Steamer chair

“ Miss Earle smiled and went on with her reading, while Morris went once more back into the smoking room.
"Now then," said George Morris, when lunch was over, "which is it to be? The luxurious languor of the steamer chair, or the energetic exercise of the deck? Take your choice."
"Well," answered the young lady, "as I have been enjoying the luxurious languor all the forenoon, I prefer the energetic exercise, if it is agreeable to you, for a while, at least." ”

“ Future fees must not be jeopardized.
Being aroused, Mr. Morris now took a look around him. It seemed wonderful how soon order had been restored from the chaos of the starting. The trunks had disappeared down the hold; the portmanteaus were nowhere to be seen. Most of the passengers apparently were in their staterooms exploring their new quarters, getting out their wraps, Tam-o'-Shanters, fore-and-aft caps, steamer chairs, rugs, and copies of paper-covered novels. The deck was almost deserted, yet here and there a steamer chair had already been placed, and one or two were occupied. ”

“ At present it was piled full of cane folding steamer chairs and other odds and ends.
“I crawl in between the chairs and the wall and get under that piece of tarpaulin.”
“Well, you’re sure of being caught, for the first fine day all these chairs will be taken out and the deck steward can’t miss you.”
The man sighed as I said this and admitted the chances were much against him. Then, starting up, he cried, “Poverty is the great crime. ”

“ On this particular boat there was a wheelhouse aft unused, and generally filled up with old steamer chairs. A narrow passage led around this at the curving stern, seldom used by promenaders because of certain obstructions which, in the dark, were apt to trip a person up. Chains or something went from this wheelhouse to the sides of the ship, and, being covered up by boxes of plank, made this part of the deck hard to travel on in the dark. As we went around this narrow passage young Howard was the first to stop. He clutched my arm, but said nothing. ”

“ Morris had just time to escape into the companion way when it fell with a crash on the deck, flooding the promenade, and then rushing out through the scuppers into the sea.
"By George!" said Morris. "I guess there won't be many at breakfast either, if this sort of thing keeps up. I think the other side of the ship is the best."
Coming out on the other side of the deck, he was astonished to see, sitting in her steamer chair, snugly wrapped up in her rugs, Miss Katherine Earle, balancing a cup of steaming coffee in her hand. ”

“ It is said that every one rejoices in the misfortunes of others, but it is rather unusual to hear them admit it.”
“It is because of my sympathy for others that I am sorry to hear you are younger today than you were yesterday. If you take to running along the deck today then the results will be disastrous and I think you owe it to your fellow passengers to send the steward with his gong ahead of you so as to give people in steamer chairs warning.” ”

“ Our little society for the reformation of poker players, or to speak more correctly, for the reformation of one particular poker player, was formed one bright starlight night, latitude such a number, and longitude something else, as four of us sat on a seat at the extreme rear end of the great steamer. We four, with one other, sat at a small table in the saloon. One of the small tables on a Transatlantic steamer is very pleasant if you have a nice crowd with you. A seat at a small table compares with a seat at the large table as living in a village compares with living in a city. ”

“ They decided on the right side of the steamer, near an enclosed portion of the deck, which would help keep off some of the wind.
“We’d better each have a rug, too,” said Miss Ashton, to the deck steward, who was putting tags on the chairs.
“What are those for?” asked Martha.
“Your stateroom number is on the tag; and no one but the holder of that room can use the chair. There is no danger, then, of finding it occupied when you come back from a stroll.” ”

“ I had resolved that when I came aboard I would go first to my stateroom and unpack my steamer trunk, arrange my belongings neatly in their proper portholes and bunkers, find my reserved deck-chair, and attach to it my carefully tagged rug and pillow. Then I meant to take off and pack away my pretty travelling costume, and array myself in my “steamer clothes,” these having been selected with much care and thought in accordance with numerous and conflicting advices. ”

“ We settle ourselves in our steamer chairs in the most deliciously idle and comfortable positions, E. tucks his numerous nice wraps about us, for the air is keen but most wholesomely pure and sweet, and we give ourselves up both body and mind to perfect rest and repose, such as no condition on land can bring. I even find myself wishing that the steamer would not speed on quite so rapidly. I am afraid we shall sight land too soon. On shipboard, the slightest incident becomes to all a matter of great interest. ”

“ In the ranks of steamer chairs people lay like mummies in their dense wrappings; in the music-room the little children of travel discussed the different lines of steamers on which they had crossed, and babes of five and seven disputed about the motion on the Cunarders and White Stars; their nurses tried in vain to still them in behalf of older passengers trying to write letters there. ”

“ There is the rush of passengers, the banging about of luggage, the hurrying to and fro on the decks, the roar of escaping steam, the working of immense steam cranes hoisting and lowering great bales of merchandise and luggage from the wharf to the hold, and here and there in quiet corners, away from the rush, are tearful people bidding good-by to one another. ”

“ The most prominent article in nearly every house is the deck chair, faithful and much travelled chair, which has accompanied its master over the sea from England, and wandered with him into many a dreary little out-of-the-way village, where perchance he sees for months no fellow white man, and where his chair and pipe alone receive his confidences, and solace his soul in the utter loneliness of the jungle. No wonder then that the deck chair wears an important air, and regards other pieces of furniture, which probably change owners every six months, with contemptuous scorn. ”

“ The sofas were large and roomy, the settees delightful, the arm-chairs and wing chairs regular havens of rest, and when one adds the comfort which modern upholstery gives, there is little left to desire. Even the regulation side-chair of the period, which some think was the only chair in very common use, is absolutely comfortable for its purpose. Lounging was much less in vogue then than nowadays and the old cabinet-makers realized that one must be comfortable when sitting up as well as when taking one's ease. ”

“ The corners of the back were always rounded. The cabriole legs were often carved with a shell on the knees, the acanthus being used in the more elaborate pieces of furniture, and ended chiefly in a club foot. Stretchers became less common, but if they were used were pushed back and did not form such an important part of the chair design. Seats were broader at the front than at the back, and all furniture showed a real desire for comfort and convenience. Marquetry and lacquer were both in great favor, and there are wonderful examples of both reproduced, but especially lacquer. ”

“ A projecting granite framework, looking out from the south-west angle of the battlements, is known [212] popularly as "St. Michael's Chair." It is really the frame of an ancient lantern, beacon, or cresset, lighted in former times to guide the fishing-boats safely into harbour; but a legend has obtained currency that any sweetheart, or husband, or wife, first taking a seat in it will be "master for life." It is not a difficult matter to edge into the "chair," but it requires rather more agility, and a cool head, to return. In spite of this, very many women do perform the act ”

“ Examples of this shaping are shewn in the chairs, Figs. 32 and 36, which also have the simple cabriole legs.
Figs. 38 and 39 are arm-chairs of this period. Fig. 38 has a central vase-shaped panel with a volute and leaves on either side. The arms have flattened elbow-rests. Fig. 39 has curiously twisted arms. It has suffered in the splat very much from the worms. In this chair it will [57] be noticed the side rail connecting the legs is missing. The seat is stuffed and covered with canvas, which is decorated with needlework ("petit-point") in coloured wools and silks. ”

“ Chairs are still heavy and carved more or less richly. Two typical specimens appear in Plate XII. As shown 113in these examples, the seats and backs were often covered with stamped leather, velvet, silk, or some woollen material and ornamented with tassels. The covers are tacked to the frame by means of large-headed nails that also form part of the decoration. A chair and footstool by Vredemann de Vries, of very characteristic model, are shown in Fig. 23. The chair is three-cornered, with a triangular seat, and the legs are connected with straining-rails. ”

“ But they went to wreck and ruin under us and brought us to shame before all the passengers. They had been furnished by the largest furniture-dealing house in Victoria, and were worth a couple of farthings a dozen, though they had cost us the price of honest chairs. In the Pacific and Indian Oceans one must still bring his own deck-chair on board or go without, just as in the old forgotten Atlantic times—those Dark Ages of sea travel. ”

“ They say that pushing a chair in front of you is a good way to learn. My terror was extreme; it would be awkward to be caught, at a friend's house, stealing a bed-room chair. That I ventured this risk shows how fond of CECILIA I was. I reached the pond safely, and hid the chair in a dry ditch. Next day, when presumed to be engaged on literary labours, I sneaked back, sat down on my chair, and tried to put on the skates. It always seemed so easy when one saw an expert do it, like Mercury donning his winged shoon, and sailing over the ice. ”

“ This last addition made the whole a perfectly strong and almost indestructible piece of framing, and constitutes one of the most essential differences in the construction of ancient and modern furniture. The legs of most modern chairs are made to depend entirely for strength on their hold, at one end, to the framing of the seat of the chair, into which they are generally only glued. The legs of the ancient chair, on the other hand, are secured at both ends ”

“ The illustration of a chair, in beech, with a plain wooden seat, has a somewhat intricate ribbon-like pattern terminating in the Prince of Wales's feathers. The heart is present in the design at the base of the splat, cut out in fretwork. The arm-chair on the right, with its dipped seat, is in oak, and is an instance representing the adaptations of Sheraton styles in the provinces.
Another page of chairs in oak (p. 215) shows the influences at work in moulding the character of the styles of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century farmhouse furniture. ”

“ A simple form of hot-air or steam-bath for home use may be made as follows:—To the back of an ordinary wooden or cane-bottom chair fix an upright piece of wood, and to this at the height at which the neck of the sitter on the chair will be fix a hoop of cane or other material sufficiently wide to keep the cloth to hang from the hoop free from the shoulders of the sitter. ”

“ In early times rush always served a function in the seats of chairs and stools, and was very seldom if ever used on the better class of furniture. The use of cane or rush on furniture for decorative purposes only is distinctly a modern idea. Utility rather than beauty prompted the introduction of seats of rush.
Modern furniture of excellent design and workmanship employs rush seats. These are either woven over a separate frame and inserted or are an integral part of the chair, being woven over the seat rails of the chair itself. Fig. ”

“ The Black Wall, known by many as the chair hitch, is used by the Steeple Jack while working in the chair up or down; stopping to rest or work, reach through the rope of your chair, grab the fall line by the right hand, pulling it through between yourself and the rope of your chair. At the same movement turning the rope from left to right making a loop in this movement, reach up and set it on the hook of the block at the chair ”

“ The flower-table can be bought at Wallace’s, as can the smaller tables and chairs. A sofa and corner cabinet, can be had of Smee, while a ‘grandfather’ chair is to be had at Hewetson’s, and Bartholomew & Fletcher’s ‘Seabright’ armchair must never be forgotten. These are by far the most comfortable chairs in the whole furniture world. If we cannot rise to the oak panelling, a charming parlour may be made from plain ‘goehring,’ painted some soft colour,{143} either sea-green, electric turquoise or real ivory, and above the panelling should be a paper in the same shade as the paint ”

“ An unusually fine banister chair, from the Poore collection at Indian Hill, Newburyport, is shown in Illustration 141, with carved top and underbrace and Spanish feet. The seat is rush, as it usually is in banister chairs.
“Roundabout” chairs are met with in inventories from 1738 under various names,—“three-cornered chair,” “half round chair,” “round about chair,”—but they are now [171] known as roundabout or corner chairs. They were made in different styles, like other chairs, from the turned or the Dutch bandy-leg, down to the carved Chippendale leg with claw-and-ball foot. ”