cold, according to their
composition or intensity. A water-green is a cold colour, so is a pure
emerald green, so also a blue-green; while an olive, or a gold-green
comes into the category of warm colours. This is because it is a
composite colour made of a union of warm and cold colours; the brown and
yellow in its composition being in excess of the blue; as pink also,
which is a mixture of red and white; and lavender, which is a mixture of
red, white, and blue, stand as intermediate between two extremes.

Having duly considered the effect of light upon colour, we may
fearlessly choose tints for every room according to personal preferences
or tastes. If we like one warm colour better than another, there is no
reason why that one should not predominate in every room in the house
which has a shadow exposure. If we like a cold colour it should be used
in many of the sunny rooms.

I believe we do not give enough importance to this matter of personal
liking in tints. We select our friends from sympathy. As a rule, we do
not philosophise much about it, although we may recognise certain
principles in our liking; it is those to whom our hearts naturally open
that we invite in and have joy in their companionship, and we might
surely follow our likings in the matter of colour, as well as in
friendship, and thereby add much to our happiness. Curiously enough we
often speak of the colour of a mind--and I once knew a child who
persisted in calling people by the names of colours; not the colour of
their clothes, but some mind-tint which he felt. "The blue lady" was his
especial favourite, and I have no doubt the presence or absence of that
particular colour made a difference in his content all the days of his
life.

The colour one likes is better for tranquillity and enjoyment--more
conducive to health; and exercises an actual living influence upon
moods. For this reason, if no other, the colour of a room should never
be arbitrarily prescribed or settled for the one who is to be its
occupant. It should be as much a matter of _nature_ as the lining of a
shell is to the mussel, or as the colour of the wings of a butterfly.

In fact the mind which we cannot see may have a colour of its own, and
it is natural that it should choose to dwell within its own influence.

We do not know _why_ we like certain colours, but we do, and let that
suffice, and let us live with them, as gratefully as we should for more
explainable ministry.

If