26 
House & Garden 
A rare example of 
Ecuadorian Indian rag 
mat, of late 11th Cen¬ 
tury make 
THE POPULARITY of the RAG MAT 
Because It Is Useful As Well As Decorative and Because Its Price 
Is Reasonable It Enjoys a Growing Revival 
W. G. WOODS 
T HIS year, more than ever before, we have 
come to realize the necessity of devoting 
all our energies to conservation. In adopting 
requirements to help out in the war, let us not 
forget to study economy in house furnishing. 
We give up our grounds to the planting of 
food crops but are forgetful that little econo¬ 
mies practiced inside the home are fully as 
helpful. 
There are many phases that should be care¬ 
fully considered, not the least of which is how 
we can furnish our rooms economically with¬ 
out dwarfing the decorative scheme. One of 
the most sensible developments along this line 
is the use of the simple rag mat. Old-fash¬ 
ioned, sometimes homely, it can be used to 
harmonize with even French, Spanish and 
Italian furniture. This is a fact—although 
few of us may realize it. 
At the present time old chintzes are being 
greatly sought after to be used for decorative 
•effects. They have such a subdued or else a 
brilliant coloring that it is often a difficult 
matter to find rugs that harmonize with them. 
This difficulty can readily be overcome by 
using hooked rugs. Imagine a small bedroom, 
the furniture painted black with gaily painted 
flowers, walls of blue, bed-spread of rose, with 
curtains of chintz showing brilliantly blue 
stripes. For such a room the floor should be 
painted black to match the furniture. What 
could be more appropriate or harmonious for 
a covering than the hooked rug, worked out 
The flower pattern is very popu¬ 
lar in hooked rugs 
An all-over flower design on a 
black ground 
Between this scroll design of New England make and the 
patterns of French fabrics there is a discernable likeness 
A checker board rug with flower There is almost a Chinese feel- 
center and black border ing in this old hooked rug 
