in America, in spite of far more general practice of the art, we still
are without a leader whose very name establishes law.

It is true we are free to draw inspiration from the same sources which
supplied Morris and the men associated with him in his enthusiasms, and
in fact we do lean, as they did, upon English eighteenth-century
domestic art--and derive from the men who made that period famous many
of our articles of faith; but there are almost no authoritative books
upon the subject of appropriate modern decoration. Our text books are
still to be written; and one must glean knowledge from many sources,
shape it into rules, and test the rules, before adopting them as safe
guides.

Yet in spite of the absence of authoritative teaching, we have learned
that an art dependent upon other arts, as decoration is upon building
and architecture, is bound to follow the principles which govern them.
We must base our work upon what has already been done, select our
decorative forms from appropriate periods, conform our use of colour to
the principles of colour, and be able to choose and apply all
manufactures in accordance with the great law of appropriateness. If we
do this, we stand upon something capable of evolution and the creation
of a system.

In so far as the principles of decoration are derived from other arts,
they can be acquired by every one, but an exquisite feeling in their
application is the distinguishing quality of the true decorator.

There is quite a general impression that house-decoration is not an art
which requires a long course of study and training, but some kind of
natural knack of arrangement--a faculty of making things "look pretty,"