Frostburg mining journal., 1881-12-17


II they don't object out West to the
wind being represented as blowing
from opposite directions in the back
ground, surely they will net object to
boiled lobsters crawling over the rocks
in the foreground. A notable thing
about these commercial" artists il
their preference for large brushes. such
evan as are used by hsuse- painters.
Their rspidity Is not less noteworthy.
They literally "sling" the paint on.
One would think that Levy, with his
immense business, grown from the
smallest beginnings, would be happy
man. Such, however, it seems, is not
the case. He has rival who has an
established business in "bogus" pic
lures that bids fair to exceed in magni-
tude that Of the ambitious Levy. But
this is not all. This rival played q
trick on Levy some years ago, by which
the latter was induced TO pay good
price for what he terms very inferior
pictures. In other words the rival sue
osedsd In "out-bogusing" the clever
Levy, to coin an expression fer this
particular case. It seams that Levy,
while sitaing In his little front Office one
morning, was sccested by stranger,
who told him that he had bought q lot
Of pictures on speculation, but Was
in need Of money, and de-
sirsd, therefore, to get I'D Of
them. Lazy looked ssarchinsly at the
stranger, who seemed to be of . timid,
retiring disposition. His clothing, no
two ARTICLES Of which were of the same
color. appeared to have been purchased
and put on but . few hours before, q
fact more directly established by the
clothes dealers ticket which still ad-
hered to his coat collar. He seemed to
be simplicity personiAed, and Levy,
after telling him that the market was
very dull and pictures sold very slowly
and only at small figures, asked him
what he wanted for his goods. The
stranger slowly undid the cords that
held together bundle that he carried
under his arm, and displayed great
variety OF pictures. "These," said he,
"are only samples. I have several
hundred OF them which wish to sell" I"
What do you want for them ?" de-
manded Levy. WhAtll you give ?
asked the stranger. What'l you
take ?" returned Levy. After they had
repeated these questions several times,
the stranger admitted that he knew but
little about pictures, but, ss he must sell
them, he would let them 60 at dollar
and half apiece. They were the
same size for which Levy asked 80.
"I'll give you dollar apisce for them,
said Levy. "It's very little," said the
stranger, "but I'll take IT," That after
noon truck arrived With several hun
dred pictures, in all respects similar to
the samples shown by the stranger, and
the money WAS paid over. 1t was some
time afterwxrd that Levy discovered
that the pictures he had purchased
from tho stranger had been naads with
stencils and then touched up wiih .
brush In reality they wsxe worth
about ten cents spisoe. Then Lazy
discovered that this same man was m.
derselling him in the market with his
own pictures. These stencil pictures
are new made in great quantities and
sent West, whore there is a large de-
mAnd for them on account Of their
cheapness. 1t Is only BY . careful ex-
animation that they can bs distinguishsd
from the ordinary, cheap-painted pic.
lures, and il the parts where the sew
sral different stencils join have been
carefully painted over with brush il
is said to be impossible to tell one kind
from another.