Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1851-12-17
From tho Herald Of tho Union.
. trAe Iron a sc in the Middle of the
Ninetaenth CenturY. D

following reflections occurred to us--with
others which-we shall give at d future
time,
1t is only within the Last few months
that the multiform uses Of iron have be-
gun to be understood by the American
people. The conceptions which ordinary
PERSONS have of iron, is that of heavy,
bulky, immoveable, brittle, coarse, ugly,
disagreeable and forbidden substance
When you talk about iron, people of or
binary intelligence and capacity at once
figure to themselves crowbars, pow
shares, cooking.stoves, steam.engInes'
'cranks, anchors, boilers, and other rGu i
heavy and coarse obiects, But recently
a new species and -ystem otmanutacture
Las heep ;ntrc.Saced by Governeur KEN
ble lame and Bebee, Bachelor, Bogar-
dns 4ie Berrians, and others, which is
Istined to become celebrated as another
American achievement.
In Bachelor factory, and at gao Broad
way we found. group of articles in Iron
consisting in part of iron bedsteads, cribs,
etc, of several varieties; centre tables,
side tables, saloon tables, etc. hat stands,
umbrella stands, iron-cased clocks, in i'm
itation of palier mache, inlaid with pearl,
richly colored, and others in imitation of
china, porcelain, etc. The artistic forms
intewkich these articles are wrought, their
extreme aiiiness of look, the substantial
and enduring material of which they are
made, the fine castings MS they come from
the factory, elaborated into the most
graceful and beautiful forms that ancient
and modern art has been able to work OBJ
jects of taste and utility, the universal ne
cessity called for, and use of all these va
rious articles, the exquisite polish and
delicacy of finish which they received,
equalling some Of them, in their surface
and color, the finest Sevres ware and Chi
ma vases i; and perhaps, above all, the ex-
tremely low prices for which these beau
tiful objects are sold, are some points on
which they may safely be recommended
to the public. We found, also, flower
stapds, veutilators, tolet.mirrors, match
safes, chairs and scttees, chamber-l lamps
and candlesticks, and many other things,
all of them wrought into the most cunning
and beautiful forms, and brought out with
the most exquisite polish and finish.
= 1t at once occurred to us that people
will not be likely to purchase coarse, clum-
sy, corruptible, decaying wooden furni-
,ture, after they see this kind, and for
many reasons. First, this furniture, of
every description, is made to occupy less
space. Second, it is made stronger
Third, it will last'for ages. Fourth, it is
far more airy and beautiful in its appear
ance, Fifth, it will bear to be washed,
and brushed, and cleansed, without ia
king off the polish or the finish, since, by
new invention, the colors, and paintings,
and gliding, and enamel, and pearl, are
all set so firmly that, unlike other paints
and gildings, they can be washed without
injury, Sixth, this is the age of art and
taste, and all people of taste are now anx-
ious to get things which are beautiful as
well as useful; and the old adagc of the
ROpans-utiIe cum dulce-has at last
been carried out; and we have begun to
discover that the Roman was right when
he laid down, eighteen hundred years
ago, that beautiful principle of ciyiliza-
ton, that in domestic life, in seeking the
useful we should contemplate the beau
tiful.
Let us imagine for moment a house
furnished with iron furniture, The steps
and railing over which we pass to the
house are made of iron, and they may be |
made to initiate any wood or stone, or
substance, from the gayly -colored porce-
lain chinas to the stone columns of the
Quincy granite and the marble districts.
We found in the Fair the handsomest
mantlepiece of iron, made in imitation of
Italian statuary marble. Passing the
door of an iron furnished house, we should
find tLe hat and umbrella stand worked
into beautiful form, with a mirror near
the top, growing up partly like fountain
and branching like tree, holding out its
arms as if inviting the guests to leave
their hats, umbrellas, canes and cloaks,
and make themselves at home. Passing
on under an iron lamp, and sweeping by
an iron railing up the stairway, finished
like porcelain, or gold, or marble, or any
of the beautiful woods we enter the sa-
loon, and, from an iron candelebra, bron-
zed as rich as gold, and costing almost
nothing compared with those now being
sold of brass, the room is lighted Up
There are hundred and fifty forms of
iron chairs to choose from sofas and set
tees, with centre and side tables; parlor
and mantel ornaments of every descrip-
ton; and the very iron CRATE. with its ac-
companying furniture, may be finished,
till fire placc looks like one charmed up
from chaos by the lamp of Aladdin, All
this furniture will last from generation to
generation.
The Europeans arc proud of old furni-
ture as they are of old parks, old trees,
and castles and they are justly so: be-
cause these objects on the other side of
the water are made artistically beautiful,
and they are sanctifed by the associa-
tons ofsucceeding generations and ages,
A friend tells us that the finest piece of
workmanship, to his fancy, in the Worlds
Fair, was an iron bedstead, representing
a hunting scene, on which the hunter may
throw himself for repose, after a stag