DOI Heft:
The British Empire
DOI Artikel:Jones, Sydney R.: Cottage interiors and decoration
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21779#0017
COTTAGE INTERIORS AND DECORA-
TION. BY SYDNEY R. JONES.
LIFE may be very pleasantly spent in a cottage, a real cottage,
where room is sufficient but not too much, where the problems
of financial and domestic upkeep are engrossing but not para-
f mount, where dimity curtains and chimney-corners seem to be
peculiarly fitting, and where the homely scent of lavender and honey-
suckle is wafted through the open casements at the appointed season.
Here, surely, contentment and peace should reign, for few things con-
tribute more to happiness in human life than the surroundings in which
it is passed. And as the external conditions under which life is spent
influence the thought, and largely mould the character of the individual,
so the individual is in a great degree responsible for such conditions. A
cottage, therefore, both within and without, should supply, as far as a
dwelling can, the means for the fullest development of those who in-
habit it, and be, as it were,
a material expression of the
ideas of people who are able
to live life simply, and can be
content with all that life under
these circumstances offers.
In olden days the architecture
of the towns and villages of
England rendered evident the
character of the people. Their
needs originally brought into
being certain forms of build-
ing that, by practice long ac-
credited and observed,evolved
traditions in which much that
was spiritual and moral, as
well as material, was repre-
sented. Thus the cottage
homes, in common with the
churches, town-halls, and
manor-houses, recorded ha-
bits of life by their visible
forms and features. Many
quaint devices and interior
fitments signify far more than
meets the eye and often sug-
gest an interesting sidelight
on national, as well as per-
sonal, history. LEDGED DOOR
TION. BY SYDNEY R. JONES.
LIFE may be very pleasantly spent in a cottage, a real cottage,
where room is sufficient but not too much, where the problems
of financial and domestic upkeep are engrossing but not para-
f mount, where dimity curtains and chimney-corners seem to be
peculiarly fitting, and where the homely scent of lavender and honey-
suckle is wafted through the open casements at the appointed season.
Here, surely, contentment and peace should reign, for few things con-
tribute more to happiness in human life than the surroundings in which
it is passed. And as the external conditions under which life is spent
influence the thought, and largely mould the character of the individual,
so the individual is in a great degree responsible for such conditions. A
cottage, therefore, both within and without, should supply, as far as a
dwelling can, the means for the fullest development of those who in-
habit it, and be, as it were,
a material expression of the
ideas of people who are able
to live life simply, and can be
content with all that life under
these circumstances offers.
In olden days the architecture
of the towns and villages of
England rendered evident the
character of the people. Their
needs originally brought into
being certain forms of build-
ing that, by practice long ac-
credited and observed,evolved
traditions in which much that
was spiritual and moral, as
well as material, was repre-
sented. Thus the cottage
homes, in common with the
churches, town-halls, and
manor-houses, recorded ha-
bits of life by their visible
forms and features. Many
quaint devices and interior
fitments signify far more than
meets the eye and often sug-
gest an interesting sidelight
on national, as well as per-
sonal, history. LEDGED DOOR