nstructing any article. If the article
in question is a chair, and is really put together by means of
sockets and pegs, let these constructive necessities appear, and do
not try to disguise the means by which the result is to be attained.
Make the requisite feature a beauty instead of a disgrace.

It is amusing to see a New England farmer build a fence. He begins
with good cedar posts,--fine, thick, solid logs, which are at least
genuine, and handsome so far as a cedar post is capable of being
handsome. You think, "Ah, that will be a good unobjectionable fence."
But, behold, as soon as the posts are in position, he carefully lays
a flat plank vertically in front of each, so that the passer-by
may fancy that he has performed the feat of making a fence of flat
laths, thus going out of his way to conceal the one positive and
good-looking feature in his fence. He seems to have some furtive
dread of admitting that he has used the real article!

A bolt is to be affixed to a modern door. Instead of being applied
with a plate of iron or brass, in itself a decorative feature on
a blank space like that of the surface of a door, the carpenter
cuts a piece of wood out of the edge of the door, sinks the bolt
out of sight, so that nothing shall appear to view but a tiny
meaningless brass handle, and considers that he has performed a very
neat job. Compare this method with that of a mediaeval locksmith,
and the result with his great iron bolt, and if you can not appreciate
the difference, both in principle and result, I should recommend a
course of historic art study until you are convinced. On the other
hand, it is not necessary to carry your artistry so far that you
build a fence of nothing but cedar logs touching one another, or that
you cover your entire door with a meander of wrought iron which
culminates in a small bolt. Enthusiastic followers of the Arts and
Crafts movement often go to morbid extremes. _Recognition_ of
material and method does not connote a _display_ of method and
material out of proportion to the demands of the article to be
constructed. As in other forms of culture, balance and sanity are
necessary, in order to produce a satisfactory result.

But when a craftsman is possessed of an aesthetic instinct and faculty,
he merits the congratulations offered to the students of Birmingham by
William Morris, when he told them that they were among the happiest
people in all civilization--"persons whose necessary dail