beauty of suitability. Suitability! _Suitability!_ SUITABILITY!!

It is such a relief to return to the tranquil, simple forms of
furniture, and to decorate our rooms by a process of elimination. How
many rooms have I not cleared of junk--this heterogeneous mass of
ornamental "period" furniture and bric-a-brac bought to make a room
"look cozy." Once cleared of these, the simplicity and dignity of the
room comes back, the architectural spaces are freed and now stand in
their proper relation to the furniture. In other words, the architecture
of the room becomes its decoration.




III

THE OLD WASHINGTON IRVING HOUSE


I have always lived in enchanting houses. Probably when another woman
would be dreaming of love affairs, I dream of the delightful houses I
have lived in. And just as the woman who dreams of many lovers finds one
dream a little dearer than all the rest, so one of my houses has been
dearer to me than all the others.

[Illustration: THE WASHINGTON IRVING HOUSE WAS DELIGHTFULLY RAMBLING]

This favorite love of mine is the old Washington Irving house in New
York, the quaint mansion that gave historic Irving Place its name. For
twenty years my friend, Elizabeth Marbury, and I made this old house our