bell answered at eleven in the morning by a
butler in an ill fitting dress suit and wearing a mustache, might as well
be placarded: "Here lives a vulgarian who has never had an opportunity to
acquire cultivation." As a matter of fact, the knowledge of how to make a
house distinguished both in appearance and in service, is a much higher
test than presenting a distinguished appearance in oneself and acquiring
presentable manners. There are any number of people who dress well, and in
every way appear well, but a lack of breeding is apparent as soon as you
go into their houses. Their servants have not good manners, they are not
properly turned out, the service is not well done, and the decorations and
furnishings show lack of taste and inviting arrangement.

The personality of a house is indefinable, but there never lived a lady of
great cultivation and charm whose home, whether a palace, a farm-cottage
or a tiny apartment, did not reflect the charm of its owner. Every visitor
feels impelled to linger, and is loath to go. Houses without personality
are a series of rooms with furniture in them. Sometimes their lack of
charm is baffling; every article is "correct" and beautiful, but one has
the feeling that the decorator made chalk-marks indicating the exact spot
on which each piece of furniture is to stand. Other houses are filled with
things of little intrinsic value, often with much that is shabby, or they
are perhaps empty to the point of bareness, and yet they have that
"inviting" atmosphere, and air of unmistakable quality which is an
unfailing indication of high-bred people.

="BECOMING" FURNITURE=

Suitability is the test of good taste always. The manner to the moment,
the dress to the occasion, the article to the place, the furniture to the
background. And yet to combine many periods in one and commit no
anachronism, to put something French, something Spanish, something
Italian, and something English into an American house and have the
result the perfection of American taste--is a feat of legerdemain that has
been accomplished time and again.

[Illustration: "THE PERSONALITY OF A HOUSE IS INDEFINABLE, BUT THERE NEVER
LIVED A LADY OF GREAT CULTIVATION AND CHARM WHOSE HOME, WHETHER A PALACE,
A FARM-COTTAGE OR A TINY APARTMENT, DID NOT REFLECT THE CHARM OF ITS
OWNER." [Page 132.]]

A woman of great taste follows fashion in house furnishing, just as she
follows fashion in dress, in general principles only. She wea