The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1885-09-02
oLDsnLe salo.A.ssAo q
chrruies aIashlnery. and Nsv.rsngled
Molten. Ilass spoiled .Ao Market

New York Sun,
eThe business Is about as deaA as |
am, said q white.hAired dealer IN old.
style briC'a-brat, The place was q
second door front, used as both store
and liSing-room. FIFTY years ago there
was lots 81 money In II, but theres none
now Weean I compete with machinery
and now.iangled notionA Here's q
samplar, appropriately framed. The
| field Is white sllk, and on II Is worked
in black silk floss q tomb, a
willow, and beteayed husband.
You see the inscription Is worked
with Q coarser and looser stitch
than all The rest That enables tho
owner 10 pick Il out and have some
other name Inserted. It used TO take
three weeks hard work by a iint-rate
seWingeTom 70 make one, and It
would fetch from $15 to go according
to the hneness Sometimes q husband
would haye an elegant mortuary, as
we call tbs sort OF q thing, made from
his deceased wife's hair. On cardboard
II didn't cost much, but on silk It was
expensive How did we make the hairs
he tlatl Wesoaksd them in hot water,
and ifole4 the whole thing with 4 vcty
hot, heavy fatiton. The samplar /
showed you ] sold in 1S4e for $50. /
bought 1t back at an auction last week
for a half dollar, and was the only
bidder.
South sea and West India shells and
corals used to sell well. They were for
the mantelpiece and for whatnots
Whatnots are gone out OF fashion now,
along with what they used to have on
them. Handsome shells would bring in
the old days from - cents to 81 a piece.
To day you can have that case there,
containing s5D good ones, for SO, case
and all, and the case cost $l2.
orals were all the 20 in the old
times. The high.toned folks wanted
skeleton coral, because they thought Is
grew that way. But it didn't We'd
take a branch Of cheap coral and put II
in pan or trough and cover Il with
water in which we'd put little emuriatic
acid. At the enI Of week all the lime
would be dissolved out and only the
skeleton was left. 1t looked Just
like a big cobweb. We'd leave
1t white or stain II rod with
cochineal, dry it, and mount
1t in a glass case. he wives Of old sea
captains and shipping merchants wore
our best customers. Another popular
class Of ornaments were carved ivory
and ebony articles from China and
Japan. These costs then, as now, a
good deal in the east and were worry OK.
pensive One had was q carved ebony
box, which contained another, and so
on to twenty boxes. The last one had
inside four or five little men and women
not much bigger than beans, but beau.
tifully carved, The late sam Bradford
Fales had q number Of them in his
collectionsin Philadelphia, and believe
there are samples in thl Barlow, Gar.
rett, Packer and Green collections, But
never SEQ them nowadays
Then there were tho relics: Pieces OF
wood from tho fayorite war ships OF
America and England, and bullets, bay.
onets, and pieces OF shot and shell from
famous battleGeldS. These paid well,
because we could always make EN- when
we didn't have then on hand. The do.
mand for them is not quite dead yet.
Then, in the old days, people liked hor.
rors to ornament their parlOs with
the ropes with which criminals were
hung, the knives and pistols with
which murders were committed, Fild
the jimmies and picklocks Of celebr<Iei
thieves. Women were ust as crazy for
Duch things as men, and paid very high
prices, for those times, for some partic.
ularly bal weapon. But there no uso
Of complaining. Chronos, modern
bric.a.briC, and domestic art have killed
my business forever, and there's an end
| IN itu