Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-07
THE ARTIST IN BLACKING.
His Views of Noted Men who Have Sat
in His Chair-BOOtblacks Studies of
Character.
Boston Globe.

Boston Globe.
eyes, sorr, black a good MANY great
mems boots IN year, the sturdy
Hibernian remarked, as he attacked the
mud decoration of the reporters shoes in
a popular caravansary the other day
do you remember any of their names ~
"Oh, yes, indade, l do Among thin
wuz John Mccullough, Joseph Cook, Eli
Perkins an anither Ov them funny men.
Mr.. Nasty"
''Oh, you mean Petroleum V. Nasty"
''YIs, thot's the mon. Then Their wuz
Henry Ward Beecher, an RascOe Conk-
ling an Nenner, the weather indicator -
(Which of these gentlemen paid you the
largest fee?"
Il think it wuz Mr.. Mccullough. He's
toine mon is Mr.. Mccullough"
''And which gentleman happened to be
out of change, beyond your regular price p
I'm faith, 1t amt roight to divulge the
sacrets of me profession
The artist paused a moment. affecting
to be somewhat confused, and then said,
in a low, conciliatOry voice:
Il think Mr.. Cook it wuz that wuz out
of change; but, mOind, l may be mis-
taken"
What class of people usually pay the
highest for a shine?'
well, it be ginerally the young man
wisitin' the city for the first time wild
plenty of money. The swills wild Their lie
CANT clothes don't care for a quarter.
An the men jist elected to Congress feel
good"
Gould you say who among your patrons
wear the most expensive shOesr'
''The actors, sOrr; but Mr.. Mccullough
wears a common, livery day SHOE"
'Do you meet many cranks in the bust
ness ~
"An' what do you name by cranks?v
H.
dissatisfied with your work; i'll some in
stances, perhaps, to beat you down to a
nickelY
ooh, yis; / mate thin kind of folks.
Their wuz clergymon from New Jersey
stopping here awhile ago, am he SADIE l
charged i'm too mooch for shine"
Gay long wild yez,' says /.
"'Yez should do thy work little less
for ministers of the Gospel says he.
"'To the divil wild yez,' says /. He
niver showed up agin in me chair. He
must ha got boy somewhere to shine
his boots.'
At sumptuous hotel in the Back Bay
an American artist stated that he ma
nipulated about fifty pairs of shoes day.
1.-The first realty great man that 1 ever
remember of giving a shine to was HOr-
ace Greeley. He had heavy box-toed
shoe on one foot and a fine calf boot on
warmth produced by the rapid friction of
the brushes. When Oscar Wilde was
staying here / used to go to his room every
morning to give him a shine. Oscar was
suffering from a large corn on the side of
his left foot near the little toe. and | had
to be terribly careful around that cOrh.
Once L touched it and he jumped up from
his seat and called me a 'wretched Yam
kee." | tried to get him to leave his shoes
out in the hall at night, but he said it was
an abOminable custom, and that he
couldn't be hired to do anything of the
kind.o
"What shaped shoe can you give the
best polishY'
1T isn't the shape of the shoe, but the
quality of the leather it is made of that
we care about, though, as for shape, give
me fairly long foot, with enough meat
in it to give full, smooth, unWrinkled
surface. Gen. Grant has got about the
proper caper of foot. Most any sort of
boot will fit it."
"Are your famous customers amiable
as a class?'
Eyes, sir. The most reticent of the
well-known people are the lawyers. They
are close-mouthed and preoccupied. 4
number of them have habit of talking or
muttering to themselves, and sometimes
they gesticulate as if addressing a Jury.
But literary men are the most lOquacious
of them all. Mark Twain likes to inter
view the man who blacks his boots-pro-
badly to enlarge his range of character.
Edgar Fawcett likes to Joke or chaff us,
and Matthew Arnold always preached us
a Sermon