Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-09-29
BEAUTIFUL BUTTONS.
A Harlem Woman's Wonderful and
Interesting Collection.

A Harlem Woman's Wonderful ant
Interesting Collection.
A lady In Harlem has spent twenty
years in stringing together eight thou
sand beautiful buttons, and no tw,
alike. Some of them have been brought
half around the earth by sea captains
Some have come from old wars, anC
famous battle-fields; some from the
Orient, and some from the Occident
some from gold mines and poor-houses,
from snug country houses and from ship
wrecks; some are just from the button
counter, and some are dignified old but
tons, which have survived from pre-
vious century, and now hold sinecurt
positions on Mrs. Harris button-string
The buttons are almost infinite in
kind. The lady who collected the 5000
says that she never goes out shopping
without seeing buttons she had never
seen before. \ new button stares al
her from every shop window and meets
her in every bazaar. When she began
to collect them there were people who
thought that there were not more than
world, and it was on a wager of this
kind that she began her labors.
The more buttons she obtained the
harder it was % get button unlike any
she already possessed Any new button
she acquired had to be unlike any of the
five thousand buttons she had. She
moved to New Y York at the end of her
four years' button hunt in Maine, and
in sixteen years of residence in the me-
tropolis she added three thousand new
buttons to her collection.
The marvellous collection of buttons,
which is the largest in the world, was
brought into the parlor of Mrs. ii. {.
Harris residence for reporter TO Won
der at. Many of them were beautiful
IN design, and many were brilliant in
color. There were eight strings, one
thousand buttons on string. They
were eight garlands of buttons.
Mrs. Harris, who knew the most III
significant button in the eight thousand,
picked up one of the strings and pointed
out button that had been worn by a
soldier Of Napoleon's army, perhaps Oh
the retreat from Moscow or in the last
charge at Waterloo. There was big,
flat, circular brass button almost as
large as a trade dollar that had been
worn by 4 soldier of Washington S
army in the American Revolution;
another was brass button worn by a
soldier of the War of 1872.
Then there were three Confederate
brass buttons that had been worn by
three soldiers in different arms of the
Confederate service, \ fourth Confed-
crate military button had been worn by
a soldier of South Carolina regiment,
and had on it in bas-relief palmetto
tree and the coat of arms Of South Caro-
lima. \ fifth Confederate military but
ton had been Worn bya soldier of Vir-
ginia regiment, and had on it the coat Of
arms of Virginia, with the words: ''Sic
Semper TyranniS.
There was brass button of the Aus
trian army. M5th the Austrian eagle; a
brass button OF the English army, with
4 crown at the top and three cannons,
one above the other, below it, and 4
military brass button of the Republic OF
Hayti, which, perhaps, some great Hay
tian Major-General had worn.
Then camea great many national but
tons, among which was an Irish button
with the Shamrock, and Scotch but
ton with a Thistle, and an antique Mas
sachusetts button with pine tree, and
another antique Massachusetts, button
made of copper, silver coated, with the
word Commonwealth and an Indian with
long bow, and a brass button from
Spain, and n button from California,
and buttons from Japan.
There was an insignificant little but
ton, with bit of blue glass in its CEN
ter, which had been picked up on the
Maine coast after British steamship
went down there some time during our
war, carrying sixty people with her.
There was smart little button with the
Prince of Wales triple white feathers,
and big plain wooden button that had
been worn by a Massachusetts, pauper in
a Massachusetts poor-house.
On one button chicken was floating
down a river ON wooden shoe under
blue sky. On another a covy of par
tridges were feeding. \ third repre-
sented huntsman holding hounds IN
leash. Another button represented a
japanese house and native japanese
walking through the fields under his
\ very interesting button OF
a bright gold color showed the obelisk,
the sphynx and the pyramids of the Nile.
There was button of mOther-of-pearl
bearing a fine eagles head IN
bronze, a mother-of-pearl button with
perfect bronze serpent, Il mother-of-pearl
button that reflected all the colors OF the
rainbow and brass button bearing
crescent and a star.
Besides these there were buttons bear
ing in bas-relief the heads of horses,
foxes, greyhounds, bears. wolves, wild
bJars, stays, deers, butterflies, mosqul-
toes. flies, and others that bore leaves
and crosses. A big round rubber but
ton bore the simple and handsome de-
sign of a sickle and a sheaf.
Many large round medallion buttons
bore classical heads in helmets. Some
had figures that looked like pieces of
sculpture. One button showed castle 1
with towers, and draw-brldges, and
and trees, and foliage. An
other large round button was pure White
ylass. like the glass in shop-windows, and
it was qnite handsome.
Mrs. Harris has arranged hfty-hye
buttons of various beautiful and delicate
tints on card. and they are so beauti-
ful to the eve that they would be val
nable article of brie-a-brac in any house
i'm the world.