The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-11-06
A Hopeful China Merchant.

The show windows in a store in Park
place, kept by q dealer in glassware,
have presented a variegated appear
ance of late. Goblets, designed for the
most innocent purposes in the world,
have appeared in such warlike hues as
green, blue, red, purple, yellow, pink,
orange, ecru, brown, gold, saffron,
lilac and lavender, while a few stand
brazen forth in piratical black. Wine
glasses, tumblers. cruet bottles, finger
bowls and pepper and salt sprinklers
appeared in prominent positions in I'M
wonted colors. Time was only a few
months ago, when a ~passer-by could
look through the window for a week
and see nothing but the purest crystal.
some of which was cut in artistic
fashion, but bearing on the face the
stamp of plain household ware. A
little man who seemed to own the store
expressed his willingness to tell the
reporter all about the change.
"'The fashion in furniture, dress and
turnouts change with the seasons" he
said land nobody wonders at it. A
healthy person enjoys nothing so much
as a well-supplied and well-appointed
dining-room. A hundred years ago no
one who respected himself would think
of eating of a plate unless there was a
blue or red devil, a dragon, or some
wild or beast painted on it
in hideous shape. He wanted to get
his sugar out of a bowl covered all
over with painted insects, his butter
from a dish decorated with rural
scenes, his bread from a platter, con-
tanning the figure of a~perspiring yokel,
and he wosidn't care for his coffee
unless it was in a cup splashed
with mill-ponds and swamps. As civil
lization advanced, these things receded
into obscurity, and the plainest of
white china appeared in their place.
This kind of ware has carried all before
it for a long time, and nobody was
brave enough to attempt anything new.
We finally decided to attempt a little
fancy business in glassware, and we
sent some very prettily-tinted tumblers
afoat. Orders began coming in, and
now the only thing that troubles us is
the lack of colors and tints. Everybody
wants something purely original and
grotesque. Large liquor dealers took
to the new idea first, and to keep the
business rolling we began furnishing
them with the thinnest glass we could
find. The glass is a boon to us. 1t is
easily colored, and twice as easily
broken as the more sturdy ware for
merly used. A careless bartender or
servant will smash two or three dol
lars worth in a week. This will call
forth another order, and if more or less
profanity accompanies it we are not
responsible for that. Well, as / was
saying, the fashion has grown so that
nearly every family of any consequence
in the city has nor or less tinted
glassware. 1t is very pretty to look at.
Children adore il because when they
hold it before their eyes the whole world
changes her garb. Children will be
careless, you know, and break a great
many of the articles. Children are q
great blessing. After the public mind
is warped sufficiently, we are going to
try to ring in some tinted chinaware Of
a very frail and beautiful pattern.
Take it all in all, l think that the out
look for this business is growing more
hopeful every day ew York Sun.