The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1884-12-05
Oddly in Designs.

The demand for bric-a-brac and nov
elites In household decoration appar-
entity does not abate, and there is such
pressure for novelties that designers
in all parts of the world from Boston to
Yokohama are kept busy pushing their
inventiveness to the last degree to turn
out new combinations. Every manu-
facturer who caters to this taste in any
way keeps designer, whose ears are
burdened with the demand for some
thing new. An old shoe or an old hat
give an idea for bon-bon case. Every
animal in the menagerie is employed
by various artisans. Botany, as well
as zoology, Is ransacked for designs,
and all the combinations apparently
possible are made. Nevertheless,
there seems to be no limit to the
fertility of the designers. In refer
ring to this subject "a bric-a-brac dealer,
with an idle quarter of an hour on his
hands, conducted a reporter through
his collection, and as he went along his
counters he said:
There is lamp that has the form
Of white owl. from whose head rises
the stem of an immense rose with close
" folded leaves, which entirely conceal
the globe. There is a stork in flight,
with its wings spread out and its legs
extended. 1t is ornamented, and is to
be suspended from the chandelier by
invisible threads. There is q candle
stick with gold grape leaf for its
base, and with light receiver of crys-
tai painted in gold. There is a work
basket in the form of skiff, and anoth-
er, with a moss-covered top full of arti-
fetal plants, is in the shape of flower
pot There is big elephant of porce-
lain, with an opening in its back for
begonias, and there is a porcelain vase
representing tree trunk overgrown
with climbing plants. There is amir
ror to be bordered with cut flowers,
and to represent miniature lake in
the center of dinner table. That
crystal ball mounted upon spiral Pc
destal is for comfortable ornament to
catch and reflect the light. That glass
screen has, you observe. pond lilies
painted upon it so that they seem to be
floating in water. The curiously-twist-
ed horns in that smoking set come from
Eagle Pass. Tex, and are lambs
horns. The other horns are from the
heads of buffaloes. They are mounted
in Paris and sent back here. That dag
ger is paper-cutter, and its sheath
forms thermometer. That cat is an
inkstand. The head in a faring bon
net is the same. Lift the face, and
there is the ink-well. That gold-num-
bered ship, with silver sails and car
go incased in Austrian glass, is liquor
set. Here is a baby-carriage that rep
resents slipper lined with plush, and
here is another shaped like canoe.
That tree of gold, with a nest for eggs,
is for next Easter. This paper-weight
contains Geneva timepiece. and this
one has a clock on one side, barome-
ter on the other, a thermometer be-
tween, and geographical globe above.
That stork, raising itself within lotus
thicket to seize frog, supports Their
mometer, and that setter dog, with a
bird in his mouth, holds up barome-
ter. This gilded key, with pair OF
brazen dragons in the ring, is a com.
mon and popular fancy for thermom-
eter now. Those three Turkish pipes
form a newspaper rack. Here are de-
signs for open tireplaces. for, after all,
there is no bric-a-brac to compare with
a bright open fire. And so the variety
increases. There is no end to the de-
signs. The designers are chiefly Eu.
ropeans, who are worked at high pres.
sure all the time. "-Neso York San.