The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1875-07-22
LETTER FROM BOSTON.
Correspondence of the journal.

| BOSTON, July IL, 1919.
A little money, like little learning, is dam
gerous thing. 1t turns weak heads and ruins
men and women who, under ordinary circum-
stances, might live industrious and contented
lives. Only little way from the city, on
favorite road for driving, is house which is
frequently pointed out as an illustration of a
mans folly. 1t is, in fact, known as Blanks
"Folly." Blank married woman with few
thousand dollars. He became treasurer of a
| manufacturing company, and received a good
salary. In the course of ten years he had add
ed considerably to his wfe's little fortune, and
perhaps together they had $50 900. The amount
looked very large to them They were highly
| imaginative and deemed themselves rich, and
soon became dissatisfied with their humble
surroundings. Mr.. Blank ere long determined
| to build himself ''suited to his means" a house.
and he and his wife spent many happy hour
in planning and furnishing their ''castle in the
air. But when it had real foundation then
| care and anxiety took possession o. their minds
| They had probably heard of the old maxim
'Cut your garment according to your CLOTH"
| but as they were short-sighted enough to think
| their cloth unlimited it had no warning for
| them. SO they raised hundred thousand dol
lar house. 1t was of splendid proportions, the
| walls were frescoed artisticaly, and all the
fnishngs and furnishings We're luxurious.
They sent abroad for carpets and furniture to
be made after chosen designs. At last all was
| ready, and they were established in the new
| house. The little woman who had ALWAYS
| lived moderately, found herself requiring a
house keeper and Il full set of servants. As
| soon as the house was completed, it was noticed
that Mr.. Blank looked careworn and troubled,
and as time passed on his depression seemed to
| increase. At the end of six short months the
| END came. The snug little fortune was all
| gone, and in its place was the grand house with
| no means to sustain it, and which was besieged
| BY host of hungry creditors. Mr. Blank was
| forced to give it up His family were moved
to Il neighboring town and housed in Il hired
| tenement and Mr. Blank suddenly departed
| for the West Then it TRANSFERRED that not only
his and his wite's money had been swallowed
| upby the Folly, but also quite sum belonging
| to the manufacturing company whose funds
had passed through his hands He was not ac-
| cused of dishonesty, however, but only of care
iessnesS and weakness. But the end is not vet.
| In few years Mr.. Blank again accumulated
| some money, and again it seemed to him mex
| haustlble, and, as if determined to connect his
name with the Folly past forgetfulness, he came
| back and bought the grand house again. This
| time, perhaps YOU will think he triumphed
over fate and over the gos>ips of the neghbor-
( hood Not a bit of it. Six months had not
| passed again before he had to give up his fond
| dream, and leave the house to be owned and
| tehanted by greater tinancier than himself.
And it will still be known as Blanks Folly
| One always pities weakness and its misfor-
| tunes, but no one will throw away compassion
on deliberate spendthrift such as man who
was left unexpectedly about six years ago S25,-
900 by relative. lie dropped work at once
built himself 4 pretty, out-of-town cottage and
| declared that his motto was "a short life and
| merry one" One of his ways for making it
| merry, was to assemble his friends in the din
| ing-room pick up plate belonging to a hand
| some china set, bid them do likewise and see
who could pitch his dish the longest without
| breaking it. OF course they were all broken
before the childish game was ended. BY such
| silly freaks Of destructvencss as this he run
through his bequest and at the end of five years
| he was penniless and up to his ears in debt.
The other day his nice little house was sold at
auction and was bought at great bargain by
| a mechanic who had been industrious and say
| Of the pennies.
| A lew weeks since paragraph Went the
| rounds of the papers concerning the practical
Of toI-a,
| the sculptor, who proposed to sell to the city of
| st. Louis statue, of General jackson believe,
which had been left on her husbands hands by
town in Kentucky that could not raise the
money to pay for it. Mrs. Mills in her letter to
the st. Louis officials offered The statue at ii re-
duccd price, and suggested that if they lid not
want memorial of General Jackson her hus-
band could very easily put on any other head
to make the statue acceptable. | heard last
week of a case very similar to this. A lady de-
sired to have Il portrait painted of her deceased
husband and she commissioned an artist of this
| city to paint it. 1t was done and proved
ceptable despite the predictions of several per
sons who pronounced the lady very hard to
please. She then desired to have her own por-
trait painted also and decided ON a cabinet size,
three quarters length AT the sittm9s she wore
a very handsome and deliberately trimmed vel
vet dress which, Of course, was no small feat
IRE of the picture. The artist spent an eXcep-
tional amount Of time on the portrait and CON
sdered it one Of his best ikcnesseS But the
widow was not readily suited as with the
representative of her late husbands face, She
advised many changes, and when they were
made, still she was not satisfied. Finally she
went away saying she would come to the artist
for the picture on her return. He waited two
months and then turned the portrait to the wall
and reckoned it in his profit and loss account.
Some little time after the artist received a call
from a lady who desired Il similar cabinet por-
trait and he exhibited this picture as 4 sample
of his work. The lady was delighted with it,
She wanted one Just like it. the same position,
and style, and, in fact, she had had a velvet
dress almost exactly like that. The artist was
quite sure that he was giving utterance to the
lady's unuttered thought when he proposed to
paint her head over that very gown And lie
was right, for the lady accepted the utilitarian
proposition at once. The widows ''cXecution'
took place and the artist had the intense salts
faction of putting q head" on his former vex-
atious patron, at least by proxy. But the most
amusing part of the whole affair is the fact that
the artist really received for the patch work
portrait sum treble the amount of that he was
to have for the original.
No doubt portrait painters have many Il laugh
over the folibles Of those who delight to see
their counterpart, or rather the beautiful re-
presentations that exists in their imapinatiOnS
glowing OF canvas before them, but OCCASION
ally the tables are turned, as was the case with
young artist who painted the portrait of his
friend, wild youth and professional singer,
with which he had but Indifferent success One
evening recently when the two were in company
together the singer was jokingly reproved for
his occasional delinquencies, when he assumed |
serious air, and looking pointedly at his artist
friend and addressing the assembly, saiJ-"Ah,
but you must remember I'm not so bad as | |