Evening Star Newspaper, October 20, 1935, Page 60

F—+4 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 20, 1935—PART FOUR. MELLON GIFT TO ART TO MAKE OLD DREAM COME TRUE ASSURES NEEDED GALLERY Donation of Ten Million Dollars for Building to House Own Collection and Others Will Raise Capital to Standard of Old-World Political Centers—Exhibition Opens. By Leila Mechlin. HE announcement this past week that Andrew W. Mellon had set aside, through deed of gift, $10,000,000 for a build- ing to be erected in Washington, not only to house his valuable collection of paintings, but to serve as a National Gallery of Art, was great news—the greatest in this fleld for many years. Furthermore, that the deed makes the gift immediately available—urges, in fact, that constructlon begin as soon as possible and stipulates that it shall not be delayed beyond June, 1941—gives assurance of early realiza- tion of a project which had taken on the aspect of a dream. Also it | gives hope of accomplishment during the donor’s lifetime and in a measure | under his wise advice and suggestion. | Such was the case with the Freer | Gallery of Art. The late Charles L. | Freer, when deeding his collection to | the Nation. did not intend to build a | gallery to house it, provision therefor | being made in his will. But he changed his mind and undoubtedly | took great satisfaction in seeing the | gallery, as it now stands, take tangible | form. To see so munificent a gift take shape is, after all, a part of the donor's just rgward—a real satisfac- tion. Also at the present time the majority of the paintings in the| Mellon collection are in storage, which 1s none too good for them under the best conditions and makes them, so far 23 pleasurable benefits go, non-profit yielding. It is in this respect that these works should be considered. That they are worth each one a king's| ransom does not signify save in so| far as value is derived from artistic | merit. They are first and last and | always great works of art—supreme | examples—the achievement of genius— and as rare as they are fine. To be able to contemplate such works in appropriate setting should give keenest delight to countless persons—and doubtless will As in the past so also in the future | they will speak for themselves, they will have a great message, inspiring, consoling, reassuring. They will not only enrich the Nation and add glory to our National Capital, but they will | set a standard, and this is a day of confusion of ideals, and they will| testify to the donor’s belief in the continuity of culture, the invulnerabil- ity of civilization, the stability of our Nation. A great and munificent gift. | In his most recent deed of gift Mr. ‘Mellon has specifically stated that the building to be erected from the funds donated shall not bear his name but shall be known as the National Gal- lery of Art—under which circum- stances he expresses the hope and expectation that other collectors will associate themselves with him in up- building and enriching the national collection. This is not only generous but wise. All of the great collections of art in this country owned by museums have been built up through private munificence. The develop- ment of these collections during the past quarter century has been amaz- ing. No less than 225 private col- lectors lent to the great Century of Progress Exhibition held in connec- tion with the exposition in Chicago two years ago. The great loan ex- hibitions, such as the Hals Exhibition in Detroit last Winter and the Spanish | Exhibition now in progress in the Brooklyn Museum, to say nothing of innumerable others including those held during the season in dealers’ gal- leries, New York, are composed for | the most part of paintings lent by | collectors, taken from the walls of private homes. By no means is it too late to assemble here in Washington & national art collection which will take its place with the great national collections in the capitals of Europe. To do so, however, an appropriate building for their display and assur- ance of perpetuation were essential. Mr. Mellon's gift assures the one, and Government sanction the other. | Dreams do sometimes come true. IT IS an interesting coincidence that | almost at the same time that the | announcement of Mr. Mellon's gift of | a building for a National Gallery of | Art was made a large collection of | etchings, offered as a gift to the Na- | tional Gallery of Art, should have | been placed on exhibition in the halls | of the National Museum. This ex- hibition, opening last Friday, will con- | tinue for a month. It comes from the Chicago Society of Etchers and to a great extent illustrates the achieve- ment of American etchers during the past 25 years. Also, in a measure, it memorializes the work and accom- plishment of Bertha E. Jaques, as etcher, and, during all those years, capable secretary of this association, 4n the interest of which and fulfill- ment of its objects she has been in- defatigable. The majority of the prints composing this collection are those presented by the etchers upon election to membership, and those selected year by year for issuance to associate members. It is not a col- lector's group—not such a group as would be selected for esthetic reasons primarily—it does not represent every etcher at his best—but it does uphold an excellent standard and it should, | even if accepted in its entirety, ad- mirably supplement our national col- lection. It has been hung in the main hall opening from the foyer of the Na- tional Museum with entrance on Tenth street and Constitution avenue, and is very well shown. The arrange- ment is alphabetical according to sur- names of artists. For example at the first end are etchings by George Aid and John Taylor Arms, and at the last —or toward the last—works by Stur- ges, Tallmadge and Young. Mrs. Jaques is represented by 67 prints, practically her life work, and a pretty large output at that, covering a great variety of subjects and showing as a distinctly individual contribution - a group of flower studies in color, unique and very notable. Of the works of other etchers two, three and occasionally mose impressions are shown, but in most instances the rep- resentation, is limited to one. There is only one Benson, but that 1s one of his very best—sandpipers on the shore—distinctly a collectors’ item. George Elbert Burr, whose work is 80 fine that one of the greatest print museums abroad has given him & standing order for every plate he produces, is represented by a single print—a snow scene rendered with consumate skill, but not altogether Tepresantativa, On the other hand | the perpendicular lines are empha- | tice for etching; Talmadge is still BULLETIN OF EXHIBITIONS. Corcoran Gallery of Art—Perma- nent collections. Special exhi- bition, water colors by Joseph ‘Whitla Stinson. National Gallery of Art, National Museum — Permanent collec- tions. Special exhibition, etch- ings by American etchers and others presented by the Chi- cago Etchers’ Society. Smithsonian Institution — Etch- ings by Ralph Flether Sey- mour. Freer Gallery of Art—Chinese paintings, Oriental art objects; paintings, drawings, etchings by Whistler, and paintings by other American artists. Phillips Memorial Gallery— Paintings and sculpture by contemporary artists and others. Studio House—New prints by contemporary print makers. Textile Museum of the District of Columbia—Rugs, tapestries and textiles of the Near and Far East. Arts Club of Washington—Paint- ings in oil and water color by Hilda Belcher, paintings and drawings by Mary K. Porter. Library of Congress—Special ex- hibition, original illustrations, by Charles Stanley Reinhart. Public Library, Main Building— Exhibition of Currier and Ives prints lent by the Library of Congress. Georgetown Branch Public Li- brary—Paintings by members of the Washington Landscape Club. Howard University Art Gallery— Color reproductions of modern paintings lent by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. there are excellent prints by Benja- min C. and Howell C. Brown of Pasa- dena, Calif., to whose interest and leadership the California Printmakers’ Society owes its existence and success. Another California artist, May Gearhart, one of a family of block printers, is represented by a print of “Cypress Trees at Monterey,” which is very pleasing. But California etchers have not as large a represent- ation as might b€ expected. There is, however, in the collection a fine, strong print by Roi Partridge—a pic- ture of a bridge over the Seine beyond | which Notre Dame stands against the | sky. Mr. Partridge has refined and modified his style since making this | print, but it amply testifies to his| etcher’s instinct and command of me- | dium. It is still an outstanding work. | Among the artists of the Midwest given prominence in this collection is Arthur W. Hall, who has attained exceptional success and with excellent | reason. He has three prints to his| credit each quite distinctive in man- | ner as well as subject. One is the | head of a little Negro girl, done some- what sketchily—one is & tiny land- | scape done with the gravity and re- | gard for technique which marks the| works of the European masters—the | third is a group of houses at Antibes | handled with great delicacy and ex- | quisite feeling. Mr. Hall's work in- | variably finds favor among his col- | leagues. Upon one memorable occa- sion five prints from one plate were | purchased by members of & jury be- | fore the exhibition in which it was| included opened to the public. | Another Hall—Frederick G., of Bos- ton and Eastern Point Gloucester—is represented in this collection and at his best. His diploma print is an etching of the church of St. Nicholas | du Chardonnet, beautifully rendered and with a decorative mote in the placement of title. There is nothing trivial about this, nothing accidental; apparently the artist not only com- mands his medium, but respects his art, and has, without straining for effect, real individuality. It is interesting to note that another view of this same church by another etcher, Robert G. Logan, is included in this showing. The plate is about the same size and the viewpoint is not very different, but the result is extremely so. Mr. Hall has made his "etching from directly’ in front of the church— Mr. Logan his from a little to the side, so:that whereas in the former sized, in the latter, divergent line dictated by perspective becomes dom- inant. The one is very quiet; the other quite animated—an interesting contrast. A good many of our best etchers have given—and are still giving, for that matter—their attention to the rendering of architectural themes. These have excellent representation here in works by John Arms—a most brilliant technician, Louis C. Rosen berg, E. D. Roth, Samuel Chamberlin, Thomas E. Tallmadge and others. Arms and Rosenberg both studied architecture at Massachusetts Insti- | tute of Technology, but gave up prac- active in the architectural profes- sion and a writer on the subject; Roth is painter as well as etcher, and, incidentally, a half-tone en- graver. His two etchings in this col- lection show him to be no less skill- ful a draftsman than his colleagues and with the painter’s instinct for colorful effect. Mr. Arms’ two etch- ings are quite out of the usual— intimate studies and interpretations not merely of Gothic architecture, but medieval sculpture for archi- tectural adornment. ‘There are fewer portrait and figure etchers than etchers of architectural subjects—among these, however, there are shown in this exhibition exam- ples of three of the best—Arthur Heintzelman, William Auerbach-Levy and Walter Tittle. Heintzelman and Auerbach-Levy have both been pow- erfully influenced by Rembrandt’s works and are at their best in etch- ings of old men and women—char- acter studies. Tittle is a painter and individualist. He is represented here by dry point portraits of Au- gustus John, English painter and etcher of renown, and of Joseph Con- rad, writer of the sea. The latter was made from Mr. Tittle's portrait, painted from life, which has been acquired by the National Portrait Gal- lery of England. Among etchers of birds, Charies E. Heil and H. E. Tuttle are particularly well represented, while among animal efchings - the print, “Just- Mdnkeys,” \ ) < by E. T. Hurley, and Rodney Thomp- son’s “The Watcher"—a crouching jaguar—are outstanding. Philip Kappel has made an en- viable name for himself by his etch- ings of boats and his print entitled “Marine Pathway” is fully representa- tive. So also is the charming view of “Salem Harbor,” with its old ware- houses and little flitting sails, by Philip Little, of that small, historic city on the Massachusetts coast. Kerr Eby's “Scout Planes” harks back to the Great War; but still holds its own among the finest works that have been produced here or in other countries. Although this is primarily an American collection, several foreign artists are represented, and well. There are, for instance, “The Ghetto, Siena,” by Hugh Fisher, and “Ped- dlars,” by Hesketh Hubbard, besides a beautiful print, “San Michael,” by Malcolm Osborne, and a landscape by Martin Hardle, all four British etchers of distinction—the last the keeper of the print department of the Vic- toria and Albert Museum, an eminent authority. Hubbard's print is a fa- vorite subject of his and a very good | one. He is leader of a rural print- makers group and the author of an excellent book on etching. One Italian, Fabio Mauroner, is repre- sented. Mr. Mauroner is held in high esteem in his own country as well s ours, ‘The president of the Chicago Society of Etchers, Lee Sturges. is, with char- | acteristic modesty, represented by & single print—a view of & mountain seen across the plains—a very suc- | cessful plate. Mr. Sturges is one of | those business men who turn to art | for recreation and not only find 1tf very satisfying but attain professional | standard. He is a manufacturer of | machinery, and, incidentally, of printing presses for etchers. His con- | tributions to the advancement of | etching have been numerous and im- portant. A word should be said for some of the other landscape etchers whose works will certainly find favor among those who visit this exhibition—such | as Hornby, Bradner, Dahlgreen, Dodge, | Polley. Luquiens—the last now of | Honolulu. It is in this class that the | representation is perhaps weakest, | strangely so, in as much as our Ameri- can etchers have been most prolific in landscape work. But those men- tioned and some others make inter- esting contribution. Note should be made of the fact that this collection is very conserva- tive, very few examples of the so- called modern school being included. Ralph Pearson who for years has been an exponent of modernism is repre- sented by one of his very conservative and charming early works—a land- scape—and one recent and rather radical print. But almost entirely the works shown are according to tradi- | To be sure there is a typical | study of trees by Birger Sandzen which is new in style and very individual- | istic, and there is a coaching party in the Orient by Thomas Handforth which might likewise be found accept- able by a modernists’ jury but neither is extreme. In fact they add spice to the flavor of the whole. This also may be said of Martin Lewis’ two masterly prints—New York genre— “Trees” and “Haunted” which would lend distinction to any print show— nocturnes both, and replete with life. Finally, it is a pleasure to find in the collection three color etchings by Helen Hyde of Chicago, the first | American artist to study wood-block | printing in Japan and to introduce it through her prize-winning works in this country. All three of these etch- ings are of little children and they are rendered with great sensitiveness and charm. N EXHIBITION of oil and water color paintings by Hilda Belcher of New York City and Vermont and an exhibition of paintings and draw- Weare Every One Who Has Slept, = in a Guest Room Knows the Problem. By Weare Holbrook. ESPITE their ingenuity, inte- rior decorators have beep un- | able to design pillows that | harmonize with modernistic | turniture. They offer us cubes, slabs | and wedges of upholstery that are | nicely suited to angular settings of | chromium and black glass But these | objects are not pillows. They are at | best mere cushions. . There are plenty of old-fashioned homes, however, which are still in- fested with pillows worthy of the name. Not many of the horrors of the early 1900's survive, to be sure. It is years since I have seen a velvet pillow covered with isinglass spangles, or an | embroidered cake walk design in | which the dancers had .eal beads for eyes. Burnt leather pillows with the | familiar Indian’s head are scarce to- day, too. But there are others, in profusion. Although much has bezen written for and against guest towels, no one has ever given serious attention to guest pillows. Yet every person who has spent & night in a guest room must have been confronted by the pillow problem. Reduced to ‘ts simplest terms, the problem is whether to put the head on the pillow or the pillow on the floor. ‘The trouble with guest room pillows a8 with guest room matteresses, is that they never get sufficiently broken in. Being used so infrequently, they re- tain their pristine pinguidity for years and years. The price tag always dangles from them in spirit if not in fact. They are convex where they should be concave and their stuffing is adamant under pressure. As if this were not enough the well-meaning hostess decorates them with her best linen—linen emoellished with em- broidery, ruffies and even fringe on the edges. I have long been an advocate of sub-pillow sleeping as opposed to super-pillow sleeping. By placing the pillow on the head instead of under- neath, you can shut out light, noise and draughts, and incidentally train back your ears. But with s fringed “Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” by Hilda Belcher, e s LA ‘Bridge,” by Roi Partridge. included in the exhibition at the Arts Club. “Shipping Camogli,” by Ernest David Roth, from the Chicago Society of Etchers Collection, offered as a gift to the National Gallery of Art, where it is now on view. & | i | ings by Mary K. Porter of this city |ing and unusual career. Born in the Ismnll child. Later she studied under will open with a tea and private view in the Arts Club of Washington, 2017 I street, this afternoon. Miss Belcher has had an interest- little town of Pittsford, a little north of Rutland, Vt, the daughter of an artist—Martha Wood Belcher—she began to draw and to paint when a | Chase, Henrl and others. The first painting she ever submitted to a jury | was bought, before the exhibition | opened, by the director of the Albright Holbrook on the Pillow Am I comfy? pillow this is impossible. Your *slum- bers are constantly interrupted by vio- | lent fits of sneezing and you are quite | likely to wake up in the morning with tassles on your tonsils. ULLMAN pillows belong in the same ca ry as guest pillows— for after all you are a paying guest of the railroad company when you use them. Though free from nose-tickling fripperies, they banish sleep by sheer weight. Their stufing seems to be & mixture of carborundum and sawdust. when propped against the walls of the berth they give the passenger a com- fortable sense of security in case of collision; no errant cowcatcher could { I am practically on the edge of my chair. Drawing by St Hay. possibly penetrate them. But as sopo- rifics they are worse than nothing at all, and if you pitch them out into the aisle the obliging porter promptly hands them back to you. In most instances comfort is in- versely proportional to the effort ex- pended in achieving it. This is at once apparent to any one who has ever stepped into the parlor of an over- solicitous hostess. There may be a few hypochondriacs who enjoy being treated like spun-glass heirlooms, but the average able-bodied man prefers to shift for himself in the simple busi- ness of sitting down. When I call on the Dithertons it mun'u“m combined efforts of the Peril Floor? entire household to get me seated. First Mr. Ditherton ushers me .into the living room. “Sit down,” he booms heartily, “sit down and take a load off your feet.” There are perhaps half a dozen chairs in the room, yet no matter which I select, he always shoos me into another, saying, “No, no —take this one, old man. You'll find it much more comfortable.” But as I am about to follow his sug- gestion Mrs. Ditherton protests. “Oh, not that one, Horace! It's as hard as arock.” She turns to me apologetical- ly. “He always offers visitors that awful old chair because he's fond of it himself. Do try this one. I'm sure you'll like it much better.” Then when I take the seat recom- mended by her she proceeds to shove pillows behind my back until I am practically on the edge of my chair. She prods and pats and flutters to and fro with more cushions, like a bird building & nest. And when she has me completely immured in upholstery she surveys her handiwork and asks, “Now don't you feel comfy?” WHAT makes the situation especial- ly trying is the fact that I can- not anticipate her whims. If I pur- posely choose the chair that she rec- ommended to me on my last visit, she routs me out of it immediately and parks me in another. Not that there is any appreciable difference between the two, but the shift gives her an op- portunity to indulge in her favorite pastime. Mrs. Ditherton is a chronic pillow- stuffer. No one can sit down in her | presence without having a cushion crammed against the small of his back and another against the back of his neck. I have seen little Prof. Dilks sit all evening in an involuntary im- personation of Atlas, supporting & large pillow on his slender shoulders. Mrs. Ditherton put it there with the best intentions, and the professor was too polite to remove it. But when one of her guests ventures to recline on the chaise longue, Mrs. m‘ i in her element. Then |Should We Put the Fancy| Guest Pillows on the Gallery, Buffalo. Within a year she was elected to membership in the New York Water Color Club, and a second painting—a water color—was pur: chased by the Maryland Institute, | Honor came to her first | Baltimore. through her water color puinting, but as soon as she took up oil painting | prizes were awarded her. The first picture she painted in this medium was given the Julia A. S8haw Prize in the National Academy of Design’s annual exhibition and was later purchased by the Montclair Art Museum. A “Por- trait by Night,” of which the prelimi- nary sketch in color will be shown in this exhibition, after winning the Thomas B. Proctor Prize, N. A. D. and the Lippincott Prize, Pennsylvania Academy of Pine Arts, was purchased by the latter institution for its per- manent collection and after being placed therein was cut from the frame | in December 1932 and stolen, no trace of it or the thief having since been found. During the past year Miss Belcher has spent much time in the | South, holding exhibitions in Atlanta and Savannah and executing numer- ous commissions for portraits. At the same time she made various studies of Negroes and Negro life which have attracted much favorable attention. | Best of all, it is said, she likes to paint and has excelled in painting portrait | studies of the country and village peo- ple—“characters”—in her own State. One of these to be included in this exhibition is in oils and portrays an old woman and a black cat, very sin- ister in appearance, and entitled “To- morrow and Tomorrow.” Another is of a little country girl surrounded with apples. This is in water color. Miss Belcher will help to hang the exhibi- tion here and, it is understood, will be present at the opening. STUD!O HOUSE, 1614 Twenty-first street, reopened last Wednesday with an exhibition of “New Prints by Contemporary Printmakers” in its gallery, which during the past Summer | has been redecorated, the walls covered with a neutral colored fabric, monk's cloth, which makes an excellent back- | ground for prints and painting in s high key. This exhibition supple- ments very interestingly the larger ex- hibition at the National Museum, in- asmuch as it is all modern &nd com- pletely up-to-date. With the excep- tion of four wood engravings by Thom- as Nason, there is not one thing in this entire exhibition that has in- | trinsic beauty, but also it is a fact | that the majority of works set forth are very well done and distictively out of that there is in all this modern work & distinct trend toward illustration— to story telling—anecdote—a kind of grim drollery. This may be a reflec- tion of the spririt of the time or merely the long swing of the pendelum. Also, apparently lithography is having a new vogue. The majority of the works in this exhibition are in this medium. There are, however, some Paul achievements side as well as in matter composition. That in several stances these modernists have found inspiration and direction in the works of the masters of the past is quite evi- dent. Sternberg has done two prints of wrestlers, has gone into allegory, | and has attempted to render musical sounds in abstract linear forms most interestingly. At least he is venture- some. Benton Spruance has had much to say of contemporary life, which he has observed with keenness and with- out sentimentality. Two of his litho- graphs are foot ball subjects, one is an allegory of Germantown, a skeleton in the door way, & fourth is of two stamp collectors riding their hobby—very Daumieresque—a fifth is of a subway station in the wee sma’ hours, bleak and dreary—full of “the creeps.” | Edith Newton gives an exhibition of cold realism in her New England kitchen “Dried Beef,” and Peggy Ba- con in her four contributions is as clever and as ribald as ever. A very good imitation of the Mexican is given Cadmus that are distinctly from the rendered with great capability—are the ordinary. It is interesting to note | in aquatint by Harry Sternberg which |SPonsoring the are remarkable and some etchings by |Damed & jury. technical | informatio of in- | for one or more of our clever Wash- H |in a figure study by Howard Cook, while the real thing is set forth without apology by Sequeiros, who is repre= sented by & nude, and by a man on horseback. On the whole, if one is not seeking beauty, this will be found a very enliving and engaging show— and one that does not foreshadow still more evil days ahead. Quite the con- trary. The wheel goes around—as does the world. T THE Corcoran Gallery of Art an exhibition of water colors, 30 or more in number, by Joseph Whitla Stinson of this city, will open today and continue about ten days. These will be piaced in cases in the upper atrium used for changing exhibitions of un- framed paintings and prints, The majority of the paintings will be scenes in Virginia and nearby Maryland, although a few of the subjects have been found on the New England coast. Mr. Stinson, who was formerly in the | State Department and is now with the Department of Justice, is self taught and gives to his painting his play time, but he has an excellent color sense and a very real love of nature. His paintings, therefore, have sincerity and at the same time much charm. An exhibition of his work was held last season in Warrenton, Va., attracting very favorable notice. N EXHIBITNON of etchings by Minnie L. Briggs of this city, member of the Washington Etchers Club, is being held under the auspices of the District of Columbia League of American Pen Women in their club rooms in the Burlington Hotel, 1120 Vermont avenue. There will be a tea !today and until November 1 the ex- hibition will be open from 2 to 5 o'clock every afternoon. More than |50 prints will be included in this exe hibition—landscape subjects and flowe |ers and fruit. The etcher has made a special study of trees and is begine |ning a series of plates of historio {trees in Maryland and Virginia. On a visit to Florida last Winter she stopped over in Georgia to make an etching of the Sidney Lanier Oak near Brunswick, which inspired the poem “The Marshes of Glynn” and is now preserved as a memorial to the poet. She has also more lately made & study of an historic oak in “Deane wood,” this city. But most individual and outstanding are her etchings of flowers and fruits, some of which she has printed in color. For these she seems to have instinctive feeling and her transcriptions are not only correct but decorative—of lasting worth. | AN INTERESTING competition for a poster to induce travel to Eue !mpe has been announced by the In- | stitute of Foreign Travel, 80 Broad street, New York. Posters submitted must be in color and to scale to 23 inches by 36 inches. The slogan em- phasized will be “See Europe Next." | The prizes will be $500 and a round | trip to Europe, $200 and $100. The | Art Directors’ Club of New York is competition and have Entries must be re- | ceived by Decomber 31. Additional | n can be had by addressing | the institute. Here is opportunity | ington poster designers to win addi- tional laurels. AZEL CAMERON-MENK, Eugenia Miller and Alexander Lee of Clar= endon, Va., and this city are contribe | uting a painting each to the first Iso= chromatic Exhibition to be held in this country. It will take place in the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Ala., in November. Its purpose is “to determine the effect of light and air upon pigment.” If we | are not mistaken a painting of this sort was produced by a well known New England painter and shown a year or more ago In the exhibition at Old Lyme, creating much interest. 'HE Library of Congress opens to- morrow a special exhibition of the illustrative work of Charles Stanley Rinehart. The material to be shown was in large part presented by the lartist's son and daughters, she can stuff pillows under his knees and elbows, too. There was a time when pillow- stuffers were real benefactors. That was in the days of the horsehair sofa, and some protection against its cactus- like contours was necessary. “Tidies” and antimacassars were not enough; sooner or later the bristles would creep through and set the victim squirming. Furniture was not unholstered then as it is today. Rather, it was down- bolstered, with a minimum of mal- leability. I recall an old sofa named Rover, that used to stand in Grand- father Weems’ front parlor. Its chassis was black walnut, with handsomely carved spavins on all four legs, and it had & glossy pelt of horsehair which had worn through at certain strategic points. BUT its internal mechanism was what distinguished it from other sofas in the neighborhood. It had a temperamental spring. Grandfather ‘Weems could lie or sit on it in perfect comfort—but let a stranger try it, and without warning the spring would burst through the upholstery and snap at him viciously. It seems incredible that a dumb animal like a sofa could sense the difference between friends and stran- gers, but Rover did. I shall never for- ( vzet the day Rover nipped the new rector the first time he called. Aunt Amelia, the official pillow-stuffer of the household at that period, offered him aid and comfort—but too late. But whatever you may say against the pillow-stuffer of today, she is no mere upstart. Her line extends back to the Middle Ages. A diligent study of Shakespeare has convinced me that there is more in “Othello” than meets the eye. Obviously the Moor of Venice was too intelligent to be hood« winked by Iago's insinuations against Desdemona. There must have been other causes of dissension. It is my belief that Desdemona, who seems to have been the too-per- fect wife, showered her swarthy | spouse with irritating little attentions on his return. Whenever he sat down, she urged him to “lean for- ward just a minute while I put a cushion behind you.” S8he put another between his shoulder-blades and an- other at the back of his neck. Then, standing back and looking at him with birdlike coquetry, she chifped, “There now! All comfy?"” This routine was repeated again and again. And finally Othello, unable to stand it any longer, picked up the nearest pillow and smothered her with it. Desdemona was one pillow- stuffer who got her just deserts,