Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1881-05-04
THE PAINT MANIA.

early summer, and even fall will do.
THE PAINT MANIA.
A Mans Share in House Cleaning and the
Damage he Can Do.
There seems to be something wonder
fully fascinating in the private paint brush
and the can of prepared paint that are pub
licly sold by unprincipled and greedy men.
The man who has once allowed himself to
paint the kitchen chairs or the dog kennel
takes a step which he can rarely retrace.
His thirst for paint grows with indulgence,
and he soon comes to feel wretched unless
he has brush in his hands. Among pri-
vate painters there exists strange and NOR
bid unwilllngness to allow particle of
paint to be wasted. The man who buys
pound can of blue paint with which to
paint table, and finds that after the work
is done he has quarter of pound of paint
left, instantly tries to find some other ar
ticle of furniture on which to use it. Thus
he is constantly led on from one article of
furniture to another, and reduces himself
to poverty, madness and despair. The sto-
~ OF man who was once respectable and
worthy citizen Of Philadelphia presents a
fearful illustration Of the misery caused by
private painting.
The man in ouestion- let us call him Mr..
smith-was induced by an indiscreet friend
to buy pound of red paint with which to
paint small dog kennel. Without reflect
ing upon the danger to which every one ex-
poses himself who takes the unhallowed
brush in his hand, Mr.. Smith painted the
dog kennel, and with the quarter of a pound
of paint that was left he undertook to paint
the bath-tub, in order, as he told himself.
that the paint should not be wasted. He
found that the bath-tub was not more than
half painted when his supply of paint was
exhausted, and he therefore bought another
can. With this he finished the bath tub,
and had this time three quarters Of pound
left. 1t was, of course, impossible for him
to allow so much paint to be wasted, and
accordingly he began to paint the six kitch-
en- chairs. There was paint enough for five
chairs only, and the wretched man saw that
he could not help buying third pound
chair was finished.
With hungry eyes and excited air, he
now roamed through the house, seeking
what he might paint, and finally decided to
paint he woodwork Of his study. Two
additional pounds were used before the
woodwork was finished, but he found that
in his anxiety to finish without buying a
sixth pound of paint he had laid on the
color SO lightly in some places that the re-
suit dissatisfied him. AS remedy he de-
cided to run narrow bar of black paint
around each panel and therefore bought
pound Of best-prepared ivory paint black
Not more than half of it had been used
when the work was finished, and then it be-
came necessary to find something to use
the remainder on. The unhappy Mr..
Smith now realized wher it was too late to
save himself, that he was confirmed paint
er. and than he had not sufficient strength
of will to cast the accursed paint pot from
him, no matter if he did thereby waste near
ly half a pound of ivory black. He pur-
sued his downward course with great rapid
ty. Needless of the tears of his wife and
the entreaties of his daughters, he painted
everything in the house on which paint
brush could be laid. No matter how large
or how small any surface which he under-
tie paint left over when it was finished, and
had to buy a new can when the next article
was partially painted. The hideous marks
of the vice which had mastered him became
apparent on his lothes and fingers. Men
knew that he was a hopeless painter and
shrunk from him with horror.
His wife and daughters could not 60 into
the street without showing by their invol-
untary patches of black paint that the ad
of the house was a private painter. His
money gradually found its way into the
pocket of the heartless wretch who kept the
paint shop, and his health gave way under
the influence of painters collie. Within
one short year from the time when Mr..
Smith bought his first can of red paint he
was a ruined outcast, and when, after his
suicide with paris green, a noted philan-
throphist called on his widow to obtain ma
terial for writing biography of the dead
man as warning to the young, he learned
that during the latter part of his career the
miserable Mr.. Smith had used no less than
seven pounds of paint daily.
The pathetic story carries its lesson with
it. It shows the terrible danger of med
ding. No man can take loaded brush
into his hands without defling his fingers.
The only safety lies in total abstinence from
brushes and paint, no matter how great may
be the temptation to use them.
Bee Notes in Brief.
Mr.. James Hedden. of Michigan, whose
bees have brought to him snug little for
tune, concludes that chatf hives are too
costly and cumbersome. He also explains
why he has given up his house apairy.
Many Of these structures were built few
years since, but they are mostly deserted
now -. Only put enough combs in the
hive in spring to supply space for the bees;
keep them covered with bees if it takes no
more than three or even two combs