The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 21, 1903, Page 13

RJENTALIEM has come strangely ts the fore w is the time to take & quiet e trip to China, to Japan and to far-away Persia in- stead of is and London if sh a $100,000 h e the ori- cerned, even {entalism, goes, goes in rattling good history of been o0 h sought is the fash- the moment, to floor, on couches ost confusion where—that is ngth of pocket- shaps or ng from these e ways than tal homes. T with plenty eof an eye for n quest of rugs. reasons. First ysical ease, for Secondly they and ele- at pleases his they are able thing ase ngs of this they get, the ed to stream gs they get one that has or years will sell any three times the orig- wea. or even home of the s these people are mot s. Each tribe has its blankets make other de- discussion. No man might allke, for he ements and material to him how as long as the weave is rugs a for their ex- right good ve eir heads that to their wel- nown the essentigl nterested in the k yourself safe from jaunt some day e thousand } : Look s - r and the dull effects leave the shop are indefd a t understand they become, almost a mania. yuch cover these a . elessly throw a cas hen pile on 28 wa The cashmere, for , t 4t is beautifully aoft p nde itself in any num- vier rug could not, nes, and even then re T < fortable to sit on eved by brighter form a part of their s re splendidly ble covers, re thrown and cer- acture any t quiet withal. is fitted out t of the Orient seems Instead touct of us- of the room something quite ark green or a dull red velvet hangings over a fancy grill, at thrown over a great rt should offer a slight end to a micety. And that - secrets that the Orientals than anybody else on »f their work at ran- on any carpet or put rs and see if they fail ze w elegant things an ordinary an be so transformed that cely recognize it, and noth- re materially than carpets, bric-abrac notion it is that a room to be pleasant and cozy. jle inch of floor and be crowded with bits d there and scattered in a happy, careless 4935 ORIENTALISM INSTEAD OF A LNEN DOILY that is rather bare than t contains a few gems d see what a blessed rellef it is. In- stantly a feeling of peace and rest that is never possible when things are jumbled es and you go away wondering vaguely what it was left such a pleasant impression with you ter where you search, ich to the quiet ele- n fad, the oriental Tug. seem a part of the house, something that has always been and that will always remain there, bauble worth so many dollars and cents that will be in evidence to-day but not to-morrow. Unfortunately, however. the American demand has so stimulated product ly lower class of ru brought into this country to ments for cheaper floor cov some districts of the Orient almost entire population is now engaged in turn- ing out as rapidly as possible rugs which are not only poor in material and weave, but also crude in color Such work is so entirely foreign to the nature of the Oriental, to whom time is eternity, that it is spoiling him as well as the rug, for while he {s undoubted!y a shrewd trader he cannot be a quick one The charm of barter, the genuine pride in the result of patient work and the di- plomacy exercised in disposing of the fin- ished products are gone, and with them the artistic temperament The commer- clalism of the West has no place in the atmosphere of the Orient. They simply cannot live together. t a 1 require- rings, and in the Fortunately for us, tradition is too strong in certain sections, notably in the Persian empire, to be corrupted, and for thousands of years, generation after gén- eration have followed, with infinite pa- tience and with the true feeiing of the artist, the making of rugs into which are woven sentiment, history, poetry and love for the beautiful True art lives, and the rug, modern and antique, has never been more in demand or more appreciated than now In tossing a rare rug over the railing or using it as a covering for the stairs, it is almost an everyday occurrence to hear some one say, “Well, how on earth can one tell a good rug from a bad oune What s the grand distinction?” The answer is very simple. 8o simple, in fact, as to appear almost childish. When you Milady or you Milord start out to purchase burden your mind with but one thing. Remember tnat the more knots there are to the square inch the finer and more expensive the rug is. Iu other words, if there are but twenty knots to the square inch the workmanship can- not be compared with one that contains anywhere from 1000 to 1200 knots, for it stands to reason that neither the time, the ability or the material has been utflized Turn the rug over and critically ex- amine the texture of tue wrong side. It will, of course, vary according to the wool and the effect will be plain to see on both sides. If you can bend it so that it falls in creases it shows decidedly coarse work, but if the wool or camel's hair, as the case may be, clings closely together and refuses '‘to make a broad part you may know that a great many knots must have been put in. The drocess of making a rug sounds comparatively “easy. In tne first place, the wool of the mountain sheep, which is as soft as soft can be, is laid out in the THE DEBONAIR BACHELOR OF TO- sun to bleach. Now and then lye is used when the maker is in a hurry, but it not only gives it a different shade but rots the wool as well. After it is a pure white it is dipped in eat vats filled with pure vegetable or natural dyes, not only once but three and as many as four times, both for the sake of getting a rich color and for purpose of preserving the wool. sometimes the Then comes the loom. From day to d the wool is put in according to the design and the ds are left anywhere from one to two inches in length, Now, if by any chance, the dye runs out before the rug is completed, it Is utterly impossible for the maker to again mix the same color. It isn't his fault exactly a tried hard enough, but one look hy of their rugs will show conclu- that the red which so cheerfully commenced a Shiraz or a Bokhara is not the dull garnet with which it was fin- ished Then comes the last and finishing touch. After it is qujte finished it is taken from the loom, spread on an even space and carefully sheared, which gives the rugs their uniformity of nap. For table covers and the backings of bookcases the Saraband is about e best weave, as it still maintains to this day all its simplicity and directness. The weave is usually fine and close and the pattern small, universally the “pear" open or the “palm leaf,” which is repeated with great exactness and with much In- tricacy of detail. Oftentimes a rug can be found that will fit a table splendidly, for the mod- ern production of this weave is like that of the oldest, and there never fails to be a peculiar border of stripes, sometimes many of them and usually. with a fine and small flower design running through each line of Persian blues, reds and a peculiar shade of ivory. One of the prettiest notions is the usage of the orfentalism in the making of cush- jons. A good sized pillow covered with a rug will last almost from one generation to another and the men of the family need not be afraid of the tiresome old “Take your head off my best cush- ,’* a thing that even the busiest men have learned to regard with awe. Unfortunately for the beauty of the dull colors and the quaint old patterns modern occidentalism is getting in its deadly work, and it only remains & mat- ter of time until many of the designs will resemble nothing else but our ordi- nary carpets. Even now there are houses all over the United States that will fur- nish your house ‘and send a sample of the predominating color to the Orfent and order a Turkish rug made in exact du- plicate of a green velvet carpet sprinkled with pink roses. Fancy such a combination! Yet if you go to a shop and ask for an occidental pattern in green and pink it will be but a few moments before it is placed before you. L The cheaper rugs, and mind this, when you want one for the back of a Turkish corner are very apt to be in bright col- ors. Avold them as you would the pest, for ten to one they are colored with im- ported dyes, and as sure as fate they THE SUNDAY CALL. DAY PLAYING THE TUR will fade, wear shabby and dlscolor gen- erally. It needs but a few minutes spent in examining the bheauties of the rugs to show how much . there is about them that is well worth studying. Each and every one possesses strong characteris- tics. Now it is the weave, again the col- ors, and, further still, the rug in its en- tirety from an artistic standpoint. While you might consider them one of the luxu- ries of Ilife they really are not, for they §ear a lifetime, and, what is more to the point, always look well. In the long run this rage is a good one, and every bit of ‘orlentalism that is stored up In your house is practically just that much money put in the bank. BIRDS THAT EAT ON THE WING AS THEY MIGRATE. The birds which travel by night in- clude by far the greatest number of mi- grants. Among them wil be found the thrushes, with the exception of the robin and the bluebird, which migrate by day: the nuthatches and titmice, creepers thrashers and wren, warblers, tanagers, vireos, most of the sparrows and finches, orioles, meadow larks, flycatchers, with the exception of the kingbird, the cuckoos and the woodpeckers. You will observe that most of these birds have neither very strong nor very rapld flight, and consequently require the shelter of the darkness to protect them from their enemies. Moreover, most of them take their food In small quantities and require some time to make a full meal. If they attempted to divide up the day between eating and migrating they would travel but slowly. The day migrants, on the other hand, are, for the most part, birds strong enough to resist attack or swift enough to avold it. They include the horned larks, titlarks, robins, bluebirds, cedar- birds, swallows, blackbirds, grackles, jays, crows, nighthawks, chimney-swifts, humming birds, hawks and doves. Some of these—the nighthawks and chimney-swifts, for example—do not re- quife to stop for food, but feed on the wing as they travel: the rest, although they may have to stop for refreshments now and then, are so swift of wing that they can easily make up for lost time. Of course, there are times when some of these migrants are obliged to cross considerable bodies of water, and in such cases it sometimes happens that they to travel during a part or the whole of a night. JAMES' FEETILS INVENTION. A Pittsburg teacner has a 7-year-old pupll whose mind is very fertile in inven- tion. Seeing an expression of pain on his face as he raised his hand, she asked, “What is it, Jam; “T have such a bad headache I think I must go home,” was the reply. Putting her hand on his head and find- ing it aquita cool, she said. “I think it A ean’t ache much, James. You would bet- ter not go now. Jamies went back to his work, but soon his hand was raised again and inquiry developed the fact that his tooth ached 80 severely that he felt he could not re- main & moment longer. The teacher looked at his teeth and finding them in remarkably fine condition once more assured him that the pain was only imaginary and returned to her class. She had just become absorbed in the lesson when a wall from James' seat caused her to go to him again and with some impatience she said, “Well, James, what can it be this time?” With tears in his eyes and raining down his cheeks James answered, “It's stomach ache, and that's so far down you can't see it.” DRAPERY FOR MARBLE STAIR WAY 18 v ORIENTAL RUGS USED AS PLLowsS UNIQUE THE ONLY REAL DAMPIRE THAT SUCKS BLOOD. Much has been written in the world of fiction about vampires and their awful doings in the way of bloodsucking. As & matter of fact there is practically only one blooksucking vampire bat, although there is a smaller one which connects the common specles with the other members of the family. The first one, the common bloodsucking vampire, measures only about three Inches in length, is of a red- dish-brown color and is found from Cen- t America to SBouthern Brazil. on the east, and i{n the west as far as Chile. From the structure of this bat it Is more than probable that blood actually forms its entire food. After a long, heavy sleep all day, this vampire comes out at night, hovers about in ghostly fashion untfl it has selected its victim and then sets to work. In the first place it proceeds—should the animal be woolly or thickly haired—to carefully shave away the hair or wool, with the thin part of the skin, by its pecullarly sharp upper incisor teeth. In this way the blood oozes slowly from the smail caplllary vessels, when the vampire bat at once begins to suck and goes on suck- ing the blood until its small body can contain no more. Horses, sheep and cattle are often served In this way, and as the operation apparently causes little or no pain. the animals are not cognizant of what is go- ing on; but should the attacks be repeat- ed they become weak and thin and finally become wrecks. Although this is the only bat which subsists entirely on blood, it is possible that occasionally a few of the javelin bats may vary their ordinary diet in this way.