The colors of carpets, curtains, and tapestry should certainly be fast
to light, but no one expects them to undergo the fatigue of the weekly
washtub; and just as little as we look for the exposure of flannels
and hosiery, day by day and week by week, to the glare of sunlight,
much as we desire that the colors shall not run in washing.
For all practical purposes, then, it seems reasonable to define a
"fast color" as one which will not be materially affected by those
influences to which, in the natural course of things, it will be
submitted. Hence, in speaking of a fast color, it becomes necessary to
refer specially to the particular influences which it resists before
the term acquires a definite meaning. To be precise, one should say
that a color is "fast to light," or "fast to washing," or "fast to
light and washing," and so on. Further, it is necessary, as we shall
see afterward, to give always the name of the fiber to which the color
is applied.
All that I have said with respect to the term "fast" may be applied
with equal propriety to the term "fugitive." This, too, has no very
definite meaning until a qualifying statement, such as I have referred
to, gives it precision.
The most important question to be considered is
THE ACTION OF LIGHT ON DYED COLORS.
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