his 
capacity as Arnold Professor of Arboriculture 
of Harvard, Professor Sargent stands as one of 
the great tree authorities of the world. His 
development of the Arboretum as a great natu¬ 
ral garden has given him as c 
well that sympathetic under¬ 
standing of the grouping of 
shrubbery, the beauty of trees 
against the sky, the slope and 
dip of the land, and the mass¬ 
ing of flowers that gives a land¬ 
scape the value of a painting. 
In addition, it has been his well¬ 
loved home for a great many | 
years, and reflects his personal 
friendships among the trees and 
shrubs and flowers. 
For over forty years, Profes¬ 
sor Sargent has been the guar¬ 
dian spirit of the Arboretum, 
(Continued on page 68) 
“Holm Lea” is the residence of Professor 
Charles S. Sargent in Brookline, Mass. 
Not far away lies the Arnold Arboretum 
over which he has been guardian spirit for 
forty years 
The spring months are periods of rare 
beauty in this garden: dogwood flashes by 
the roadside and down near the pond nar¬ 
cissi star the grass. So is it with varying 
effects through the seasons 
