Willow furniture is used extensively in some country homes.  It is made of the French willow, and is not so cheap but is stronger than rattan.  Best rockers in this material sell at about $20.  They are hardly to be considered in the permanent furnishings of the home, though there is no denying their cleanliness, coolness, and comfort, especially in summer.

THE DINING TABLE

For the dining room the sensible preference seems to be for a round table with straight lines of under construction.  The pillar base gives least interference with personal comfort, but even at that seems to be unescapable.  What has been said elsewhere about the choice of woods applies here also.  The high cost of a large-size mahogany table, however, will probably enable us to see some of the special beauties of golden oak.  A six-foot round table in the latter wood is priced at about $20.  Medium height chairs, with cane seats, $2.75; leather, $3.25.  Sideboards are now usually built in; otherwise the buffet table, free from excessive ornamentation, is given preference.

[Illustration:  The dining room.]

DISCRIMINATION IN CHOICE

A great deal of the factory-made furniture of the day is the veriest trash.  The best feature of it is that it cannot last long and will not survive to disgrace us in the eyes of a later and perhaps more discriminating generation.  For those who reside in flats, and are deprived of the inducement to plan for permanence, small blame can attach for hesitancy in making investments in the better sort of furniture that their tastes would lead them to choose.  This is the penalty they pay for evading the responsibilities of genuine home life in a house.

But good furniture is being built in these days.  It is not confined to hand work, or to the products of long-haired folk who set up a religion of cabinet-making.  In every city there are several grades of furniture dealers.  At the one extreme there is the house that handles nothing but trash; at the other the house that handles no trash at all.  The latter is the obvious choice; and if we pay a bit more for safety—­well, do we not pay for our insurance against fire, and burglars, and other things?

If our house has been planned on a scale commensurate with our means, we shall find it no extravagance to complete the larger work of outfitting with articles that will bring pleasure and not vexation, that will need no apologies.  Surely no employment could be more interesting than the choice of these belongings which shall in many ways influence ourselves and those about us.

There is such a range of styles and costs that if we approach the problem intelligently we may “express ourselves” quite as accurately as though we were amateur craftsmen.  Indeed, we must express ourselves, whether we determine to do so or not; for if we simply follow our cruder instincts, as the child selects its toys, do we not reveal the absence of any real artistic self whatever?