in pieces and trample them under our feet, lest we lose our
power to distinguish the substance from the shadow. The moment any
particular style of building, finishing or furnishing becomes a
recognized fashion, that moment I feel inclined to turn against it with
all my might."

"If you were not my own idolized wife, I should say that was 'pure
cussedness.'"

[Illustration: MOULDINGS FAIR TO SEE, BUT HARD TO KEEP CLEAN.]

"On the contrary, it is high moral principle; that is, moral principle
applied to art. It is a simple, outright impossibility for human
beings to have any true perception of art while a shadow of a thought
of fashion remains. It is, indeed, possible that fashion may, for a
moment, follow the straight and narrow road that leads to artistic
excellence, as the fitful breath of a cyclone may, at a certain point
in its giddy whirl, run parallel with the ceaseless sweep of the mighty
trade-winds, but whoever tries to keep constantly in its track is sure
to be hopelessly astray."

"My dear, indignant, despiser of fashion, you know you wouldn't wear a
two-year-old bonnet to church, on a pleasant Sunday morning, for the
price of a pew in the broad aisle."

"Certainly not; that would be both mercenary and irreverent; moreover,
my bonnet has nothing to do with artistic rules. It is not a work of
art or of science, of nature or of grace. It is a conventional signal
by which I announce a friendly disposition toward the follies of my
fellow-creatures--a sort of flag of truce, a badge of my conformity in
little things. I wear it voluntarily and could lay it aside if I
chose."

"Undoubtedly, _if_ you chose. Now, let us resume the original
discussion. I had given one powerful argument in favor of paint when I
was rashly interrupted: here is another--it is much cheaper."

"That would depend," said Jill. "Ash, butternut, cherry and various
other woods cost little, if any more, than the best pine, and the pine
itself is very pretty for chambers."

"Ah, but you forget the labor question. It is one thing to join two
pieces of wood so closely as to leave no visible crack between them,
and quite another to bring them into the same neighborhood, fill the
chasm with putty and hide the whole under a coat of paint. The
difference between these two kinds of joints is the difference between
one stroke and two, between one day's work and five days, between one
thousand dollars and five thousand. My third argument you will s