The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1877-01-12

| get half the delight out OF the elaborate
toys that the laborer's baby will out of
the ten cent monstrosity which its poor
mother buys. The streets present
splendid appearance, however, and the
poor people have just as much enjoy
ment out of the shop windows as the
wealthy who buy.
PICTURES.
John Taylor johnson was very
wealthy man, who lately came to grief
in the depreciation of stocks. He was
the possessor OF the finest private col
lection of pictures in the country, and
he was compelled to bring them to the
| hammer The collection brough nearly
/ S40O 900, some of the pictures bringing
enormous prices. Turner'S ssSlave
| Ship sold for $4,000. Church's
"Niagara," $12, 500, and several Meis-
eoniers, very small ones, not over six by
eight inches, sold as high as $4,000.
These pictures were bought by such
people as Garrett, the President of the
Baltimore aud Ohio Railroad Company.
and the great banker, Corcoran, OF
| Washington. 1t is a curious fact that
Dir. Johnson, who bought these pictures
years ago, got more tor them in these
hard times than he paid, and actually
makes large profit on the collection.
1t Is fact that well-bonght picture
| Is as good an investment 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 pic
lures than pig does of the Greek tes-
aiment, but who are willing to pay ten
thousand dollars that they may say they
| lave q sTurner," or ttMeissonier.'
The same is true OF diamonds and Jew
elry; $50, 900 is paid for a gem, not
that there is any pleasure to be gotten
out of it, but that the possessor may
nave the reputation of having the big
gest and finest. Poor human nature
"RARE" THINGS.
An enormous trade. and very profit
able one too, is driven here in tsIare''
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; aud it
seems that the uglier they are, the
higher the price to be gotten for them.
know man uptown, who took great
pride in exhibiting to his friends col
lection of ancient pottery, taken from
the excavations in Pompeii, for which
be paid 81 900 of a tscollcctor." He
was little disguised at stumbling up
on an establishment in Grand street.
where such Pompeian pottery is made
IN just such quantities as to supply en-
thusiastic buyers, and more disguised
when he found that the collector of
whom he bought his lot was the pro-
prietor thereof. His workrnen could
turn out more "rare': pottery in a year
than was ever used in Pompei. Anti
que coins are made in the same wav.
and when postage-stamp collecting was
the rage, there was factory here that
manufactured cancelled stamps of all
the Governments in the world. What
difference did it make, SO that the am.
ateur collector supposed he had gen.
uine thing =?
THE TROUBLE IN BUsTN Ess.
Contrary to all expectation business
has not, as yet, picked up very much,
and for time there was a trouble TO
know why. "Why don't you buy
more ?'' wrote the New York iobber to
the retail customer. "Our people are
not buying anything, nor are they pay
ing. for the goods they bought last
| spring, comes back as an answer.
"N hy ?'' "Becanse they spent all the
loose money they had last summer at
the blasted Centennial, and they are
scrimping to make up the expenditure"
There is, doubtless, great deal of truth
i'll this. The farmer who took his wife
and two daughters to PHILADELPHIA. did
| not get home without an expenditure
of from $3.50 to $500. Some did it for
less, but that may be set down as about
the regular thing. Now, the moment
they got home, the question was, "How
can we make up this expenditure 90
The new dress that Maria was to have
had, she did not get the new coat that
the old gentleman intended to get, he
put off and every pair of boots in the
family were made to do duty month
or so longer. and when the bill came
in for what they had purchased, they
were not paid very promptly-the mon
ey 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, bat so it is; and it is
felt from Maine TO Texas. Millions of
people went to the Centennial, aid the
millions OF money that were spent
would otherwise have gone into the
regular channels of trade. In one re-
spect the Centennial was curse, but,
in others, it was good thing. It will
pinch trade for while, but the people
are infinitely richer in knowledge and
experience.
MOVEMENTS IN MORALS.
We are not to have any Moody and
Sankey excitement, this year, but Mr.
VIM. E. Dodge and the other wealthy
reiigionists arc making move on Satan
in conjunction with the churches. The
objective point this year will be rum.
A Temperance movement on q very
large scale is being inauguratsd, the
effort being directed especially to saw
ing young men. Mr.. Dodge and his
friends have issued an address to ladies,
/ urging them not 10 provide wines or