Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-05-17

| with SILVER, as he glanced down at
the stained and polished floor, with lit
tie antiluc-looking mats sprinkled here
and there.
And his wife led him up to great
yawning fireplace, in which few slen-
der logs of wood were smoking upon u
pair OF enormous brass andirons.
Potter looked around for his accus.
toned warm, cushioned armchair; but
ii was gone, and its place occupied by O.
cumbrous leather-bottomed, straight
backed mahogany affair, which he had
never before seen.
"This is your seat" said Mrs. Potter,
affectionately. "It's real Queen Anne
chair; no imitation, but genuine one,
brought from England ages ago. Old
Miss Agnew's grandfather owned 1t, and
since his time it's been kept in q garnet
as rubbish. 1t had only two legs, and
the bottom was out and part of the back
gone; but I've had it restored at an
expense of only twenty dollars. Just
think-such a treasure rs this for twenty
dollarsi"
Potter, still shivering, made an at
tempt to draw the chair nearer the fire,
but it had no rollers, and the solid ma
hogany weight resisted his efforts.
"Oh," his wife fastened to explain,
"those kind of chairs were never in
tended to be moved about! They sit just
so--a sort of fixture, you know; and
then, you see, you mustn't sit on the
HEARTH" pointing to a great square of
dingy- colored tile extending in front of
the fire -place. "IIave you observed the
mantle-piecep Isn't it lovelyp"
Potter locked up and tried hard TO
discern theSlovelipess of the tall, narrow
piece of dark woodwork, with its two or
three shelves, rising nearly to the cell
ing. He thought, with sigh, of the
broad, low, convenient marble mantle
piece whose place it usurped. On the
shelves were some odd-looking articles
of china and dingy metal, and in the
center panel hung q faded and ghost
like portrait in black frame.
Now, of what does that remind
youpn inquired his wife, with anima-
ton, as he contemplated these things.
TO have spoken the truth, Potter
would have answered, "Of n kitchen
dresser;" but his wife was so undis-
guisedly delighted, and SO anxious to
see him equally pleased, that he could
not find it in his heart to disappoint her.
So he smiled fcebly and said that he
really didn't know
"Why, of old castles, and baronial
halls, and Elizabethan mansions, of
course!" replied Mrs. Potter, with en-
thusiasm. ats like going back into
those delightful medieval ages only 30
sit here and look around. That portrait
is your Grandpa Winston's, and | had
to smoke ii q little, frame and all, to give
it o proper antique appearance. There's
nothing more shocking to fine, artistic
taste and sensibility than glaring, gilt
modern frame. Have you noticed the
sideboard, dear?n
Potter had indeed observed the oddly
shaped and clumsy-looking affair to
which she alluded, mounted upon eight
tall, spindle-shank supporters, and
adorned with articles of the same dull,
dingy-loolling metal which ornamented
the mantelpiece.
"What has become of the slver?" he
vcntured to inquire.
"Silver? Oh, put that out of sight,
as being so very modern in pattern, and
out of harmony with aesthetic surround
ings. Why, its newness and glitter, TO
say nothing of its modern shape, would
spoil the whole effect. And there's a
perfect rage for old pewter; such as be-
longed to the time of the Georges, you
know. Look at this platterP" proudly
displaying hugh pewter dish "ard
this punch-bowl!" holding up what
looked remarkably like q wash-basin.
"And where do you think 1 discovered
them? Why, the dish, with all its bot
tom melted out, in n pile of old iron
scraps in Baggs' junk-shop, and the
bowl in old Aunt Chloe's back yard,
where it had been used as q pig-trough!
l got the two for fifty cents each. What
do you think of thatPn
Potter might have said that he
thought them dear at any price; but he
refrained.
SO his wife went on, exhibiting and
eXpatiating upon her treasures, while he
stroked his whiskers and ondcavored to
look pleased and appreciative. And
when the dining-room was gone through
with, she took him upstairs and exhibit
cd lofty, four-post bedstead with mus
ty hangings of antique pattern, heavy
square cabinet with antique mountingS,
a narrow settee, and various other arti-
cles of obsolete furniture all, to Pot
ter's uncnlightened mind, equally ugly
and inconvenient.
"Never mind" he thought, as that
night he lay in the lofty bedstead, and
microscopically inspected the ceiling
and took bird's-eye view of the apart.
ment and its aesthetic furnishing
"never mind, she'll come to her senses
by and by. / suppose it is sort of cpl
demic, like measles and humps, pecu.
liar to women; but she'll get over it in
time.n
The time, however, seemed to him
very long, and he grew almost tired of
waiting for it. Instead of abating, Mrs.
Potter's enthusiasm on the subject of
high art and aesthetics appeared to in
crease. She visited all the old-fashioned
families in the country round, and
bought up stores of ancient rubbish from
their garrets and cellars especially old
cracked china and battered pewter
ware. She painted silken screens with
odd deSigns-as lizard on bamboo,
l or stocking on one leg beneath the
outrageous shade of three cat-tails.
She ran wild on the subject of ceramics,
and spent most of her time in painting
wooden and peculiar plates, and in dec
Grating all sorts of china and earthen-
ware with glazed pictures and varnish.
She made an Etruscan vase out of q
pickle-jar, and Syrian and Grecian
watcr-urns out of preserved ginger
crooks and ale-jugs.
Potter stood it all very well, even
when he discovered his bootjack sticky
with Egyptian varnish, and his shaving
mug inconveniently embellished with q
Roman soldier, lunging at an invisible
enemy.
But when, on Christmas Day, the
plum-pudding came in stuck full of
-holly-leaves, which he experienced much
difficulty in removing, and one Of which
he was so unfortunate as to take into his
mouth-and the mice-pies made their
appearance, each adorned with warm
ished paper arabcsque ornament in its
A. r. e. n