The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1885-09-09
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clSrmss Machinery. and New.Fsngled
Notions Have Spoiled she Market

New York sun.
eThe bushes Is about as dead as
am, said d white.hAired dealer IN old.
style bricabrac. The place was q
second door front, used as both store
and living room FIFTY years ago there
was lots of money in Il, but there's none
now Weeant compete with machinery
and now.iangled notions Here's q
samplar, appropriately framed. The
field iswhite silk, and on IL Is worked
in black silk floss q tomb, q
willow, and bereayed husband.
Yon see the inscription Is worked
with coarser and looser stitch
than all the rest That enables tho
owner to pick II out and have some
other name Inserted, It used to take
three weeks hard work by a first-rate
sewing geWoman 70 make one, and 1t
would fetch from s15 to 80, according
to the fneness. Sometimes q husband
would have an elegant mortnary, as
we call tbs sort Of q thing, made from
his deceased wifes hair. On cardboard
II didn't cost much, but on silk it.was
expensive, How did We make the hairs
lie hatl We soaked them in hot water,
and ifole4 the whole thing with'a worry
hot, heavy tiatiton. The SamplRr |
showed you ! sold in 1S4s for $50. I
bought II back at an auction last week
for q half dollar, and / was the only
bidder.
South sea and West India shells and
corals used to sell we'll. They were for
the mantelpiece and for whatnots
Whatnots arc 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
Today you can have that case there,
containing 25D good ones, for SO, case
and all, and the case cost $l2.
x orals were all the 70 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 a little mnriatic
acid. At the enl Of a week all the lime
would be dissolved out and only the
skeleton was left. 1t looked Just
like a big Cobweb. We'd leave
it white or stain II rod with
coChineal, dry it, and mount
1t in q 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 vrry ex.
pensive. One had was a carved ebony
box, which contained another and 50
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, PackCrand Green collections. But
| never SEQ them nowadays.
Then there were tho relics: Pieces OF
wood from the favorite 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.
rcrs to ornament their parlos with
The ropes with which criminals were
hung, the knives and pistols with
which murders we're committed, Fid
the jimmies and picklocks Of celebEIted
thieves Women were ust as crazy for
Duch things as men, and paid very high
prices, for those times, for some partic.
tllarly bal weapon. But there no uso
Of complaining. Chronos, modern
bric.a.bric, and domestic art have killed
my business forever, aud there's an end
to it,"