The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1888-05-05


civilization, that all the meetings were
addressed In the German, Hungarian and
Polish languages, and In one Bohemian
crowd there was scarcely man who could
speak word of English. Though the strike
has been universal, to the honor Of our city
be 1t recorded, that there have been none of
the scenes Of violence here that have dis
graced Chicago and other places. Here
and there some unfortunate driver may
have had his skull cracked with a brick, or
some unlucky non-union man have got a
pounding. but on the whole the public
peace has been well preserved, and the
strike has been miserable failure. Ex-
perience seems to avail them nothing. The
failure Of the Missouri Pacific strike, of the
'Longsboremens' strike, the failure of the
strike on the Third Avenue Railroad, the
Reading and other strikes throughout the
country involving untold misery, are all
lost sight Of, and of the 10000 men in
volved in this unfortunate affair. two
thirds of them will be starving before the
summer is oyer.
Our spring has been backward, and as a
consequence almost all kinds of business
have been brought to a standstill. The
only business that appears to haye escaped
is the Fine Arts, and they appear to flourish
and grow every day. 1t is only couple of
weeks since the Spencer collection was dis
posed OF; there we're sIxty-seven canvasses,
and they brought under the hammer two
hundred and forty-six thousand dollars.
l was looking at little picture in an ART
store the other day, the size of the canvass
was eight by ten, and the price paid for il
in gold was three thousand five hundred
dollars. The mysterious influence of these
art gems on certain class of persons is al
most beyond comprehension. 1t is not
question of beauty of composition, of color
or of subject 1t seems to depend entirely
on the name of the artist, and the tact OF
its being an original saw this tested the
other day in the case of very fine Rosseau.
A gentleman who possessed Rosseau,
and who was a very fine amateur artist,
made copy of the original picture: he
then framed both exactly alike, and called
in an expert well known in the art world
to tell him which was the original and
which the copy. The art dealer is a man
who has made purchases for some of the
finest and most expensive galleries In the
country, and at first he was completely con-
founded, but after a minutes study he
picked out the original, but as he after
wards confessed to me, it was not by the
drawing or color that his judgment was de.
termined, but by a certain mellowness of
general effect that age alone could give.
The National Academy of Design comes
as usual to the front with its annual spring
exhibition, but the glory of Israel has de-
parted; it no longer has monopoly of the
fine Arts. The American Art Galleries,
the Society of American Artists and numer-
Gus Others, have impaired its usefulness,
and this, taken with the persistent war
made upon rising men by the antiqlarians
who have Its direction, all serve to render
the exhibition less interesting or profitable
than IL used to be half century ago.
The most absorbing topic of the week has
been the death of Roscoe ConkliBg, and it
is not often in our history that such a gen.
eral tribute of respect has been paid by men
of all parties and creeds TO private citizen,
Eight years haYe passed sirce he dis
appeared from the political arena, in which
he had been such a conspicuous figure
years in which the party he SO often led to
victory has experienced bitter disaster and
defeat But though he Abandoned political
life when apparently his fame was at its
zenith,the public did not lose sight of him.
and seemingly without struggle he rose
to an eminenee in the New York bar rivalled
by that of few others in the State. His
clientele was large aud OF the very best
character; his business was extensive and
his fees enormous; his income from his
practice in the past year being more than
the cash receipts of bis entire political life.
Among the brilliant tributes paid to the
ex-senator, that accorded him by the Brook
lyn Eagle, one Of the staunchest Democrat
ic papers in the State, has not been sur
passed-"Roscos Conkling, living in venal
age, was honest; in sordid age, he de-
spised mere wealth, as wealth lin a snobbish
age be was no worshipper of power; in a
fashionable age he preferred the champion
ship Of friends to the hattery or favor o.
society. Never weak, not always wise; he
lived stormy and not happy life.-but
on his hands was no stains of guilty gain; !;
no touch of fear on his brave heart; and
while committed to the prescription policy
OF his party, the opposition never regarded
him as other than a knightly antagonist,
nor ceased to regard the period of his
primacy as that in which the Republican
party attained the perihelion of its great
ness" This opinion from a pronounced
political opponent cannot but be gratifying
to the friends of the great Oneida Chief,
now that his eloquent tongue is hushed in
Everlasting silence.
One Of the saddest cases that has occurred
in my observation for some time is that of
Emily Ruter, who has been suing in the
courts to be released from the guardianship
of her brother. II almost sounds like the
story of Cinderella, without the glass slip
per and the princely lover, and the substi-
tuition of brutal brother for the cruel
sisters. Emilys father died some years
ago leaving fortune of about thirty thou
sand dollars. Emily's brother had himself
appointed executor of his fathers estate,
and also guardian of his sister. The wretch
ed girl was taken to her brothers home,
and made the drudge Of the family; she
had scrcely clothes enough to cover her
nakedness, and was driven into the streets
to collect cinders from ash barrels; she was
beaten and abused till life became horror
and burden, and then she ran away to
the home of her aunt, who took her in and
sheltered her. The brother watched the
the house for days, and finally caught the
| sister In the atreeL and drao0ed har ho,,na