dings, and
in spite of mistakes and incongruities, must be reckoned as efforts
toward a desirable end.

In spite of a prevalent want of training, it is astonishing how much we
have of good interior decoration, not only in houses of great
importance, but in those of people of average fortunes--indeed, it is in
the latter that we get the general value of the art.

This comparative excellence is to be referred to the very general
acquirement of what we call "art cultivation" among American women, and
this, in conjunction with a knowledge that her social world will be apt
to judge of her capacity by her success or want of success in making her
own surroundings beautiful, determines the efforts of the individual
woman. She feels that she is expected to prove her superiority by living
in a home distinguished for beauty as well as for the usual orderliness
and refinement. Of course this sense of obligation is a powerful spur to
the exercise of natural gifts, and if in addition to these she has the
habit of reasoning upon the principles of things, and is sufficiently
cultivated in the literature of art to avoid unwarrantable experiment,
there is no reason why she should not be successful in her own
surroundings.

The typical American, whether man, or woman, has great natural facility,
and when the fact is once recognized that beauty--like education--can
dignify any circumstances, from the narrowest to the most opulent, it
becomes one of the objects of life to secure it. _How_ this is done
depends upon the talent and cultivation of the family, and this is often
adequate for excellent results.

It is quite possible that so much general ability may discourage the
study of decoration as a precise form of art, since it encourages the
idea that The House Beautiful can be secured by any one who has money to
pay for processes, and possesses what is simply designated as "good
taste."

We do not find this impulse toward the creation of beautiful interiors
as noticeable in other countries as in America. The instinct of
self-expression is much stronger in us than in other races, and for that
reason we cannot be contented with the utterances of any generation,
race or country save our own. We gather to ourselves what we personally
enjoy or wish to enjoy, and will not take our domestic environment at
second hand. It follows that there is a certain difference and
originality in our methods, which bids fair to acquire distinct
character