House and Garden 
bordered by dull gold scrollwork. The center 
medallion on the cup has in it a gay little rooster, and 
the saucer medallions have in them two pink tailed 
pheasants. The markings on the bottom of the cup 
and saucer indicate the date as before 1753, and the 
decorator is simply known as “L. F.,” his work of 
flowers and birds on fine ware being famous but his 
name has been forgotten. Poor, unknown artist 
who painted for France’s monarch! It seems 
incredible that this little blue cup and saucer has so 
long outlived its maker and his king. If it could but 
tell us who “L. F.” was and how it came that this 
frail shell passed through those years of terror in 
France when every sign of royalty was detested! 
Its beauty was its only defence but it was enough to 
preserve it without even a nick for more than a cen¬ 
tury and a half. 
In the same collection as the above is to be found 
a cup and saucer of the famous bleu turquoise, also 
from the Sevres factory. The date is 1768, fifteen 
years later than the little cup of “L. F.” The 
artist is Viellard whose paintings on porcelain of 
figures, trophies and graceful borders were much 
admired. The ground color is a sharp blue and very 
beautiful. It was just at this time that the bleu tur¬ 
quoise was discovered by use of copper. The chem¬ 
ists created other" colors equally good, among which 
is the flesh tinted pink called after the Marquise de 
Pompadour that fair critic and patroness of the 
Sevres factory. This pink has sometimes been 
called “Rose Dubarry” but incorrectly so. Jon- 
quille, an exquisite yellow, violet pensee and vert 
pomme all appeared in this period. 
The portrait pieces of porcelain are always 
valued most highly as can be readily understood, and 
this cup has on it a veritable miniature of Madame 
Dubarry surrounded by enameled white dots giving 
the effect of a pearl frame. This is the period when 
enamel was first used in combination with porcelain. 
The saucer and main part of the cup have dull gold 
looped garlands and small gold medallion effects 
with scrollwork about them. In the center of the 
saucer is a charming clustering of flowers, a shep¬ 
herdess’ hat and crook and a shepherd’s pipe. 
Madame Dubar/y’s face is delightfully dainty 
and one cannot wonder that Louis XV. said “she is 
the only woman in France.’’ The mouth is very 
curved and small and the eyes pale blue. Her 
powdered hair is arranged in curls with a pink rose 
tucked in the right side and she wears another on the 
left side of her corsage. 
As one handles this piece of delicate faience a wave 
of pity for the coquettish woman on the cup, comes 
over one. She is smiling out from her pretty sur¬ 
roundings, and where Viellard has painted the string 
of pearls about the curve of her neck, fell the guil¬ 
lotine as vengeance for a king’s favor and a reckless, 
thoughless extravagance. 
The Use of Electricity in the House 
By C. D. WOOD 
Heating Engineer of the New York Edison Company 
N EVER in all the centuries that woman has 
“kept house’’ for man has her task been so 
attractive and so easily performed as at the 
present day. With the aid of the electric current, 
housework no longer spells drudgery, but genuine 
pleasure. 
It is a far call from the fagot fire of the savage in 
the open to the electrical range in a modern kitchen. 
In every intermediate stage 
of culinary progress, — the 
log blaze before which the 
roast was turned on a huge 
spit, the “Dutch oven,’’ the 
wood stove, coal range, oil 
stove, gas range,—each of 
these in its turn and time 
has seemed the very acme 
of convenience and utility. But now that electricity 
has appeared, appealing to every true housewife 
with its cleanliness, safety, and absolute reliability, 
it threatens soon to drive all rivals from the field. 
Not for cooking alone is this new agent becoming 
indispensable, but for numberless other household 
purposes. Whether the mistress of an establishment 
“does her own work” or has a retinue of servants to 
do it for her, she is more 
comfortable and better 
served if her home is 
equipped with those 
electrical appliances which 
lighten all domestic labor. 
Perhaps the reader would 
find it interesting to make 
a tour of investigation 
102 
