Others have set themselves to reproducing the so-called mission
furniture which the good priests of early California would have
rejoiced to exchange for the convenient modern furniture at which the
faddist sniffs. But most of us who stop to think, realize that there
is no magic virtue in antiquity of itself. The average man, at least,
cannot delude himself into the belief that there is comfort to be found
in a great deal of the harsh-angled stuff paraded as artistic.

Let us not be understood, however, as hinting that artistic qualities
must be disregarded. Though furniture should not be chosen for its
beauty or associations alone, it must not be considered at all if
beauty is absent.



COMFORT, AESTHETIC AND PHYSICAL

The first consideration of the home is comfort. Let no one dispute
that fact. But there is such a thing as being aesthetically as well as
physically comfortable. Conceptions of physical comfort differ with
individuals, but are usually well defined; some of us actually have no
conception whatever of aesthetic comfort. That is no reason why we
should not seek it. Probably we had a very faint idea of what good
music or good painting was like until we came to an acquaintance with
the masters; but we are surely not sorry to have progressed in
experience and feeling. And so it is that though we may not feel
specially urged to insist upon tasteful surroundings, the higher
instincts within us that persuade us to make the most of ourselves
demand that we shall not be content with mere physical comfort.