rs at the thought of spending his evenings in the light of
the fire upon the hearth or of a burning splinter.

The importance of artificial light is emphatically impressed upon the
householder when he is forced temporarily to depend upon the primitive
candle through the failure of the modern system of lighting. He flees
from his home to that of his more fortunate neighbor, or he retires in
his helplessness to awaken in the morning with a blessing for daylight.
He cannot conceive of happiness and recreation in the homes of a century
or two ago, when a few candles or an oil-lamp or two were the sole
sources of light. But when the electric or gas service is again restored
he relapses shortly into his former placid indifference toward the
wonderfully efficient and adequate artificial light of the present age.

Until recently artificial light was costly and the householder in common
with other users of light did not concern himself with the question of
adequate and artistic lighting. His chief aim was to utilize as little
as possible, for cost was always foremost in his mind. The development
of the science of light-production has been so rapid during the past
generation that adequate, efficient, and cheap artificial light finds
mankind unconsciously viewing lighting with the same attitude as he
displays toward his food and fuel bills. Another consequence of this
rapid development is that mankind does not know how to extract the joy
from modern artificial light. This is readily demonstrated by analyzing
the lighting of middle-class homes.

The cost of light has been discussed in another chapter and it has been
shown that it has decreased enormously in a century. It is now the most
potential agency in the home when viewed from the standpoint of cost.
The average householder pays less than twenty dollars per year for
ever-ready light throughout his home. For about five cents per day the
average family enjoys all the blessings of modern lighting, which is
sufficient proof that cost is an insignificant item.

In order to simplify the discussion of lighting the home the terminology
of electric-lighting will be used. The principles expounded apply as
well to gas as to electricity, and owing to the ingenuity of the
gas-lighting experts, the possibilities of gas-lighting are extensive
despite its handicaps. There are some places in the home, such as the
kitchen and basement, where lighting is purely utilitarian in the narrow
sense