ch are
reminiscences of the forms and faces separated from us by distance or
death. The test of the whole question of such an arrangement of furniture
in our living rooms, is the amount of judgment and discretion displayed.
Two favorable examples of the present fashion, representing the interior
of the Saloon and Drawing Room at Sandringham House, are here reproduced.

[Illustration: The Saloon at Sandringham House. (_From a Photo by Bedford
Lemere & Co., by permission of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales_).]

[Illustration: The Drawing Room at Sandringham House. (_From a Photo by
Bedford Lemere & Co., by permission of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales_).]

There is at the present time an ambition on the part of many well-to-do
persons to imitate the effect produced in houses of old families where,
for generations, valuable and memorable articles of decorative furniture
have been accumulated, just as pictures, plate and china have been
preserved; and failing the inheritance of such household gods, it is the
practice to acquire, or as the modern term goes, "to collect," old
furniture of different styles and periods, until the room becomes
incongruous and overcrowded, an evidence of the wealth, rather than of the
taste, of the owner. As it frequently happens that such collections are
made very hastily, and in the brief intervals of a busy commercial or
political life, the selections are not the best or most suitable; and
where so much is required in a short space of time, it becomes impossible
to devote a sufficient sum of money to procure a really valuable specimen
of the kind desired; in its place an effective and low priced reproduction
of an old pattern (with all the faults inseparable from such conditions)
is added to the conglomeration of articles requiring attention, and
taking up space. The limited accommodation of houses built on ground which
is too valuable to allow spacious halls and large apartments, makes this
want of discretion and judgment the more objectionable. There can be no
doubt that want of care and restraint in the selection of furniture, by
the purchasing public, affects its character, both as to design and
workmanship.

These are some of the faults in the modern style of furnishing, which have
been pointed out by recent writers and lecturers on the subject. In "Hints
on Household Taste," [23] Mr. Eastlake has scolded us severely for running
after novelties and fashions, instead of cultivating suitability