The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1884-02-21
our LONDON L. TER,
ART CRITICS,
THE OLD WOHaE Or Shirley.
From 5elgravia to Dsthne..g een.-
From Fifth Ev nue. TO fifa Points.

| RulSilcu 1UttilSctusi dutFf1IflCS III
England, is the lowest DEPTH so'wiiic.I
Il man can descend. This In a hard
saying, but the arrangements Of the
Royal academy do nothing to aid the
art critic is his efforts to rise from
! his lovely estate. A crowd of educat-
| ed ladies' and gentlemen are allowed
some eight hours, ut the Press view
in which to study and appreciate
about ten Thousand works of art.
when the reports Of these hasty spies
| into the promised Land of Beauty are
printed, we find that critics disagree, ,
| and no wonder, about the most ordi-
nary matters OF fact. Take Mr.
Orchardson' $ fine picture of ..VOltaire
at the Due de Sulli's." at the exhibi-
| tion last year. The Times finds vast
| variety of expression in the faces Of
| the guests. Two other free and inda4
pendent critics find no variety at all.
In Mr.. Dickse' Five Virgins" tn,
| critics were actually not ut one rs to
| whether these poor young women are
"wise or foolish" maidens. No two<
are unanimous about Mr.. Millais'
"Grey Lady Is she a ghost, is She
somnambulist, is she psychical re.
searcher, or is she cher frolic grace.
Fitz Fulke." It must be irritating
to artists to have their points mis-
understood but in the hurry of II
Press view, t.ere is little time for
close inspection Or serious speculatioH
over enigmas in oil coiors.
4 grievous disappointment has beer
the lot Of the amateurs Of. and the
dealers in, ceramic works in the nid-
land. For long time past there had
lived in an humble little co.tage at
Shirly, near Birmingham, very an
cient dame named Woodbridge. Her
habits were those of recluse she
was known to be extremely pars;-
moniors; it was currently reported
among her neighbors not only that
the old lady WAS worth the convene
ticnal ''mint of money" but that she
was also the possessor of some very
"rare old china" They are very
curious about .'rare old china in the
midlands. and justifably proud of the
fact that that region is the cradle of
the English pottery manufacture. 1t
was observed that when the oil
woman took a walk into Birmingham
or elsewhere she usually carried with
her covered basket which contained. i.
it was believed, the ''prime pieces"
among her precious pottery ; and, in
deed she was herself accustomed tU
drop mysterious hints touching the
great value of her fctile treasures.
Thus when, few days since, Mrs.
Woodbridge died, and the contents
of the basket were offered for saie,
the famous rare old china turned oIs
to be basketful of very rubishing
crockery ware. and brought only half
a crown under the hammer" A pianv
of the make of 1870 sold for two and
six rcnce. Two other most interest
ing "curios" went ludicrously cheap
at this disappointing sale.
A couple of old bonnets which the
old woman was accustomed TO wear.
were found TO he composed entirely
of post cards addressed to herself ami
stitched together three deep. Now
these post card bOnnets ought cer-
tainly to have fetched ''fancv"
price, if only fer the sake of the in
genuity displayed in employing such
material in the construction of
bonnet at all. This wonderful old
woman of ShirIy, inflexible in her
adherence to the maxim of waste
not want not" made her bonnetS for
herself, and from fabric that had
cost her nothing, and defied the mill
liner and all her works. The old
woman might have worn, had it so
pleased her, as grand bonnet as ever
came out of Regent street or the Rue
de la Paix. She was wealthy. She
left eleven hundred pounds in local
bank, was the owner of several houses
at West Browmwich. and of farm
worth two thousand pounds at War
ley. 1t is commonly said, writes
the old theologian Willet. .'that II
hog is good for nothing while he is
alive not good to bear or carry, as
the horse; nor to clothe, as the sheep;
nor to draw. as the OK; nor to give
milk, as the COW; nor to keep house.
as the dog. So covetous rich man.
like hog. doth no good with his
riches while he livith but when he
is dead his riches come to be disposed
Of" The same in degree. may be
said of the pitiably penurious woman
who has just died at Shirley. Whils
she lived she does not appear to have
was certainly of no good to herself.
But being dead, her boarded up money
may benefit somebody. 1t is only to
be hoped that she has not died iates-
tate in which case her wealth would
be swept into the Golfers of the state.
Mr.. Bright once exclaimed, lit is
a long way from Belgraviato to Bethnal-
green" The English can at any rate
solace themselves with the thought
that it is still longer way from Fifth
avenue to :he Five Points. the low
est and most unsavory district OF
New York. That the levelling aud
assim ilating influences of Democracy
have no power to bring the rich ami
poor closer together is abundantly
by the existing condi-
tions of society in the United States.
Forty years ago Charles Dickens
wrote TO his frisnd John Forster,
from Boston. in these words. ''tifers
is not man in this town, or In this
state, or in any other town, or in any
other state, who has not blazing
fire and meat dinner every day of his
life, nor would flaming sword in the
air attract so much attention as n
USKSdI III tuo OliSSts hC ifut't
times that America experienced from
1874 to 1870 changed all of this, amt
the mendicants and sturdy tramIsr
can be found from Maine to Texas.
Lord Macanly. in letter written TO
Mr.. Randall, the biographer CT Jeffer-
son. predicted the probable advent
..in the course of the next century, if
not in this" Of an insurrection of the
poor against the rich. (The Pitts
burg and Maryland riots partially
fulfill this prediction.l After remark
ing, that he had himself seen Eng.
land safely emerge from three or
four critical seasons Of this kind, he
pcrtinentIy asked his American COR
respondent. ..How will your country
pass through them when your time
c0mese' and in the face Of the evil
dent tendency to monopolies in the
present day, and tho accommodating of
colossal fortunes, it Is very serious
enk so ~ ~ouAS10r