all were agreed that the attic contents were to furnish forth the
Cape Cod cottage with no unnecessary additions. Here were eight
cane-seated chairs of the late Empire years. Four had been painted a
dirty brown to simulate black walnut; four represented the white
enamel blight which, in turn, had chipped enough to display the
"grained" painting of the golden oak years beneath. A scraper applied
to a leg revealed the mellow tone of honey-colored maple. Patience and
paint remover did the rest. Brought up in the natural finish, they
blended beautifully with the old pine table and have been much
admired. Yet they were only near-antiques, made by early factory
methods about 1850.

So it went. Old pine bureaus, an under-eaves bed, one or two
four-posters, late but with simple urn-shaped finials and still
covered with the old New England red filler, two or three cherry light
stands, and several slat-back chairs went far towards furnishing the
bedrooms. The living room, in spite of two or three good tables and
ladder-back and Windsor armchairs, appeared to be threatened with a
warring element in the shape of a red plush Victorian sofa and
matching armchair. Both were ugly but comfortable. Chintz slip covers
changed them from blatant monstrosities to background blending items
of hominess.

Skillful grouping, plenty of color, and simplicity produced a highly
pleasing whole that caused more than one guest to exclaim, "These
things look as though they grew in the house." Yet there was not a
piece of museum quality in the lot. Many of them could not even be
classed as antiques. They were simply the kind of things that the
original owner of the house and his descendants would have been apt to
accumulate and use through the years. But it is those plus the
associations, real or imaginary, that make the difference between a
home and a house. The original owner could, of course, have owned
finer pieces such as a butterfly table, a maple or cherry highboy, a
high-post bed with hangings of crewel-work, a small curly maple and
mahogany sideboard, various chests of drawers and light stands made of
cherry and neatly ornamented with inlay. Country cabinet-makers were
as fine artists as those who catered to the urban taste but their
public was satisfied with simple pieces and they wrought accordingly.

Calcimined walls and near-antique furnishings are, naturally, not the
only means of producing a homey effect. Their chief merit lies in the