Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-07
Old Furniture and Such.
Gath in the Cincinnati Enquirer

Old Furniture and Such.
Gath in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Yesterday / made long walk for the first
time in four or five years through the old furni-
ture shops in the southern part of New York,
along Canal street in lower 9th avenue and
lower down town. near the ferries What par
flcularly surprised me was the entire absence of
the curious and cheap old furniture had been
In the habit of picking up There was shop
near Liberty street ferry where / would often
lind bit of rosewood or mahogany in
the shape of table or stool or dressing
case, but now L found nothing there
but recent furniture out of the factory Said /
TO the old man who still kept the place, ''whv
do you have no more Old-fashioned stuff
"Why," said he, II haven't had anything of the
kind in the shop for two years. The auction
sales are now attended by people who are look
Ing for nothing else but old-fashoned furniture
1t out sells new furniture. 1t Is the same way
with this thing they call bric-a-brac," said the
man, whatever that may mean. Whatever is
strange or old there is rush for can buy
nothing any more to suit my class of plain Gus
toners but new styles of furniture that have,
perhaps been kicked out of rich mems houses
within three or four years after being bought -
found this mans testimony to be verified by
visits to the other places. / used to 90 into
shops where could see secretaries of the revo-
lutionary period, with little panes of glass in
the bookcase attached and the desk a hand
made, cioth-cOyered shutter that pulled out
Nothing of the sort existed any more At one
place L saw tall clock in a corner. such as /
had often refused to pay SIS for i'm the centen-
NAL year, now marked at 800 What does all
this mean? 1t shows that a vast amount of
money, made by Americans since the war, is
being put into that kind of personal property
which makes home celebrated among current
society There are many things rich man buys
In England or the continent which will do him
no good here. For instance country estate is
the last thing he wants in America, because the
wives reared in these large cities have moral
fear of the country. They have been SO little
by themselves from childhood that to be left
alone, as women are on farms and in villages all
over this land. gives them terrible apprehen-
sion of burglars, ghosts, &c. Hence fine houses
In the vicinity of New York bring poor prices
and rapidly change hands. Everybody at some
time of life tries it out of town for a little
while, sells out at a great Disadvantage and
comes back to town again,
Neither is there much passion for fine horses
IN this city. certain proportion of people
Ike to be seen in the park of afternoons and to
some of our bankers brokers and merchants AN
~,
am compelled to acknowledge that there is alsO
fear Of horses among city people of this age
The horses are, in the first place, expensive and
Involve the keeping of men around the house
who steal the wine, overcharge in the beef bill,
and make love to the chambermaids, and there
Is strong indispOsition among the majority of
house-hoiders to employ any man at all above
the age of q small boy. Hence money is not to
any large extent put into e1uipage. There are
splendid carriages and a great many of them
hpy wi NOT I'm
Der to the fine houses that are adorned with fur
niture. pictures. books and billiard-room, etc.
In particular, libraries are growing all over
this country. Colonial literature commands an
extraordinary price. Knight almost say that
the most expensive books now In the world are
early writings on the United States The sec
ond-hand bookstores of Great Britain and the
continent have their largest and best orders
from the United States. Now and then some
collector on the other side will pack up all his
books. cross the Atlantic. and open a store for
six mouths in New York and having disposed
OF his choice wares at high prices. will sell the
rest for lump sum and go back again and
make another collection. All persons have not
the faculty to understand books and hence
there Is corresponding rage for colonial furni-
ture. paintings. and the panest class of uten-
sis which our grandmOthers used. Spinning
wheels. which could have been bought a few
years ago for % or "a apiece are worth S25
and more A new clock IL a poor becoar com
the farmers wife kept her eve on a hundred
years ago to know when to ring the bell at the
top OF the house that he might leave his plow
and come to dinner.
was at an auction sale last week vhara
saw large and orderly audience, and in it
recognized the faces of some of the best profess
sional people in New York, men and women
patiently waiting while plate after plate dish
after dish, teaeup after teacup were held up
and the auctiOneer called for bids 1t looked as
deyout as church where after the sermon is
over, they are making subscriptions for the
poor or for the preacher. ! looked around the
furniture, and it struck me that some of it was
bogus antique. said as much. and q man in a
stern voice immediately spoke to us and denied
It. told the man il was none of his business
what said; that ! was speaking to a friend. and
II that was my opinion he should have the bene-
MT OF IT, was not able to conclude whether
.ne iorni.ure had not been newt ) veneered, or
was really something old. The interior skele-
tons oil II seemed old enough but the enameled
WORK OF various colOrs on the surface looked as
II II might have been recently made ana stained
In some way Yet will venture to saw that
nothing of that kind will be left. however dn-
bious is its origin
In Europe last summer observed how rnuch
richer they were in antique furniture than our
selves. Many Of the old towns had no market
other than the local one for furniture of the
eighteenth and even nineteenth centuries Mat
tiers OF that sort get their quickening OF the
continent from Paris. where money is acquired
rapidly, as here. in stOck-jobblng or cheating OF
some kind, and at once the parvenu begins to
buy in the line of tine antique and odd Profess
sional men all have weakness for something
better than their lives and habits Thus half
starved author like BaiZac, who sometimes had
not a change of clothes. was able to keep buy
ing rare and beautiful books all his ife until nj
library when he was literally worked to death
was found TO be something he might lave lived
on Tor years In tranquility If he conld have been
Induced to sell Ii.
COSTEsrIyG Hrs WIPES WuL---The will OF
Mrs. E:.za Adelaide Cutter who died II. the
town o. Westchester in October was presented
on Monday for probate to Surrogate Coffin. oil