Bok then turned to the subject of the garden for the small house, and the development of the grounds around the homes which he had been instrumental in putting on the earth.  He encountered no opposition here.  The publication of small gardens for small houses finally ran into hundreds of pages, the magazine supplying planting plans and full directions as to when and how to plant—­this time without cost.

Next the editor decided to see what he could do for the better and simpler furnishing of the small American home.  Here was a field almost limitless in possible improvement, but he wanted to approach it in a new way.  The best method baffled him until one day he met a woman friend who told him that she was on her way to a funeral at a friend’s home.

“I didn’t know you were so well acquainted with Mrs. S——­,” said Bok.

“I wasn’t, as a matter of fact,” replied the woman.

“I’ll be perfectly frank; I am going to the funeral just to see how Mrs. S——­’s house is furnished.  She was always thought to have great taste, you know, and, whether you know it or not, a woman is always keen to look into another woman’s home.”

Bok realized that he had found the method of presentation for his interior-furnishing plan if he could secure photographs of the most carefully furnished homes in America.  He immediately employed the best available expert, and within six months there came to him an assorted collection of over a thousand photographs of well-furnished rooms.  The best were selected, and a series of photographic pages called “Inside of 100 Homes” was begun.  The editor’s woman friend had correctly pointed the way to him, for this series won for his magazine the enviable distinction of being the first magazine of standing to reach the then marvellous record of a circulation of one million copies a month.  The editions containing the series were sold out as fast as they could be printed.

The editor followed this up with another successful series, again pictorial.  He realized that to explain good taste in furnishing by text was almost impossible.  So he started a series of all-picture pages called “Good Taste and Bad Taste.”  He presented a chair that was bad in lines and either useless or uncomfortable to sit in, and explained where and why it was bad; and then put a good chair next to it, and explained where and why it was good.

The lesson to the eye was simply and directly effective; the pictures told their story as no printed word could have done, and furniture manufacturers and dealers all over the country, feeling the pressure from their customers, began to put on the market the tables, chairs, divans, bedsteads, and dressing-tables which the magazine was portraying as examples of good taste.  It was amazing that, within five years, the physical appearance of domestic furniture in the stores completely changed.