[Illustration: The dining room.]



DISCRIMINATION IN CHOICE

A great deal of the factory-made furniture of the day is the veriest
trash. The best feature of it is that it cannot last long and will not
survive to disgrace us in the eyes of a later and perhaps more
discriminating generation. For those who reside in flats, and are
deprived of the inducement to plan for permanence, small blame can
attach for hesitancy in making investments in the better sort of
furniture that their tastes would lead them to choose. This is the
penalty they pay for evading the responsibilities of genuine home life
in a house.

But good furniture is being built in these days. It is not confined to
hand work, or to the products of long-haired folk who set up a religion
of cabinet-making. In every city there are several grades of furniture
dealers. At the one extreme there is the house that handles nothing
but trash; at the other the house that handles no trash at all. The
latter is the obvious choice; and if we pay a bit more for
safety--well, do we not pay for our insurance against fire, and
burglars, and other things?

If our house has been planned on a scale commensurate with our means,
we shall find it no extravagance to complete the larger work of
outfitting with articles that will bring pleasure and not vexation,
that will need no apologies. Surely no employment could be more
interesting than the choice of these belongings which shall in many