When I first moved to the village of Warren, I was asked to judge the Christmas decorations on the houses.  After touring miles of roads lined with houses decorated by plastic Santas that flashed on and off, and even one neon-lighted Virgin Mary, we came upon a place that truly breathed the spirit of the first Nöel.  It was a long, dimly lit structure, completely void of cheap ornaments, nestling into a snowy hillside with an almost holy dignity.  “That’s it!” I said. “First prize!”

“My lands,” said my guide, “that isn’t anyone’s home—that’s just an old chicken house.”

Eric Sloane, A Reverence for Wood

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The antiquarian might argue that his interest in antiques is an appreciation of historic atmosphere, a love of the beauty of pleasing decay.  More often, however, his interest in antique art boils down to a reverence for the individuality of the past, what man once stood for, the way he lived and the thoughts he thought.

Eric Sloane, A Reverence for Wood

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