the Hall--The Staircase--The Parlor--Rugs and Carpets--Oriental
Rugs--Floors--Treatment of Hardwood--Of Other Wood--How to Stain a
Floor--Filling as a Floor Covering.

Necessity invented stools,
Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs,
And Luxury the accomplished sofa last.

WILLIAM COWPER--_The Task._


Utility, comfort and elegance are, as Cowper shows, the three successive
purposes for which furniture was designed. And to-day the order of
development remains also the order of importance. The first things to be
desired in any article of furniture are durability and simple
application to its purpose. These being found, a person naturally looks
to see if the use of them will contribute to his physical pleasure as
well as his convenience, that the back of a chair is the right height
and curvature to fit his back, and the seat is not so deep as to strain
his legs; that the table or desk is one he can spread his legs under in
natural fashion, and rest his elbows upon with ease; in short, that the
furniture conforms to his bodily requirements, as the chair and bed of
the "wee teenty bear" suited exactly the little old woman of Southey's
tale. Last of all, the aesthetic pleasure, the appreciation of beauty
by the mind, decides the choice in cases of equal utility and comfort.
The artistic considerations are so many that furniture has become a branch
of art, like sculpture or painting, with a large literature and history
of its own.

Since most authorities on the subject largely ignore the questions of