The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-12-28

OhlO railroad company, ana the
great banker, Corcoran Of Washing.
ton. 1t is . curious fact that Mr.. !
Johnson, who bought these pictures
years ago, got more for them in
these hard times than he paid, and
actually made large profit on the
collection. 1t is "a fact that . we'll
bought picture is as good an invest
ment as can be made, for there are
always wealthy men who put =
fancy price on such works Of art,
to say nothing Of the great crowds
of rich noodles who know no more
of pictures than pig does Of the
Greek testament, but who are viii
ling to pay ten thousand dollars
that they may say they have
"Turner" or u "Meissonier." The
same is true of diamonds and Jew
elry; $50, 900 is paid for gem, not
that there is any pleasure to be
gotten out Of it, but that the poss-
cssor may have the reputation of
having the biggest and finest.
Poor human nature!
"RARE" THINGS.
An enormous trade, and very
profitable one too IS driven here in
''rare" articles. Pictures on metal,
taken from Pompeii; articles of use,
taken out of tombs in Egypt; and
antiquities of all kinds, bring very
high prices;and it seems that the ug-
licr they are, the higher the price
to be gotten for them. know a
man uptown, who took great pride
in exhibiting to his friends collec-
ton ofancient pottery, taken from
the excavations in Pompeii, for
which he paid $1,000 of a "collcc-
tor" He was little Disguised at
stumbling upon an establishment in
Grand street, where such Pompcian
pottery is made i'll just such quaint:
ties as to supply enthusiastic buy
ers, and more disguised when he
found that the collector of whom he
bought his lot was the proprietor
thereof. His workmcn could turn
out more "rare" pottery in a year
than was ever used in POmpeii.
Antique coins are made in the same
way, and when postage-stamp col
Letting was the rage there was a
factory here that manufactured
cancelled stamps of all the govern
mcnts in the world. What differ
ence did it make, SO that the ANA
teur collector supposed he had a
genuine thing?
TIE TROUBLE IN BUSINESS.
Contrary to all expectation bust
ness has not, as yct,picked up very
much, and for time there was a
trouble to know why. "Why don't
you buy morc?" wrote the New
York jobber to the retail customer.
"Our people are not buying any
thing, nor are they paying for the
goods they bought last spring."
comes back as an answer. "Why?"
because they spent all the loose
money they had last summer at the
blasted Centennial, and they are
scrimping to make up the expen-
diture." There is doubtless, a great
deal of truth in this. The farmer
who took his wife and two daugh-
tcrs to Philadelphia, did not get
home without an expenditure Of
from $3.50 to $500. Some did it
for less, but they may be set down
as about the regular thing. Now,
the moment they got home, the
question was, allow can We make
up this expenditure" The new
dress that Maria was to have had,
she did not get; the new coat that
the old gentlemen intended to get,
he put off; and every pair Of boots
in the family were made to do du-
ty a month or 50 longer. And
when the bills came in for what
they had purchased. they were not
paid very promptly-thc money
had gone to the Centennial trip.
And so the retailer does not buy,
and, Of course, the jobber does not
sell. All this is nonsense, but so
it is; and it is felt from Maine to
Texas. Millions of people went 20
the Centennial, and the millions
of money that were spent would
otherwise have gone into the rcgu-
lar channels of trade. In one re-
spcct the Centennial was curse,
but, in others, it was q good thing.
1t will pinch trade for a while, but
the people are infinitely richer in
knowledge and experience.
MOVEMENTS IN MORALS.
We are not to have any Moody
and Sankcy excitement, this year,
but Mr.. VIM. E. Dodge and the
other wealthy religionists are ma
king move on Satan in conjunc-
ton with the churches. The OBJ
jcctive point this year will be rum.
a temperance movement on very
large scale is being inaugurated,
the effort being directed especially
to saving young men. DIR. Dodge
and his friends have issued an ad-
dress to ladies, urging them not to
provide wines or liquors of any
kind for their New Years callers.
and Immediately after the holidays
an effort will be made to hold
series of enormous meetings, that
an excitement something like the