The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-03-20

of history like the magnificent pictures
of Rubens or Munkasty. 1t told no sol
emn event like the imperishable work of
Leonardo de NinCi. There were dozens
of pictures that brought only a tithe of
its cost, which in every thing in art that
goes to make up great picture infinite
ly surpassed ii. We have two picture
dealers here, William Shause and Mr.
knodler; what they don't know about
pictures is not worth knowing. For
years past these two industrious gentle
mea have been educating our people up
TO proper apl recitation of art Tn
got on the right side of Mr.. Senev, Mrs.
Morgan, A. s. Stewart Marshall o.
Roberts, William II. Vanderbilt and
dozens of others; and they bagge their
ducats as if they had been cobble stones,
They bought pictures for dollars and
sold them for thousands. Jules Breton's
Communicates brought at Paris 1O,OlO
francs, at the Morgan sale Il brought
over 100000 francs. saw two men
there bidding thousands, and twenty-five
years ago either Of them would have
been content with q $3.50 chrome. and
certainly could not have told the d ffe,-
ence between IL and Jules Breton, a
DE Neuville or q Messonier Yet,under
the able tuition of these two caIny
Dutchmen they unlock their strong
boxes and the Communicates goes up
from $1,000 to S45, 500. IIooray for ar,
hooray of Mrs. Morgan, hooray for
everybody. The pictures brought near
ly million; the loss OH the price paid
for them by Mrs. Morgan being the
comfortable sum of $300,0O0 Eut
al Ia la riH al, n.
pictures might have been justified by he
unusual magnitude and value of the di i
play, 1t was in the sale of the ceramics
and bric-a-brac that Dives and Croesus
ran riot. Two hundred dollars for a
late, fifty dollars for an odd saucer,
500 for dish, and so on till little
bottle, six or eight inches high, brought
the enormous figure of $4,000. This is
madness. insanity in the most virulent
and mischevous form. Many a man
and woman is in lunatic asylum to-
daY with guardian appointed to take
care OF their property, who never did
anything half SO mad as was done 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 se-
cond-hand window would have been
considered dear at flftv cents. There
were men and women there who spent
what thirty years ago would have been
esteemed a comfortable fortune, for
goods that could easily haye been car
ried away in common hand satchel.
One old lady esteemed herself the most
fortunate of women in the possession of
$3.50 vinaigrete, and another went on
her way rejoicing with $4,000 vase.
They were the happiest and most self
satisfied lot of people that / ever saw:
they parted with their checks without
regret, and grabbed their bargains with
a satisfaction only felt under ordinary
circumstances by the just man made
perfect. Everybody had got bargains:
they all had bought themselves rich,
and did not see person willing TO
part with his purchase for double the
sum he gave for it. lonly saw one case
of dissatisfaction, and that was an old
lady who bid $3.50 on a couple of bottles
and found that instead of $3.50 her bill
was 81 800. She u he'd out of IL e room
and as they had no clue to her they
were put up again and sold for trife
over 5000. Tho lesson has been a yalu-
able one and when our cousins on the
other side of the water hear of us il will
undoubtedly raise us immeasurably in
their estimation. The man in London
or Vienna who reads the story of the
S45,OCO Jules Breton, and the SlS,OOC
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 coun-
try. One man has to strike for the
privilege of getting two dollars day
for twelve hours work, and another paws
$4,000 for a picture to hang on his
wall, and another $4,000 for a little
bottle to put on his mantelpiece. There
is screw loose somewhere, perhaps it
will get tightened by and bye.
BROADBRIM.