its copy of the original, the better it
is. A good photograph of a fine old painting is superior to the average
copy in oils or watercolors. A chair honestly copied from a worm eaten
original is better for domestic purpose than the original. The original,
the moment its usefulness is past, belongs in a museum. A plaster cast
of a great bust is better than the same object copied in marble or
bronze by an average sculptor. And so it goes. Think it out for
yourself.

It may be argued that the budding collector is as happy with a false
object and a fake bauble as if he possessed the real thing, and
therefore it were better to leave him to his illusions; that it is his
own fault; that it is so much the worse for him if he is deceived.
But--you can't leave the innocent lamb to the slaughter, if you can give
him a helping hand. If he must be a collector, let him be first a
collector of the many excellent books now published on old furniture,
china, rugs, pewter, silver, prints, the things that will come his way.
You can't begin collecting one thing without developing an enthusiasm
for the contemporary things. Let him study the museum collections, visit
the private collections, consult recognized experts. If he is serious,
he will gradually acquire the intuition of knowing the genuine from the
false, the worth-while from the worthless, and once he has that
knowledge, instinct, call it what you will, he can never be satisfied
with imitations.

The collection and association of antiques and reproductions should be
determined by the collector's sense of fitness, it seems to me. Every
man should depend on whatever instinct for rightness, for suitability,
he may possess. If he finds that he dare not risk his individual
opinion, then let him be content with the things he _knows_ to be both
beautiful and useful, and leave the subtler decisions for someone else.
For instance, there are certain objects that are obviously the better
for age, the objects that are softened and refined by a bloom that comes
from usage.

An old rug has a softness that a new one cannot imitate. An old copper
kettle has an uneven quality that has come from years of use. A new
kettle may be quite as useful, but age has given the old one a certain
quality that hanging and pounding cannot reproduce. A pewter platter
that has been used for generations is dulled and softened to a glow that
a new platter cannot rival.

What charm is to a woman, the vague thing