e easiest thing in the
world to have too much of a good thing. Sometimes the better the thing
the worse the repetition. This general effect which we must have is
well secured by a small, inconspicuous figure, or by those vine-like
patterns, so delicate and wandering that you don't attempt to follow
them. Better than either are the plain tints, which give you, in
fact, all you require; a modification of the cold white wall, and the
most effective background for pictures and other furnishing. As much
ornament as you please in the border at the top, and at the bottom,
too, if the rooms are high enough. All horizontal lines and
subdivisions reduce the apparent height of the room. Indeed, you may
use trimming without limit, either of paper or paint, wood and gilt
moldings, provided they are well used. Color, after all, is the main
thing. If there is any good reason for putting this upon paper and
then sticking the paper to the wall, I've not learned it. It is
cheaper, cleaner, and better to apply it directly to the plastering,
either in oil or water-colors. Oil is the best; water the cheapest. In
any case, the best quality of plastering is none too good. For the
papering it may be left smooth, but for painting, especially with
distemper, the rough coarse-grained surface is very much the best. The
chief objection to stucco arises from its being a cheap material,
easily wrought. It is so often introduced as if quantity would
compensate for quality,--a common error in other things than stucco.
Though often desirable and appropriate, as a general rule the more the
worse. No amount of gilding will give it anything but a frail, often
tawdry appearance, that does not improve, but deteriorates, with age.

[Illustration: WOODWORK ON PLASTERED WALLS]

Wainscoting is always in order; it is a question of harmony, when and
where to use it. What you have in mind is really an extended and
ornamented base. Of course, it enriches the room, but it begins a work
to which there is no limit. It should be supplemented by a
corresponding wood cornice at the top of the room, and between the two
as much decorative woodwork as you can afford; until "the walls of
the house within, the floor of the house, and the walls of the
ceilings" are carved with "cherubims and palm-trees and open flowers."
A costly wainscot at the base of the walls, with paper and stucco
above, seems to me a great lack of harmony. I would spread my richness
more evenly. In usin