THE FAMILY CHAIRS

Some good folk would banish the rocker unceremoniously from the living room, and we might not miss it so much as we think.  It is the adaptability of the rocker to comforting positions, rather than a love of rocking, that endears the chair to the majority, and when the same qualities are found in the reclining or easy chair we can well spare the projections that menace skirts and polished furniture, not to speak of the space they take up.

As a general thing it is the man of the house whose comfort is most sedulously looked after.  For him the easy chair, the slippers, the reading lamp, the smoking outfit, the house jacket, the evening paper.  This fact is mentioned in no carping spirit.  Far be it from one of the less worthy sex to quarrel with the fate that has been ordained for us by our helpmeets; the latter should not be deprived of a whit of the joy that comes from viewing the lord of the household agreeably situated, and in that blissful state which breeds a kindly spirit toward all human kind, including milliners and ladies’ tailors.

But too frequently the mistress of the household is supposed to pick up her comfort at odd times, or more likely there isn’t any supposition at all.  For her, for the master, and for the other members of the family, there must be a personal interest in the living room, and this is best represented by the most comfortable chair to be had.  As persons are built of different heights and breadths, so the chairs should be.  While the slender chap can snuggle down in the most capacious easy chair, the stout lady may be embarrassed when she finds the one single seat at hand proffering only a scanty breadth.  One may well provide for these contingencies, for of course it is not always possible to select our acquaintances in accordance with the capacity of our furniture.  Heights, too, should be varied somewhat, though it must be confessed that the joy of life (for others) is much increased by the sight of a six-foot (tall) gentleman of dignity gradually unfolding himself from the chair that was purchased for the particular use of Gwendolyn Ermyntrude, aged six.

THE TABLE

If the living room, among its other uses, takes the place of the library, the selection of a suitable library table will be a good test of the homemaker’s discrimination.  The quality of this table should be at least equal to the best we have to show.  Whether it shall be squared, or oblong with oval ends, depends upon tastes; by all means it should be get-at-able.  That’s what a library table is for.  Good designs in “arts and crafts” may be had as low as $16.50 in a small size; 72-inch, about $50.  Golden oak costs less, mahogany considerably more.

THE DAVENPORT