Let us examine a little into the application of each separate requirement. The first,
you see, condemns all imitations of a substance, especially when the object is not likely to
have been made of that substance. Such are doors painted in bronze, sham jewelry,
paper flowers, glass colored to look like china, plaster to look like iron and bronze, and
many more. It seems a strange thing, when we reflect, that it should be supposed that
we all take pleasure in a thing that pretends to be something else than it appears, and
that the deception should be pointed out to us as a recommendation. The advertisement
that assures us that Paris diamonds and Abyssinian jewelry cannot be distinguished from
the real thing, the shopkeeper who tells us that some stuff of mixed material has quite the
appearance of silk, and that a silk-finished velveteen could easily be mistaken for velvet;
all this is intended to appeal, and really does appeal, to the tastes and wants of a large
class. But how much better and more honest is it to know what the especial article we
want ought to be made of, and to see that we get it — silk honestly silk, and woolen
honestly woolen, and cotton honestly cotton, and linen really and truly linen; and
when the manufacturers find what is expected of them they will supply it accordingly.
It must have been inappropriate and perishable material that first put it into the
careful housewife's mind to provide an extra case or cover for various household
objects — oil-cloth or drugget to cover the stair-carpeting, holland covers for the furniture,
and antimacassars over them again, oil-cloth to cover tables, and table-covers to cover the
oil-cloth, and mats to save the tablecloth, and much more of the same kind. In the first place,
the materials used should be appropriate and serviceable, and in the second, people should
not be ashamed of the signs of honest wear in them, still, for my part, if I must cover
things up at all, I would cover them when they were really shabby than while they were
fresh. And when this system of covers extend itself to paper covers for flower-pots, china-
cases and covers for sardine boxes, silvered perforated cardboard cases for match-boxes,
and such like, it seems to express a dislike to the honest plainness and simplicity, really
right and appropriate, of the things themselves, and a false refinement and love of disguise.
It is the same feeling that leads people to call shops rep'ositories and emporiums, and florists
to call themselves " horticultural furnishers." Simplicity and plain dealing in the material
of household goods and appliances will lead us a long way in the direction of taste.
Now as to the second requirement. The various rooms in our houses are intended for
various uses and occasions, and natural instinct for convenience leads us to furnish them
ART AT HOME.
16 „ HOME DISSERTATIONS.
Page 10
Presented as published in 1891. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Let us examine a little into the application of each separate requirement. The first, you see, condemns all imitations of a substance, especially when the object is not likely to have been made of that substance. Such are doors painted in bronze, sham jewelry, paper flowers, glass colored to look like china, plaster to look like iron and bronze, and many more. It seems a strange thing, when we reflect, that it should be supposed that we all take pleasure in a thing that pretends to be something else than it appears, and that the deception should be pointed out to us as a recommendation. The advertisement that assures us that Paris diamonds and Abyssinian jewelry cannot be distinguished from the real thing, the shopkeeper who tells us that some stuff of mixed material has quite the appearance of silk, and that a silk-finished velveteen could easily be mistaken for velvet; all this is intended to appeal, and really does appeal, to the tastes and wants of a large class. But how much better and more honest is it to know what the especial article we want ought to be made of, and to see that we get it — silk honestly silk, and woolen honestly woolen, and cotton honestly cotton, and linen really and truly linen; and when the manufacturers find what is expected of them they will supply it accordingly. It must have been inappropriate and perishable material that first put it into the careful housewife's mind to provide an extra case or cover for various household objects — oil-cloth or drugget to cover the stair-carpeting, holland covers for the furniture, and antimacassars over them again, oil-cloth to cover tables, and table-covers to cover the oil-cloth, and mats to save the tablecloth, and much more of the same kind. In the first place, the materials used should be appropriate and serviceable, and in the second, people should not be ashamed of the signs of honest wear in them, still, for my part, if I must cover things up at all, I would cover them when they were really shabby than while they were fresh. And when this system of covers extend itself to paper covers for flower-pots, chinacases and covers for sardine boxes, silvered perforated cardboard cases for match-boxes, and such like, it seems to express a dislike to the honest plainness and simplicity, really right and appropriate, of the things themselves, and a false refinement and love of disguise. It is the same feeling that leads people to call shops repositories and emporiums, and florists to call themselves " horticultural furnishers." Simplicity and plain dealing in the material of household goods and appliances will lead us a long way in the direction of taste.
Now as to the second requirement. The various rooms in our houses are intended for various uses and occasions, and natural instinct for convenience leads us to furnish them