The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1883-12-29

something, But a relic is almost
always worthless fragment. II
Is the thing from which the relic ia
taken, not the relic itself, which is in.
teresting. The genuine relic hunters,
though, are worth knowing; funniest
chaps you ever saw. They're race OF
beings by themselves. The man who
sent these things here for me to buy
says he's got feven boxes more of the
same sort, the collection of q lifetime.
Look at this chip, marked, "Piece OF
the first sleeper laid for the Hudson
River Railroad On the mans list il
Is entered, Bought 1880 cents. Il
1t may be genuine-that is, if the COM
pany used elm wood for their road-but
ii this chip is worth 30 cents, the whole
sleeper must be worth several hundred
dollars, and the company ought to saw
it up and sell 1t. There's no logic in a
relic hunter. The one who travelled
all over the world and brought back
several trunks full of noses broken off
from ancient statues, had a definite
idea. His followers are curiously diIu-
ted specimens OF their predecessor.
'Some of them, however, have spe-
cialties not unlike that OF the nose
breaker. One of the liveliest of the
relic men collected the hats OF celeb
rites. 1 don't believe he would have
given dollar for Napoleon's grey ever
coat; but the hat of President of the
United States had for him an almost
4 priceless value. IL necessary, he was
was ready to suborn great mans SER
wants to get the wished for article.
Some years ago L saw his collection.
His finest specimens were at that time
placed upon the heads of plaster busts,
and arranged in long rows. He after
wards discarded this mode OF arrange
ment, owing to the singular discrepan-
cies which often existed between the
sire OF the two articles. He told me
that he had tried scraping down the
busts, which were generally much
larger than the hats, but the result
was to give peculiar appearance 10
his collection. One or two of his hats,
notably that of Thomas II. Benton,
were so small as to create doubt in
my mind as to their authenticity.
learned afterwards that hotel servants
and others used to palm off their own
nhbS UPON bue cOllecDOr.
One of the greatest troubles with
relics is that they seldom bear the
least evidence within themselves of
their genuineness. have seen IN my
day several hundreds of the pens with
which Walter Scott wrote WuverIy,
and in the old country Bobby Burns
drinking glass might almost be called
staple article of commerce. When
my poor father first took me into
business he gave me an awful talking
to because bought three locks of
Byron's hair from relic collector,
although L only paid sixpence for the
three. The trouble was they were all
of different shades. Poe's hair used
to be sold largely, but you can't dis
pose OF it now unless you mount it
very expensively in old gold; it takes
best IN mourning rings or pins. There
was SO much OF Poe's hair sold that
the relic trade IN hair has suffered
ever SINCE. There was q time when
hair relic-hunter would make an eff
fort to secure lock from the head OF
a great man, even if the latter died as
bald as the American eagle.
"Bless me, if here isn't one OF the
twenty-five million canes that have been
turned out OF the Mount Vernon man.
ufactory. 1t is marked From the
grave OF WoshingtonP And this fellow
wants 50 Ior it. What's this2 From
the Colosseum, Rome How's that for
a rock? Here's a rag from the dress of
Marie Antoinette as she was being led
to execution, and this hard looking nap.
kin in glass case is marked dipped In
the blood of Lady Jane Grey. executed
in the Tower of London, August %,
1862 Value So, 1 sec. Now, sir. ii
you'll Just take a look at that pile over
there, which l haven't examined yet,
you'll see glass tube, sealed at both
end', and containing a burnt stick.
Wait minute and I'll tell you what it
is without reading the label. It's
piece of charred fagot found ON the
spot where Joan of Arc was burned
Ahl thought so; I've seen cords of
them In my day. This Is the most
precious lot of played.out relics I've
seen for some time. Yet there are poo
pie in tins city who are looking for Just
such arucles. ard will pay heavily for
them.
"Many relic hunters go in only for
mementoes, and a precious lot OF rub
bish these mementoes almost always
are. Ii man has fancy to gather a
flower from the grave of Keats, in
Rome, or a few leaves from Dryburgh
Abbey, and make up little album, il
is well enough. But an idiot who goes
around with a hammer clipping off
pieces OF famous bridges or churches,
and even grayestones, ought to be sent
to iunatic asylum. l know man who
has collection of bricks. Some one
gave him a Babylonian brick one day,
and it set hum crazy. The second b!ick
came from the Old South Church, in
Boston, and the third from Indepen-
dence Hall, Philadelphia. He picked
up enough of them in Rome to build
chimney with. Two years ago he got
into trouble in Pompeii for taking some
rubbish from there; but when the au-
thoriues found he only wanted a brick
or two and was willing to pay well, they
settled amicably. He always carries a
heavy steel-bound trunk with him, aud
he and his peculiar curiositles have
caused much anxiety among Custom
L
House officers. he told me the other
day, with great solemnity, that two of
his valuable bricks had been broken by
an inspector. Ole was from the Col
umn of Traian. and the other from the
fine old Roman triumphal arch in Mar.
seiiles. He used to hire men to pull
them out for him while he remained in
a doorway at convenient distance.
By the way. the old gentleman lost
box of fue old bricks year ago; it was
thrown overheard by some sailors, who
thought it was dynamite. Itseesns that
a stowaway had screwed the cover off
in the belief that it contained gold. He
then made confdant of one of the
sailors and persuaded them that it was
an explosive. They promised him food
for the voyage II he woull throw the
/ hpsta be int