When one is unversed in these matters it is best to submit problems to an authority. It is wiser to allow a clever modiste to select the color, style and material of one’s gown than to do it one’s self. It is better to put the scheme of decoration for your house into the hands of some accomplished person, educated to that end, than to attempt it yourself. In large cities persons competent in this matter of household decoration may easily be found, people whose business it is to act as paid agents of the more beautiful and esthetic way. Many architects have in their employ persons who are capable of advising as to interior decoration and of superintending the work. If one is resident in a small place, the difficulty is obviated by the intelligent aid offered to the questioner through the columns of the better magazines devoted to esthetics as applied to every-day living. The advice given in the best of these publications is conscientious, careful, expert advice.
One especial point in house-furnishing is worth noting. Do not crowd your beautiful Oriental rugs together, but leave a surface of polished floor about each. Rugs are floor pictures and should have frames as well as wall pictures do. The effect of putting them close upon one another, though seen in many houses otherwise well ordered, is inartistic.
AS TO LION-HUNTING
Mrs. Newlyrich is frequently criticized for her frequent fondness for lion-hunting. This is not always fair. If she hunt because of the glory she hopes to heap on herself, she deserves ridicule, but if she do it in the spirit of genuine appreciation and a desire to give rare pleasure to her friends she performs a real service to art and to society and merits praise for her courage and kindness, not censure.
If the woman who is now wealthy was once a trained nurse or a stenographer, do not let her be ashamed of the fact now. If she is frank and simple about the matter, sensible people will respect her for having been honorably employed. If she tries to hide the truth, every one will despise her for it. If she avoid the phrase—and the thought back of it—so often heard, “getting into society,” and will remember that all gentle aspiring persons are already members of the best society, she will be helped to steer her bark aright.
Beware of any person who attempts to exploit you “for revenue only.” On the other hand, if you find some one who for reasons of sincere liking undertakes to show you the social ropes, you will be fortunate.