9

requirements of the case architectually but financially,
and in this lies the
greatest skill of the designer, for it
is a very easy matter to build
magnificent structures
when the cost is unlimited, therefore the testimony upon
which the indictments were found should have been
taken with considerable
caution, for it seems that there
were several factors entering into the cause of the acci-
dent which would have been very forcibly brought out
on the trial.
The disposal of this case by State Attorney Elliott
proves that even the State knew the testimony on which
the indictments were found was uncertain, for on calling-
up
for trial before Judge Collins on June 4th, he moved
to strike the same off the docket, on the ground that the
indictments should never have been found, adding the
significant remark, “Had it not been for two or three big
(?) architects, who have a contempt for the little
ones, no
bills would have been found in this case.” Nothing that
we can add
expresses
the true state of facts more than
this final disposal of the whole matter.—National Builder
for July.
CYRUS W. FIELD.
'T'HE death of Cyrus W. Field yesterday, at the age of
■
seventy three
years, brings into melancholy promi-
nence the name of one of the most notable men of this
age,
so renowned for its remarkable advancement in scientific
progress.
The father of the ocean telegraphic cable, virtually
originating the design of spanning continents and un-
derlaying the seas with telegraph wires, he devoted his
life to the consummation of the
problem and never rested
from his labors until he had accomplished the most im-
portant and vastly the more difficult
part of the work—
that of laying the cable under the waters of the Atlantic
Ocean.
This feat was successfully executed in 1866 through his
indomitable perseverance and energy, coupled with his
profound practical knowledge of the various problems
to be solved, and backed by the wonderful ability he dis-
played in securing the confidence and substantial
sup-
port of capitalists in an enterprise which must have
ap-
peared to many when first presented contrary to all ex-
perience and wholly chimerical. But Mr. Field lived not
only to see his efforts crowned with entire success but to
realize that the service which he had rendered to hu-
manity, science and civilization was so distinguished, so
unique, so beneficient and so enormously valuable in
every way as that no name in all the records of philan-
thropy, civilization and human progress has a higher
place or more enduring fame.
Mr. Field’s
great enterprise has enormously increased
the power and functions of the press as gatherers of news.
As an extender of the power of the “Fourth Estate,” he
ranks forever with Franklin. —New Orleans Picayune.
A German engineer has paved a bridge with India
rubber and the result has been so satisfactory that it is
to be applied on a larger scale. It is found to be more
durable than asphalt, and not slippery.
“
A section of
roadway,” says the Railway Review
,
“
under the
gate lead-
ing to the departure platform of the St. Pancras termi-
nus, London, has for some years past been paved with
ludia rubber, and many people must have been pleas-
antly surprised at the deadening of sound when passing
over it on wheels, and at the grateful elasticity to the
tread when traversing it on foot.”
Ripans Tabules: a standard remedy.
DECORATION.*
s /\ ND
now, to come to my special subject, I will give
1 tl some hints as to the best manner of treating a
i middle-class dwelling, and will begin at the entrance
- hall. Of course there are many ways of dealing with
- this, as with
every other, part of the house, so I must
t give several modes of treatment. It has long been the
custom to treat the hall and staircase as unimportant
;
parts of the house, to give them little or no attention,
1
and so they have presented a naked, cold and uninviting
;
aspect; places to be hurried through as quickly as possible.
The ceilings have been left white, and the walls painted
;
one plain unbroken tint of drab or stone color. "The
visitor obtains his first impression of the house on enter-
ing the hall, and it is desirable he should be well im-
pressed. We
may
first consider the ceiling. It should
not be pure white, as garish whiteness is out of accord
with all other coloring—that is, in connection with house
decoration; the whiter your shirt-fronts are the better.
Well, the ceiling may
be painted some shade, such as
light vellum or fawn color, or some shade of blue, neu-
tral in
tone, such as the shade presented in the duck-egg
shell. The ceiling tint will be regulated by the coloring
of the wails. This toning of the ceiling is good as far as
it goes,
but there is no limit to the various ways it may
be decorated. Stencilled ornament is one of the less ex-
pensive modes. And here, in speaking of stencilled
ornament, it must not be thought that this is necessarily
a
“
cheap and
nasty
”
mode of ornamentation because
we are all familiar with wretchedly designed and exe-
cuted work of this kind. A stencil is a design cut in
firm paper, cardboard or tinfoil, and the color is
stamped
through the openings in the manner of printing. Now
all printing is not artistic, yet the capital letters in old
Italian and German books are full of artistic design—yet
they are printed, too. So with the stencil plate. It first
of all has to be designed, and the highest powers
of
draftsmanship may
be brought to bear in the production
of high-class stencil work. The same design may be
traced directly by hand, but the stencil plate is used as a
quicker method of obtaining like results. The reason
why so much work of this kind is inferior is simply be-
cause it is difficult to do it well. Preston Town Hall, in
England, decorated
by H
eaton, Butler and Bayne, the
eminent glass stainers and
decoraters, is nearly all sten-
cilled work, but
yet it is one of the best decorated halls
in England. Ido not recommend stencilled in place of
hand-painted work; where money is forthcoming, I
prefer to do the latter. But to return to the hall ceiling.
It is a simple and inexpensive way
of getting a pleasing
effect to put a band of well-designed ornament round the
ceiling, its breadth
being regulated by the size of the
vestibule or hall, and there is no reason why the center
of the ceiling should not be covered with a simple geo-
metrical design in quiet colors, and treated flatly, without
light or shade. A little gilding introduced in small
spots
and thin lines defining the leading forms of the diaper
or panelling has a very good effect, but there is no limit
to the richness and
quality of design that may quite fitly
oe expended here. Besides that, there are many alter-
native modes of treatment besides painting. There are
beautiful
paper hangings specially designed for ceilings,
besides several embossed or raised materials each as
Tynecastle tapestry, Anaglypta, and Japanese leather
papers, which when harmoniously colored, produce most
pleasing effects. The cornice should be colored to con-
nect the ceiling and walls, care being taken to use light
from a paper read before the Sydney, N. S. W., Architectural As-
sociation, by Mr. Andrew Wells.
236 THE SOUTHERN ARCHITECT.