The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-04-08

two, Smelling, his coachman son-in.law,
who is car conductor, is the most
thought of by the majority of decent
men.
Tho Morgan sale showed shoddy at its
best. Here were lot of men who knew
as much about pictures as COW does of
musket or a dog of holiday, but they
had money, lots of it, and they de.ermin-
ed to let the public know it. A little
canvass eight by ten brought $4,000;
one eight by twelve, $4,000 others,
$4,000. The Communicates by Jules
Breton, $4,000. In this particular pic.
ture there was nothing to justify this
frightfully extravagant outlay. 1t con-
tained no great lesson like the cartoons
of Hogarth. 1t reflected no grand scene
of history like the magnificent pictures
of Rubens or Munkasey. 1t told no
solemn event like the imperishable work
of Leonardo de Vinci. There were
dozens Of pictures that brought only
tithe of its cost, which in every thing in
art that goes to make up great picture
infinitely surpassed it. We have two
picture dealers here, William Shause and
MIR. Knodler; what they don't know
about pictures is not worth knowing.
For years past these two industrious
gentlemen have been educating our peo'
pie up to a proper appreciation of art.
They got on the right side of Mr.. Seney,
Mrs. Morgan, A. r. Stewart, Marshall O.
Roberts, William II. Vanderbilt and
dozens of others; and they bagged their
ducats as if they had been cobble stones.
They bought pictures for dollars and sold
them for thousands. Jules Breton's Com
municants brought in Paris 10000 francs,
at the Morgan sale it brought over 2OO,-
900 francs. saw too men there bidding
thousands, and twenty-five years ago
either of them would have been content
with $3.50 chrome, and certainly could
not have told the difference between it
and Jules Breton, De Melville or a
Messonier. Yet, under the able tuition
of these two canny Dutchmen they un-
lock their strong boxes and the Commu'
nicants goes up from $4,000 to s45,5OO.
Hooray for art, hooray for Mrs. Morgan,
hooray for everybody. The pictures
brought nearly million; the loss on the
price paid for them by Mrs. Morgan
being the comfortable sum Of $780, 900.
But while the excitement at the sale Of
the pictures might have been justified by
the unusual magnitude and value of the
display, it was in the sale of the ceramics
and bric.a- bac that Dives and CrGsus
ran riot. Two hundred dollars for
plate, fifty dollars for an odd saucer,
$500 for dish, and so on till a little
bottle, six or eight inches high, brought
the enormous figure Of s1S,00O This is
madness, insanity in the most yirulent
and mischievous form. Many msn
and woman is in lunatic asylum to day
with n guardian appointed to take care
of their property, who never did anything
half so mad as was doue by the man
who gave $4,000 for the little bottle
known as the Peach blow vase. Things
were bid up from hundreds to thousands,
which if exhibited in secondhand
window would have been considered dear
at fifty cents. There are men and women
there who spent what thirty years ago
would have been esteemed comfortable
fortune, for goods that could easily have
been crrried away in common hand
sa,chel. One old lady esteemed herself
the most fortunate of women in the pos
session of $3.50 vinaigrette, and another
went on her way rejoicing with a $4,000
vase. They were the happiest and most
self.satisGed lot Of people that ] ever
saw; they parted with their checks
without regret, and grabbed their bar
gains with satisfaction only felt under
ordinary circumstances by the just man
made perfect. Everybody had got bar.
gains; they all had bought themselves
rich, and I did not see person willing
to part with his purchase for double the
sum he gave for it. l only saw one case
of dissatisfaction, and that was an old
lady who bid 1880 on couple of bottles
and found that instead of $3.50 her bill
was 81 800. She rushed out of the room
and as they had no clue to her they
were put up again and sold for triae over
5000. The lesson has been valuable
one and when our cousins on the other
side of the water hear Of US it will un.
doubtedly raise US immeasurably iu their
estimation. The man in London or
Vienna who reads the story of the $4,000
Jules Breton, and the $4,000 Peach
Blow Vase will be assured that he can no
longer kill Indians and hunt buffalo in
New York city. And SO ends one of the
widest carnivals of reckless extravaganza
in the history of our country. One man
has to strike for the privileges of getting
two dollars day for twelve hours work,
and another pays $4,000 for picture to
hang on his wall, and another $4,000 for
a little bottle 10 put on his mantlepiece.
There is a screw loose some where, per.
haps it will get frightened by and by.
Very truly yours,
BRoADBRIM.
Are There Few Twill You Be One?
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