St. Landry democrat., 1883-08-18
Mimic Advertising.

bQe SeCOuu StOIy u u uOuSe. beullu d
broad window with two large panes Of
glass appeared the objects which We're
attracting the attention of the crowd.
Behind the lower pane was a broad
piece of canvas on which the name of a
summer hotel was painted in large
black letters; behind the upper glass
was scene which gave in good per-
spective an idea of the house and sur
roundings. 1t seemed a picturesque
summer resort. Back of the house
stretched range of blue mountains.
Some of the peaks were SO high that
tleecy white clouds yelled their SUBMITS.
From the hotel a path led through a
sloping lawn to lake. So far the pic
ture represented all that was described
on the canvas underneath, except the
announcement that there was good fish
ing in the lake. Suddenly, however,
even this was realized. A man was seen
pulling in boat across the lake. After
a while he stopped rowing, shipped his
oars, lifted a fishing rod from the bot
tom Of the boat, and cast the line into
the water Then he remained motion
less as if intently watching the line.
a fish in the boat. This was repeated
several times, until at last he appeared
to have caught fish enough. He put
down his rod, grasped the oars, and
pulled back to shore. The last seen of
him he was walking toward the hotel
with string of fish.
Suddenly the canvas dropped. In its
place behind the lower pane appeared
another, which called upon all people
to consult only a certain physician in
case of illness. Above this the scene
represented New York street. Among
the houses was one with a physicians
sign. An old man nearly bent double
came hobbling down the street on a
crutch until he got to the physicians
house and rang the bell. A pleasant
looking man. presumably the physician,
let him in. After while a boy with an
arm in sling came from the other di-
rection, and rang. This time the door
was opened by girl, probably because
the physician was busy attending to the
first patient. The patient was followed
by pale and debilitated- looking indi-
vidual, and he by another, who APP
peared to be coughing and in the last
stages of consumption. These also
were admitted by the girl. After a
while the door opened again, and out
came the old man, firm and erect,
briskly twirling his cane. 4 little later
the boy came out. but his arm was no
longer in the sling. On the contrary
he swung it freely as he walked along.
The pale and Misunderstanding man
made his exit Whistling. The consump-
tive who had seemed to be lettering on
the brink of the grave came out with
the bloom of roses on his cheeks.
Presto change! The canvas went
down and the street disappeared. The
name of theater was displayed behind
the lower pane. the theater itself behind
the upper. A horse-car stopped in front
of the theater, which every passenger en-
tered. A stage drove up with the same
results. Then carriages and coupes
halted at the theater, which seemed to
be attracting everybody in the city.
Finally a sign appeared: mo more
standing, ROOM
Another change. This time it was a
bicycle advertisement, and bicyclers
were speeding their steel racers on the
track above. As the reporter started
across the street to inspect matters more
closely, Sullivan and Mitchell were hav-
ing fierce set to.
Entering the room on the second floor.
the reporter saw near the window a
light trestle-work. Round about were
lying strips Of sunsets, blue skies, storm
clouds, and all varieties of heavens;
pasteboard men and women, with nu-
merous strings attached to their limbs;
cars, stages, houses on small scale, all
the paraphernalia of theatrical scene
were there.
Two long, broad strips of pasteboard
lay on the floor. Over them stood q
man with large brush, which he
dipped into pot of gray paint and
then applied to the pasteboard, making
a line of grayish houses and churches.
Then he painted in black dots for win
dows and doors, adding strip of green
and yellow for grass and road.
s'It's done roughly, you see,' he said,
s'but it looks all right from below. 1t
makes a difference whether you're near
a thing, or stand on the street and see
it in the second story through a pane of
glass. Fine work doesn't tell at that
distance
What are you going to represent
now?n the reporter asked of the man,
who was just changing the canvas.
.sThe storming of Alexandria" he re-
piled.
The reporter watched him arranging
the set of pasteboard over the trestle-
work. He suspended a strip of lurid
sky from the back bar. A little for
ward and below was another bar with
upright bars at either end. On the bar
and against the uprights he put strip
representing the city. Further toward
the window were two other upright
bars. Against these he placed two
forts. On a crossbar little lower he