The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-05-11
IAN UNCOMMON INDUSTRY.
THE EMBARRASSMENT OF A NEW
YORK MEMORIAL ARTIST.
Commercial value OF Obituary Poetry MS n
Thriving Means of Supported escription
sfa Novel Busiuc ss- How IL lis Conducted.

NhtNt VI . Ottty w "
Thriving Means of support--Descrip,ion
rfa Novel Busincs So How IL is Conducted
1t will scarcely be supposed that
obituary poetry has any commercial
value, w that attached to it as an
announcement at so much per line in
the obituary columns of a newspaper.
Yet it is a fact that an enterprising
woman in New York, Mrs. Kintzer by
name, does a very thriving business as
an original poetess by profession.
A Journal reporter called upon the
lady in her busy little factory near
Houston street in the Bowery, and
found her to be a progressing, bright
little woman with a keen eye to bust
ness and a thorough knowledge of the
wants of her customers. An entire
floor constitutes the establishment of
the "memorial Artist" as she calls
herself. The front r ION comprises a
factory; the second room serves as a
sample room; the rear room is fitted
up as an office. The "factoIy" was
filled with long strips of picture
molding. Boxes Of glass were placed
against the sides of the wall. In the
center of the room several young
girls were seated at long tables lin sh-
ing the frames, mortising the
and FASTING the backs.
al employ over a dozen hands the
year round said the memorial artist,
land sometimes more. My Wages
bill amounts to nearly 5000 a week,
and doesn't include commissions to
agents. Everything here is produced
by machinery"
"Including the poetry" suggested
the reporter.
The satire failed to strike. "Oh,
dear, no. l never heard of poetry
being made by machinery. L pay
literally for the verses, which are sup
piled by a clever young man who
writes advertisements for q large
clothing house."
"And how do you succeed?
"Well, l can't complain. You see
the death rate in New York is very
high, and just about this eason of the
year and during the fall L am very
busy. l have branches also in Gin
cinnati which my husband manages,
and think of opening another in st.
Louis"
"What cities have the highest death
rateP'
New York, Cincinnati, st. Louis,
New Orleans and Chicago" and she
ratified them off with the gibness of a
schoolgirl at annual examination.
"And how does the memorial artist
conduct her business?'
"Well, I'll tell you. Lieut. out every
morning the list OF deaths from the
papers, select a number of names and
send out my agents to canvass the
bereaved families with memorials. If
you will step this way I'll show you
how it is done"
The lady led the way into the sample
room, a neatly furnished apartment,
upon the walls of which were sus-
pended a number of frames" con-
tanning artificial wreaths and wax
flowers of various kinds. In the center
a black space filled in with gold letter
ing set forth the virtues of the de-
ceased in obituary verse. A blank
above and another below the verses
served as the spot in which the name
and the age of the defunct party was
to be filled in.
The frames were very tasteful and
the general effect was, to say the least,
artistic. Some wreaths were made of
ivy, others of white roses, another of
lilies and so on. In the back room
the Office which was carpeted and
provided with desks, sat three young
men entering names into a book,
arranging for the next days canvass
Several columns of death notices lay
upon the table, ready for cutting and
FASTING into a reference and order
book.
GLOW many people die daily in New
York" asked the reporter.
Il can't tell you exactly, because
my business is not confined to New
York alone. 1t includes Brooklyn,
Staten Island, Jersey City, Hoboken
and even more remote distances"
"And what do these pretty things
cost?"
"From three to twenty dollars. ac-
cording to the time, labor and quality.
Most of my business is conducted on
the installment plan. A party orders
a memorial. say for so or SIS, and
pays one-third of the price down, the
balance in i~nstallments from twenty
five cents to 81 IA week, according to
their means"
"Do you incur many bal debts?"
"No, 1 can't complain on that a.
count; poor people look uoop a Debt
of this kind in the light of a sacred
obligation. Beside, a large part of
my business comes to me from Gus
toners who recommend their friends,
A couple of months agD sent several
memorials to Cincinnati t. people who
had lost relatives by the floods"
Are your customers very critical as
regards the poetry?"
81 find that some prefer to ust
their own conn o'itions, and when this
is done l usually deduct something
from the price of the memorial. But
this only applies to very few. Per
hams ,.,,n wOuld like IN read soma Ot