their tastes would lead them to choose. This is the
penalty they pay for evading the responsibilities of genuine home life
in a house.

But good furniture is being built in these days. It is not confined to
hand work, or to the products of long-haired folk who set up a religion
of cabinet-making. In every city there are several grades of furniture
dealers. At the one extreme there is the house that handles nothing
but trash; at the other the house that handles no trash at all. The
latter is the obvious choice; and if we pay a bit more for
safety--well, do we not pay for our insurance against fire, and
burglars, and other things?

If our house has been planned on a scale commensurate with our means,
we shall find it no extravagance to complete the larger work of
outfitting with articles that will bring pleasure and not vexation,
that will need no apologies. Surely no employment could be more
interesting than the choice of these belongings which shall in many
ways influence ourselves and those about us.

There is such a range of styles and costs that if we approach the
problem intelligently we may "express ourselves" quite as accurately as
though we were amateur craftsmen. Indeed, we must express ourselves,
whether we determine to do so or not; for if we simply follow our
cruder instincts, as the child selects its toys, do we not reveal the
absence of any real artistic self whatever?

CHAPTER V

HOUSEHOLD LINEN

Most of us "women folk" have some one dear pet hobby which we love to
humor and to cater to, and which variously expresses itself in china,
bric-a-brac, books, collections of spoons or forks, and other things of
beauty and joys forever. But whatever our individual indulgences may be,
one taste we share in common--the love of neat napery. Her heartstrings
must indeed be toughly seasoned who feels no thrill of pride as she looks
upon her piles of shining, satiny table linen, and takes account of her
sheet, pillowcase and towel treasure. They are her stocks and bonds,
giving forth daily their bounteous, beauteous yield of daintiness and
comfort, and paying for themselves many times over by the atmosphere of
nicety and refinement which they create. For it is these touches,
unobtrusive by their very delicacy, which introduce that intangible but
very essential quality known as _tone_ into the home harmony.

Though this is true of all household linen, it is, especially so of table
linen, which s