The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-12-16
CrItIcIsInu BarKer's Picture.


VOUR charge against Mr.. Barker,
the artist here,'' said the magis-
trate, 'Is assault and battery, be-
lieveYr
Yes, sir.'
"And your name is--''
"Potts | am art critic of the " Week
ly Spy"
estate your case"
81 called at Mr. Barker's studio upon
his invitation to see his great picture,
just finished, of George Washington
cutting down the cherry tree with his
hatchet.' Mr.. Barker was expecting to
sell 1t to Congress for fifty thousand
dollars. He asked me what thought
of it, and after had pointed out his
mistake in making the handle of the
hatchet twice as thick as the tree, and
In tnrning the head of the hatchet
around, SO that George was cutting the
tree with the hammer end, / asked him
why fore he shortened Georges leg, so
as to make 1t look as If his left foot was
upon the mountain, on the other side of
the river"
Did Mr.. Barker take it kindly ?''
asked the justice.
"Well, he looked little glum-that's
ALL And then when asked him why
he put guinea pig up in the tree, and
why he painted the guinea-pig with
horns, he said that 1t was not in the
tree, but in the background. Then L
said that, If had been painting George
Washington, / should not have given
him the complexion of salmon-brick,
L should not have given him two
thumbs on each hand, and I should
have tried not to slue his right eye
around so that he could see around the
back of his head to his left ear.
And Barker said, "Oh wouldn't your"
Sarcastic, your honor. And said, "No,
would mt, and wouldn't have painted
oak leaves on cherry tree; and 1
wouldn't have left the spectator in doubt
as to whether the figure off by the woods
was factory chimney, or steamboat,
or George Washington's father taking
smoke" Which was it ?" asked the
magistrate. 81 don't know. Nobody
will ever know. So Barker asked me
thought his best chance was TO aban-
don the Washington idea, and to fix the
thing up somehow to represent "The
Boy who stood on the Burning Deck"
1 told him he might paint the grass
red to represent the flames, and daub
over the trees SOS it would look like the
mast, and pull Georges foot to this side
of the river SOS it would rest somewhere
on the burning deck, and maybe he
might reconstruct that factory chimney,
or whatever it was, and make it the
captain, while he could arrange the
guinea pig to do for the captains dog"
" Did he agree? 2"
:" He said the idea didn't strike him.
So then 1 suggested he might turn it i'm
to Columbus discovering America. Let
George stand for Columbus, and the
tree be turned into native, and the
hatchet made to answer for flag, while
the mountains in the back. ground
answer for the rolling pillows of the
ocean. He said he'd be hanged if it
should. So / mentioned that it might
perhaps pass for the execution of Mary
Queen of Scots. Put George in black
for the headsman, bend over the tree
aud put frock on 1t for Mary, let the
hatchet stand, and work in the guinea
pig and the factory chimney as mourn
ers. Just as had got the words out of
my mouth, Barker knocked me clean
through the picture. My head tore out
Washington's near leg, and my right
foot carried away about four miles of the
river. We had it over and over on the
floor for awhile, and finally Barker
whipped. am going to take the law
of him in the interests of high art" So
Mr.. Barker was bound over, and Mr..
Potts went down to the office of the Spy
to write up his criticism.