It is
the honoured guest who is sent into the corner. The father has a
corner sacred to himself, with high up above his head a complicated
cupboard, wherein with the help of a step-ladder, he may keep his
pipes and his tobacco, and thus by slow degrees cure himself of the
habit of smoking. The mother likewise has her corner, where stands
her spinning-wheel, in case the idea comes to her to weave sheets and
underclothing. It also has a book-shelf supporting thirteen volumes,
arranged in a sloping position to look natural; the last one
maintained at its angle of forty-five degrees by a ginger-jar in old
blue Nankin. You are not supposed to touch them, because that would
disarrange them. Besides which, fooling about, you might upset the
ginger-jar. The consequence of all this is the corner is no longer
disgraceful. The parent can no more say to the erring child:
"You wicked boy! Go into the cosy corner this very minute!"
In the house of the future the place of punishment will have to be
the middle of the room. The angry mother will exclaim:
"Don't you answer me, you saucy minx! You go straight into the
middle of the room, and don't you dare to come out of it till I tell
you!"
The difficulty with the artistic house is finding the right people to
put into it. In the picture the artistic room never has anybody in
it. There is a strip of art embroidery upon the table, together with
a bowl of roses.
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