The Portland daily press., 1884-03-25
Our Boston Letter.


The New Food Di.pensasioB.-H-alth and
Happiness Eta small Cost. Fashion TO the
fore George Fuller, his paintings and
the Lesson of his Life.-J. Il. Trow
bridges Sorrow and Genius.
BesToN, March %.
In the midst OF the Lenten feast and fast
where the high livers invoke the aid of the
Parloa cooks to carry them through the Lenten
Fridays one hears the rumor of the new dispen-
saton of food, which if adopted by many peo-
pie will work new dispensation in the cost
of living perhaps This Iumor is of and con-
corning the whole wheat -four commodity and
indeed the entire line of cereals. Yesterday
went round my Beck Bay corner, to make
call upon Back Bay dame whose dinners
and lunches are triumphs of culinary art.
found her q convert to the whole wheat busi-
ness. She has not yet brought her family of
masculine creatures round to her conversion.
and she confesses herself as yet indulging In
the varied pleasures of the table, but il is
against her new belief and she talks eloquent
ly Of the i'll effects of the old variety and the
benefits OF the new, and told me fact Of cure
from all sorts of organic troable which had af-
fiic ted near relative. opened my eyes at
first, perhaps little superciliously, remember
Ing the ost meal furore and all tine bran bust
ness that people get SO tired Of; but as lis
tened to my hostess who hasn't an atom of ia
naticism, and no exaggerating Imagination, /
| b4eaaae impressed with her facts at least, and
went cut of the house with bee in my bonnet.
Coming upon another lady VINO has been noted
for her elaborate table. found that the new
dspensaiion had another convert to its princi-
pies, aud was emphatcally told that the whole
wheat was not creeping but rushing into favor
"And If it goes on, think of the difference in
our expenses" wound up my lady number
two. Down on fremont street close by the
publishers, j. r. Osgood Il Co., there is
modest little shop where they sell all this
healthy food in little sample packages of
pound or so. When, after my conversation
with my Back Bay dame, 1 made some inqui-
ries concerning this shop, discovered that
there is big enough business connected with
1t to send out one If not more large 'teams."
don't recall the name of the firm and If did
might not give il as I'm not writing an ad-
vertisement or favoring any special buying and
selling; I'm only telling the story of the quiet
yet extraordinary growth of this health food
dispeDsation, which has received it's final inn
petas recently from some of the doctors. The
market men are not, / think, 10 any
special danger of collapsiug from any
sudden downfall of their business, but
when the fashion folk and the high
livers begin to question their appetites and
the state Of their stomachs, it looks as If there
was q reform coming in. the right direction
which may in aome future day reduce the cost of
all fsod. But cynical friend suggests that what
a woman saves on her table she will put on
her back. This does not hart the digestion, or
touch the food question, and any way there is
no doubt that the pampered sppetites that have
become iaded with ''the sugar and spice and
all that's NICE" of their daily living, will
have chance of getting into healthier con-
dition, If the health food following increases
All the art world is mourning to-day over
the death of George Fallsr. 1t was very sud-
den-one of those subtle attacks OF pueumo-
mia which ended fatally before danger was
scarcely apprehended. So many people fud
have thought George Fuller young man. 1t
was not strange for it is only within about
three years that his great saccess began, and
yet he was trained artist, beginning at twen-
ty years of age in the studio of III. R. Brown AT
Albany, n Y. He painted portraits after this
for two or three years in country towns, then
settled in Boston and studied the works of Stu
art and Allston and Copley. He received little
or no encouragement here. snd left for New
York city where he worked for twelve years.
In 1859 he went to Europe and studied for
nearly year in the great art centres. Return
ing ne devoted himself to his work for sixteen
years. he then came back to Boston and be-
gan to exhibit his pictures here and in New
York. but not until the "Winifred Dysart' ap.
psared in 1881 did be gain full recognition.
Then all at once people began to talk, to ask
questions, to sound the note of applause. In
one night as 1T were, ne went to bed unknown,
and woke tn find himself famous. Most peo-
ple who visited Boston in 1881 saw the "Wini-
fred Dysart." Once seen it could not be for
gotten; and the fascination of Mr.. Fuller's
style would thereafter cling to the observer
and produce such an impression that It was
not easy TO make mistake in picking out
other work of his in gallery. There has been
an exhibition of his paintings at Williams &
kverett's for the past fortnight. This exhibi-
tim will now no doubt continue for much
longer time. The greatest work in this collec-
ton is the "Arethusa." 1t represents the
Nereid who changed herself into a fountain in
the vain efforts to escape the opportunities of
her lover, Alpheus, who forth with became
river, as celebrated in Shelley's poem.
"Fidalma," the next in this collection, is
the character in George Eliot's Spanish Gyp-
sey. "Nydis" is ont of Bulwef's last Days
Of Pompeii." There was great deal of sharp
and unappreciative criticism, or fauIt-fuding
about this picture when it was first exhibited
at the last exhibition of the Society OF Ameri-
cen Artists. But all the people of fancy and
imagination-in short, Of poetical ideas, ad-
mired it. Mr.. Fuller was essentially an ideal
ist He had thoughts and fancies Of his own
which he embodied upon his canvasses and
these cauvasses are generally allowed by peo-
pie Of ideal tastes to be works of high poetic
genius. The faithfulness with which he fol-
lowed out his idea and ideal all the years that
he sat unrecognized in his studio shows think
the high quality of his genius, which could not
do other than Its own work-that work that ma
ture suggested and inspired. Beginning at
twenty and dying at sixty-two, he had but
three years of full recognition! What lesson
it is to impotence and faltering of any kind.
There is another sudden death, that comes
into the literary instead OF the painters world I
This is the unexpected passing away Of the |
author j. T. Trowbridge's son, young man of |
twenty. of fine promise. He had overworked |
In his studies, and went to Colorado Springs to
recaperste. A sudden cold arrested his preg-
ress Of recovery and in few days terminated
fatally.
Mr.. J. T. Trowbridge is before the public |
now in a novel which is running serialy |
through the new paper, The Beacon. Some of |
my readers may remember OF his earlier |
novels, "Neighbor lakewood" which had be-
lieve, great popularity. read it, rec9llect, |
years ago, and at that time thought it coDvul- |
siugly funny in it's literal Reproduction of New |
England country life. Mr.. Trowbridge is the |
most exact of photographers In his present |
story OF "FsrnelPs Folly" there isn't line, a |
shade IN his characters Municipalities, or per |
sonalities, that doesn't come out to the light OF
day, sharp and distinct. IT the uneasy critic
who is always wailing for the coming Ameri- |