, 1884-09-10
ARTISTIC PIPES.
An Old Man Who Styles Himself
IAN Artist in Meerschaum."
Modelling a Pipe Amer ths Portrait OF
a Reauty-Whers Ia stun
Comes F-rona-cOun-
terfefts.


- a.
tChIcago Herald
In one OF the rear rooms on tho top door Of
n tall building on Clark stTest id fro1l early
morning until way Into the lonely hours of
this night a cramped Hh1s manwith a weaEsn
: lace, sIing out at best precarious existence
by shaping a white, chnlky substance into
beautiful li.tlo works OF art A boy Is that
mans only companion, for customers are like
angels vislta, few and lar between. He has
grown monosyllabiu In his utterances bscanse
his TRADE Is Of tho coufcmpladve sort and
the direction he gives to the youthful apprsn-
tieo are Of the slmplest kind. The man y a
meerschaum cutter, or. as hs styles himself
with some justification, fan artist in meer-
schaum-
AYou see, said the dried-up little mar IN a
plaintive voice, "there Is such an oyer-pro-
duction Of meerohaum pipes and cigar-hold-
ers that we could have no chance 10 earn a
living weru 1t not for the fact that smokers
who can afford the genuine article have fan
cies FOR special designs which they cannot
purchase in the stores. These designs aro ex-
ecuted by US, and that kind OF work a
The regular trade would not be- sufficient to
nuke a living. For this pipe, for instance, l
will get $50 after / havs Il finished Here
the artist produced an unfinished BOW OF
"A Pipe which showed IA rough out
lines tho head and bust OF n woman. II
shape II after the PICTURE be continued,
producing a finely executed miniature OF a
beautiful girl painted on an ivory plaque OF
about the size OF II silver dollar. ~The man
h brought IL hero nsled mo In rnther short
styis whether l could cut that out and
when ! faid Yes he said, Make your own
prics.' He never finched when l faid that
It would co4t $50. All he answered was;
Go ahead That man" concluded the artist.
with n melancholy air, has perhaps been
Tilted by tho fair one; perhaps sho died, and
now he wants TO solace himself by smoking
out Of her beautiful, rounded FORM
Are there any special preferences in no
gard 10 desinnsf' queried the reporter.
YES, rather. Hero in the west buffalo
heads and Indians are mostly called for. I
worked FOR a lumber OF years In New York
and carved nothing but female headE Down
south they want horses, and In Europe the
heads OF noted soldiers and statesmen nrc
moked brown. The passionate smoker Of
meersohaun, however, prefers a straight
bowl, because It colos better and Is not 50
liable to breafaee. I can't smoke hero be-
Gauss II would discolor my goods, but at
home I would not smoke anything but meer-
schaum. A plpo OF the genuine
material grows TO be IA maIfH best
and truest friend. and no ioaves
Il With words OF tenier recoi-
lection TO heirs / smoke a pipe which Il
known 10 30 l02 years cid. 1t has been
smoked during the days OF the frst Napoleon
at many a cnu,p-Hrc, and It's cheerful glow
has helped my father over many weary hour
IN a Prussisn fortress, In the dungeon Of
which ho was oonfnei for years Tor his par
ticipation In the break OF liberty In 4S. !
have smoked it on the deck of an IMMIGRANT
shin. dreaming OF n bright futurs In this
land Of promise. and now l smoke II, think
ing Of the smallness Of life. and OF all the
miserable clay and briar pipes which take
away a mans bread. There are altogether
too many corn cobs In this country he con
cluded with "a deep sigh. aag.
In one corner OF the room stood a cass Of
about three feet in length and twelve inches
In width and height. 1t contained meer
schsum that had been dug out Of the bowels
OF Mount Olympus in the L~evant-plastic
lumrs which were curve and uniform and
wonderfully smooth.
II had to scrape together tho snare nennies
for years. remarked the artist, following the
reporters glance with a loving look at the
rough box OF cedar wood; Hyes, air. for
vOars. TO have tho satisfaction OF being able
to buy a box Of the undefled material.
| paid $3.50 for It, and made a
good bargain, considering the fact
that l did not know what / would
get. You see, the buyer Is altogether at the
mercy Of the seller. He orders a box Of the
best quality and the only condition over
which no has control Is that the pieces shall
not be below a certain size. There are from
Ave TO six Prides Of what Is known as the
best meerschHum. and a box like that In the
corner sells as high as 5000. It is not sold by
weight. but by the size OF the humps The
uniformity OF the latter which you have
noticed, Is caused by the freeing Of the
meerschaum from associate materials. prln
cipaliy serpentine, and by cutting 1t into
blocks to suit the share Of the ordinary
Turkdsh bowl"
is there any popular tot for the genuine
Ness OF m~eersrhaumf' asked the reporter.
~None whatever" replied the artist aThe
old story about genuine meerchAum when
heated admitting OF a fns needle TO be passed
through IL is like many Of the old stories
pure fc ion. The worker In meerschaum
knows b. inspection, weight and appearance
whether be has the genuine article, and he is
10 the smoker the same as the seller is to the
cutter-thc smoker has to trust TO the hon.
esty cf the seller. Tn very light qualities
arc too porous 10 give a nice color, even Il
set In wax In tho most approved manner
and The hcaviest qualities are rejected
becaus- there Il a possibility that
they are artificial stuff. The latter
is make from the parines OF the gen
uine, from hardened plaster Of Paris, which
Is treated with p~aratiin and colored by gam
boge, and from a peculiar preparation into
which potatoel largely enter. strikingly
good artificial meerscaum IA made in France
by mixing atty parts OF silica aud twenty.
five Of magno'ia with twenty-five parts Of
water. These are said to DO the component;
parts II the genuine article. When the lat
ter is dug up it Is soft and fathers like soar
/ have been told hat Is used by the Tartar
70 wash their dirty linen, but l do not believe
that, because meerschaum Is too noble a ma.
terial. and then l don't think that Tartar