nceal clumsy
workmanship. Of course certain forms of elaboration involve great
pains and labour; but the mere fact that a piece of work is decorated
does not show that it has cost any more in time and execution than if
it were plain,--frequently many hours have been saved by the device
of covering up defects with cheap ornament. How often one finds that
a simple chair with a plain back costs more than one which is
apparently elaborately carved! The reason is, that the plain one had
to be made out of a decent piece of wood, while the ornate one was
turned out of a poor piece, and then stamped with a pattern in order
to attract the attention from the inferior material of which it was
composed. The softer and poorer the wood, the deeper it was possible
to stamp it at a single blow. The same principle applies to
much work in metal. Flimsy bits of silverware stamped with cheap
designs of flowers or fruits are attached to surfaces badly finished,
while the work involved in making such a piece of plate with a
plain surface would increase its cost three or four times.

A craft may easily be practised without art, and still serve its
purpose; the alliance of the two is a means of giving pleasure
as well as serving utility. But it is a mistake to suppose that
because a design is artistic, its technical rendering is any the
less important. Frequently curious articles are palmed off on us,
and designated as "Arts and Crafts" ornaments, in which neither
art nor craft plays its full share. Art does not consist only in
original, unusual, or unfamiliar designs; craft does not mean hammering
silver so that the hammer marks shall show; the best art is that
which produces designs of grace and appropriateness, whether they
are strikingly new or not, and the best craftsman is so skilful
that he is able to go beyond the hammer marks, so to speak, and
to produce with the hammer a surface as smooth as, and far more
perfect than, that produced by an emery and burnisher. Some people
think that "Arts and Crafts" means a combination which allows of
poor work being concealed under a mask of aesthetic effect. Labour
should not go forth blindly without art, and art should not proceed
simply for the attainment of beauty without utility,--in other
words, there should be an alliance between labour and art.

One principle for which craftsmen should stand is
a respect for their own tools: a frank recognition of the methods
and implements employed in co