THE HOME BEAUTIFUL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1444, 20 May 1912, Page 9

THE HOME BEAUTIFUL.

It was Mark Twain who declared that the American* had a keener sense of beauty and followed the cult of it with

more ardour (hat the people of any country. No-,v I lie New York Board of Education, as if to live up to his belief, hjivo issued an edict (o the schools that girls between the ages of ten and fifteen years, arc to be trained in a knowledge of how to combine colours and,materials ariistieally in -house decoration and to furnish rooms in .styles tlmt are true to proportions and to period. Every teacher of domestic science in the New York schools is inspired, or has to affect to bo inspired with the belief that tho making of a homo beautiful tends to elevate individual character and taste.

Before a teacher takes her children in hand she has herself to study the choosing of* furniture, papers, caTpets, pictures, rugs, draperies, and tho necessity of having mantel shelves, wood work, and ornaments of a corresponding fitness. Children as Decorators. More than this, the teachers, as well as tho girls under them, are taught how to make colour rugs and carpets. As a concession to the fact that circumstances will not always permit of furnishing with respect to periods, a certain amount of latitude is allowed to the little ones when they set out to design and decorate their rooms. Such anfplo instruction is given to them in "colour harmonics" and "good lines" that in time those children arc able to .express themselves prettily in their own way. A revelation of the wonders accomplished along the lines of tho New York Board of Education, was but lately shown in an exhibition by a number of schools of a collection of little rooms, furnished and decorated by domestic science teachers and their scholars. The prize was gained by a girl of twelve years old. Her room, Sheraton in period, was planned quite true to scale. Tho draperies were blue and yellow, the walls yellow, and tho creamcoloured woodwork, 'mantel-shelf, fireirons, and silver candlesticks were cleverly chosen to match both room and style. Their Pictures, The furniture itself was constructed with remarkable skill by tho children of the High School in Washington. The cult of the Japanese print, to, is encourugcd by the Teachers' College iu New York, and the children, it is claimed, "love Juna-'-eso prints for their simple strong, expressive lines, Hat tones, and beautiful colours." Older children are shown flat colour effects of Gucrin in his series of prints, with tho liopo that from these they will learn to appreciate architectural beauties. Crudely coloured ■ and common pictures are condemned, but children in tho American schools arc encouraged to buy photographs of classis and modern art.