ween candles and electricity
in this magic fashion.

Gas light is more difficult to manage than electricity, for there is
always the cumbersome tube and the necessity for adding mechanical
accessories before a good clear light is secured. Gas lamps are hideous,
for some obscure reason, whereas there are hundreds of simple and
excellent wall fixtures, drop lights and reading lamps to be bought
already equipped for electricity. The electric wire is such an
unobtrusive thing that it can be carried through a small hole in any
good vase, or jar, and with a suitable shade you have an attractive and
serviceable reading light. Candlesticks are easily equipped for
electricity and are the most graceful of all fixtures for
dressing-tables, bedside tables, tea tables, and such.

It is well to remember that if a room is decorated in dark colors the
light will be more readily absorbed than in a light-colored room, and
you should select and place your lighting-fixtures accordingly. Bead
covers, fringes and silk shades all obscure the light and re-absorb it,
and so require a great force of light to illuminate properly.

The subject of the selection of lighting-fixtures is limitless. There
are so many fixtures to be had nowadays--good, bad and indifferent--that
it were impossible to point out the merits and demerits of them all.
There are copies of all the best lamps and lanterns of old Europe and
many new designs that grew out of modern American needs. There are Louis
XVI lanterns simple enough to fit well into many an American hallway,
that offer excellent lessons in the simplicity of the master decorators
of old times. Contrast one of these fine old lanterns with the mass of
colored glass and beads and crude lines and curves of many modern hall
lanterns. I like a ceiling bowl of crystal or alabaster with lights
inside, for halls, but the expense of such a bowl is great. However, I
recently saw a reproduction of an old alabaster bowl made of soft,
cloudy glass, not of alabaster, which sold at a fraction of the price of
the original, and it seemed to meet all the requirements.

Of course, one may easily spend as much money on lighting-fixtures as on
the remainder of the house, but that is no reason why people who must
practise economy should admit ugly fixtures into their homes. There are
always good and bad fixtures offered at the lowest and highest prices.
You have no defense if you build your own house. If you are making the
bes