em in condition; and then, with
all this care, they are good for nothing, in any sensible use. We have
frequently been into a country house, where we anticipated better
things, and, on being introduced into the "parlor," actually found
everything in the furniture line so dainty and "prinked up," that we
were afraid to sit down on the frail things stuck around by way of
seats, for fear of breaking them; and everything about it looked so
gingerly and inhospitable, that we felt an absolute relief when we could
fairly get out of it, and take a place by the wide old fireplace, in the
common living room, comfortably ensconced in a good old easy,
high-backed, split-bottomed chair--there was positive comfort in that,
when in the "parlor" there was nothing but restraint and _dis_comfort.
No; leave all this vanity to town-folk, who have nothing better--or who,
at least, think they have--to amuse themselves with; it has no fitness
for a country dwelling, whatever. All this kind of frippery smacks of
the boarding school, the pirouette, and the dancing master, and is out
of character for the farm, or the sensible retirement of the country.

In connection with the subject of furniture, a remark may be made on the
_room_ arrangement of the house, which might, perhaps, have been more
fittingly made when discussing that subject, in the designs of our
houses. Some people have a marvellous propensity for introducing into
their houses a _suite_ of rooms, connected by wide folding-doors, which
must always be opened into each other, furnished just alike, and devoted
to extraordinary occasions; thus absolutely sinking the best rooms in
the house, for display half a dozen times in the year, and at the
sacrifice of the every-day comfort of the family. This is nothing but a
bastard taste, of the most worthless kind, introduced from the city--the
propriety of which, for city life, need not here be discussed. The
presence of such arrangement, in a country house, is fatal to everything
like domestic enjoyment, and always followed by great expense and
inconvenience. No room, in any house, should be too good for occupation
by the family themselves--not every-day, and common-place--but
occupation at any and all times, when convenience or pleasure demand it.
If a large room be required, let the single room itself be large; not
sacrifice an extra room to the occasional extension of the choicer one,
as in the use of folding-doors must be done. This "parlo