oom wisely.

As for the kitchen--that is another story. It is impossible to go into
that subject. And anyway, you will find the essentials supplied for you
by the landlord. You won't need my advice when you need a broom or a
coffee pot or a saucepan--you'll go buy it!

XVII

REPRODUCTIONS OF ANTIQUE FURNITURE AND OBJECTS OF ART

One must have preserved many naive illusions if one may believe in all
the "antiques" that are offered in the marketplaces of the world to-day.
Even the greatest connoisseurs are caught napping sometimes, as in the
case of the famous crown supposedly dating to the Fifth Century, B.C.,
which was for a brief period one of the treasures of the Louvre. Its
origin was finally discovered, and great was the outcry! It had been
traced to a Viennese artisan, a worker in the arts and crafts.

[Illustration: MRS. C.W. HARKNESS'S CABINET FOR _OBJETS D'ART_]

Surely, if the great men of the Louvre could be so deceived it is
obvious that the amateur collector has little chance at the hands of the
dealers in old furniture and other objects of art. Fortunately, the
greatest dealers are quite honest. They tell you frankly if the old
chair you covet is really old, if it has been partially restored, or if
it is a copy, and they charge you accordingly. At these dealers a small
table of the Louis XVI period, or a single chair covered in the original
tapestry, may cost as much as a man in modest circumstances would spend
on his whole house. Almost everything outside these princely shops
(salons is a better word) is false, or atrociously restored. Please
remember I am not referring to reputable dealers, but to the smaller
fry, whose name is legion, in whose shops the unwary seeker after
bargains is sure to be taken in.

Italy is, I think, the greatest workshop of fraudulent reproductions. It
has an output that all Europe and America can never exhaust. Little
children on the streets of Naples still find simpletons of ardent faith
who will buy scraps of old plaster and bits of paving stones that are
alleged to have been excavated in Pompeii.

In writing about antiques it is not easy to be consistent, and any
general conclusion is impossible. Certain reproductions are
objectionable, and yet they are certainly better than poor originals,
after all. The simplest advice is the best and easiest to follow: The
less a copy suggests an attempt at "artistic reproduction," the more
literal and mechanical it is in