Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-05-29
oLp-sryLg saIc-A-ssAc. rr
Chromos, Machinery, and New-Fanelcd
Notions Have Spoiled tho Market
NEW York Sun


Notions Have Spoiled tho Market.
New York SUM-
'The business is about as dead as |
am, said white-haired dealer in old
style brio-a-brac Tho place was a
second floor front, used as both store
and living-room. Fifty years ago there
was lots of money in it, but there's none
now. We can't compete with machinery
and new-fangled notions. Here's a
samplar, appropriately framed. The
field is white silk, and on it is worked
in black silk floss tomb,
willow, and a bereaved husband.
You see the inscription is worked
with II coarser and looser stitch
than all the rest. That enables the
owner to pick it out and have some
other name inserted. 1t used to take
three weeks hard work by first-rate
sewing woman to make one, and it
would fetch from SO to $50, according
to the fneness. Sometimes husband
would have an elegant mortuary,' as
we call this sort of a thing, made from
his deceased wife's hair. On cardboard
it didn't cost much, but on silk 1t was
expensive. How did we make the hairs
lie hat2 We soaked them in hot water,
and ironed the whole thing with very
hot, heavy fatiron. The samplar |
showed you ! sold in 1S42 for $50. l
bought it back at an auction last week
for a half dollar, and was the only
bidder.
'Sonth 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 25 cents to 81 piece.
To-day you can have that case there,
containing $50 good ones, for $50, case
and all, and the case cost $12.
''Corals were all the go in the old
times. The heightened folks wanted
skeleton coral, because they thought it
grew that way. But it didn't. We'd
take branch of cheap coral and put il
in pan or trough and cover it with
water in which we'd put little muriatic
acid. At the end of a week all the lime
would be dissolved out and only the
skeleton was left. It looked just
like big cobweb. We'd leave
it white or stain it red with
cochineal, dry it, and mount
it in glass case. The wives of old sea
captains and shipping merchants were
our best customers. Another popular
class of ornaments were carved ivory
and ebony articles from China anC
Japan. These costs then, as now, .
good deal in the east and were very ex
pensive. One had was carved ebony
box, which contained another, and sc
on to twenty boxes. The last one hac
inside four or five little men and women
not much bigger than beans, but beau
tifully carved. The late Sam Bradford
Fales had number Of them in hi
collectionsin Philadelphia, and l believe
there are samples in the Barlow, Gar
rett, Packer and Green collections. But
never see them nowadays.
Then there were the relics: Pieces o
wood from the favorite war ships o
America and England, and bullets, bay
onets, and pieces of shot and shell from
famous battlefelds. These paid we'll
because we could always make 'em whel
we didn't have then on hand. The de
mand for them is not quite dead yet
Then, in the old days, people liked hor
rorx to ornament their parlors with
tbs ropes with which criminals wer
hung, the knives and pistols wit
which murders were committed, ant
the jimmies and picklocks of celebrates
thieves. Women were lust as crazy TO
such things as men, and paid very higl
prices, for those times, for some partio
ularly bad weapon. But there's no us
of complaining. Chromos, moderl
brie-a- brio, and domestic art have kille
my business forever, and there's an en'
to it,"