risk belittling our pleasant drawing-room by dubbing it
"salon." In short, a drawing-room may be a part of any well regulated
house. A salon is largely a matter of spirit and cleverness.

A drawing-room has no place in the house where there is no other
living-room. Indeed, if there are many children, and the house is of
moderate size, I think a number of small day rooms are vastly better
than the two usual rooms, living-room and drawing-room, because only in
this way can the various members of the family have a chance at any
privacy. The one large room so necessary for the gala occasions of a
large family may be the dining-room, for here it will be easy to push
back tables and chairs for the occasion. If the children have a nursery,
and mother has a small sitting-room, and father has a little room for
books and writing, a living-room may be eliminated in favor of a small
formal room for visitors and talk.

[Illustration: THE DRAWING-ROOM SHOULD BE INTIMATE IN SPIRIT]

No matter how large your drawing-room may be, keep it intimate in
spirit. There should be a dozen conversation centers in a large room.
There should be one or more sofas, with comfortable chairs pulled up
beside them. No one chair should be isolated, for some bashful person
who doesn't talk well anyway is sure to take the most remote chair and
make herself miserable. I have seen a shy young woman completely changed
because she happened to sit upon a certain deep cushioned sofa of
rose-colored damask. Whether it was the rose color, or the enforced
relaxation the sofa induced, or the proximity of some very charming
people in comfortable chairs beside her, or all of these things--I don't
know! But she found herself. She found herself gay and happy and
unafraid. I am sure her personality flowered from that hour on. If she
had been left to herself she would have taken a stiff chair in a far
corner, and she would have been miserable and self-conscious. I believe
most firmly in the magic power of inanimate objects!

Don't litter your drawing-room with bric-a-brac. Who hasn't seen what I
can best describe as a souvenir drawing-room, a room filled with
curiosities from everywhere! I shall never forget doing a drawing-room
for a woman of no taste. I persuaded her to put away her heavy velvets
and gilt fringes and to have one light and spacious room in the house.
She agreed. We worked out a chintz drawing-room that was delicious. I
was very happy over it and you