Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-08-21
Then and Now.
THE STORY TOLD BY SOME OLD BILLS.

THE STORY TOLD BY SOME OLD BILLS.
From the American Architect.
Turning over some old papers the other day
we came upon two or three bills for carpenter
work and plastering, dating back TO 1921 and
1922, which have y certain Interest, as showing
the value OF work and materials at that time
compared with the prices now current. One
thing which surprises us, and will, perhaps, be
equally surprising to our readers, is that the
cost OF lumber, keeping in view the COM para
tive purchasing power Of money, was at that
time far greater than it is now. Sixty-five
years ago large part Of the United States
which is now cleared was an unDroken forest,
ana every township in the eastern states must
nave contained good deal Of timber Of the
original growth, yet We find refuse boards"
charged In 1921 at $11 thousand feet, which
work, which is the only labor we lind
charged 81 ,s', in the bills just now before Is,
naturally include profit, at seven shil-
iings and six pence, Or $1.25 per day. The
inference is that it would have taken painter
or carpenter in those good old days at least
twice as long TO earn money enough to pay tor
boards to cover his house as it does now. not
withstanding the TACT that the tim Der is brought
ten times further to market now than it was
then, and that the supply is, according to all
accounts, nearly exhausted. Among the other
SLY per thousand, aud clapboards at "25 cents
for ten" or $50 per thousand. This would be a
low price for pine clapboards now in Massa-
chusetts, but 1t was high price then compared
with the value of labor. Contrary to the gem
eral impression, spruce and hemiock seem to
nave been very generally used, and We find
items OF hemlock boards at Sill a thousand
feet. and spruce at fourteen or nfteen Clear
pine plank, which many people imagine to be
much Scarcer material now than in the days
when secOnd-growth timber was unknown is
charged in the bills at $50 a thousand feet,
which would be tolerably high price in the
same locality to-day, and correspondent then TO
about twice the value, In the form of labor and
cost of living, that 1t could be exchanged for
now.
OF some materials the cost seems to ha va
been even greater then than at the present. In
q bill for painters work, dated 1927, we find
allowing Tor profit, is higher price than most
architects would now approve In q days work
bill, and varnish is put down at the rate of 81
gallon, a charge which would just about pass
an architects criticism in these days. One of
the items is for green paint tor chairs" SO that
II any OF our readers are of an archaeological
turn OF mind, they may make note here that
the fashion OF covering furniture with this ugly
and adhesive coating, which has not died ont
even in our own college days, dates back at
least fifty-nine years. The credits on this bill.
which amount TO about $40 include items of
thirty-dve bushels Of potatoes at 30 cents a
rently either In size or quality, as one is cred
tied at 81 and the other at shillings, Massa-
chusetts currency, or s1:s3
Leopold Won Ranke.
"REMINISCENCES OF A MAN OF GENIUS UNDER
HIS OWN ROOF.
From Blackwood's Magazine.
Long go, about the time of the great war;
have often met him, most commonly in the
Thiergarten. the small fgure-he was not much
over five Iceland the peculiarly finely poised
head with the clear outline of the face readily
recognizable from altar. He had a curious, very
old-fashioned way of saluting ladies, even out
Of doors, with q kiss on either cheek after first
asking permission n q formula which carried
one back to Minna Won Barnhelm and Chodo-
wiecki's drawings. So kindly and so funny,
too, 1t was. He was very small in stature, but
few men have made such majestic impress
sion. The head was superb-finely chiseled,
with q great arched forehead, exceedingly mo.
bile lips, covered only during the last few years
bright eyes, with an necessarily inquiring and
keenly interested look. He seemed to send
this look before him to recognize and to well
come.
AS came in to pay my visit on that after
no IN In January, he was standing wrapped in
the classic dressing gown, black lined with
REQ, which he knew how 10 draw about him in
tn most digni1ed way, leaning against a tall
cabinet, on which Was an alabaster figure of
some sort, and looking toward his new visitor,
evidently in a very pleased mood after his
visit from the crown prince. He took me by
both elbows and made me sit down, and i'm
said:
Tell me all about yourself I want to hear
all that concerns yOu.'
He was the best listener IMAGINABLE need
hardly say that he was utterly free from any
trace of vanity or self-consciOusness-even as
sometimes happens on account OF his great age
he was far too great q man tor that This little
salon Is, think, the only room not perfectly
full OF books-in the other rooms there were
eight walls of books-a sort OF inner model of
his rooms In the center of each-a four-sided
book case reaching to the ceiling. But in the
salon not many books; few gifts and memen-
toes OF people and places-an Oil painting OF his
wife. an Irish lady, over the spot where long
ago remember her lying helpless on her
COUCH with only the wonderful spirit which
made her what she was to her husband shining
alive from her beautiful face. She has been
In conversation-'Meinel iebe Frau"-and point
toward the picture as ii she herself were there
remember some Spanish book she was read
Ing, the talk of beethoven and her husbands
work. On the other side two windows folding
doors at each end, and q low red ottoman in
the middle OF the room by the table-nothing
changed for years and years.