advice without delivering over the entire creation into stranger or
alien hands; without abdicating the right and privilege of personal
expression. If the decorator appreciates this right, his function will
be somewhat akin to that of the portrait painter; both are bound to
represent the individual or family in their performances, each artist
using the truest and best methods of art with the added gift of grace or
charm of colour which he possesses, the one giving the physical aspect
of his client and the other the mental characteristics, circumstances,
position and life of the house-owner and his family. This is the true
mission of the decorator, although it is not always so understood. What
is called business talent may lead him to invent schemes of costliness
which relate far more to his own profit than to the wishes or character
of the house-owner.

But it is not always that the assistance of the specialist in decoration
and furnishing is necessary. There are many homes where both are quite
within the scope of the ordinary man or woman of taste. In fact, the
great majority of homes come within these lines, and it is to such
home-builders that rules, not involving styles, are especially of use.

The principles of truth and harmony, which underlie all beauty, may be
secured in the most inexpensive cottage as well as in the broadest and
most imposing residence. Indeed, the cottage has the advantage of that
most potent ally of beauty--simplicity--a quality which is apt to be
conspicuously absent from the schemes of decoration for the palace.




CHAPTER III