Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-11
THE TOPICAL TALKER.

IhG lUrlGAl lAlhEh'
Money Turus Pursuer somerimes-The Sort
of Pictures a Man Doesn't Want TO Buy
Don'r Look ut Paiuters' Names-Tarif
Making Is Hard work-An Expressive
Hymn-May's Dra wbacks.
UDoN'T you find the pursuit of riches IA
- tiguing7" asked man whose thousands
if not millions are accumulating.
'Tm not pursuing riches" was his reply.
they are pursuing me-and no fugitive slave
ever had more unrelenting pursuers."
Perhaps if you're rich you'll appreciate the
truth of this. Still most of us would like to be
in position to know what it Is to be bounded
by riches.
7 N the last year or two many valuable paint
ings by noted painters, both old and modern
masters, have been bought by P1ttseurgers.
There are half dozen men at least In Alle'
gheny county whose collections OF paintings
represent an outlay of many thousands OF dol
lars in each case. Some of these pictures are,
to my knowledge, art treasures beyond doubt,
and probably only few are not worth approx
mately the price paid for them. But the deal
ers in pictures are beginning to realize that
there is good market for them in Pittsburg
A number of reputable dealers in the East have
been aware of the Pittsburg field for some
time, and a consequence we have seen here
not few interesting exhibitions of pictures.
There is danger ahead which all who desire
to obtain pictures Of genuine value will do well
to bear iu mind. tits no secret at all that very
profitable business is being done in spurious
''old masters" and copies of modern artists
works are freely sold as originals in New York
and other cities. There is no reason why Pitts
burg should not receive visit sooner or later
from these slick scamps. They are operating
all through the land At Washington the
other day heard of some of their doings. and
tits fact that most exalted personages," as
jenkins would say, are among their victims at
the capital The pith of the matter is if you
buy high priced pictures have a care that you
get artistic equivalents for your money.
The safest way, after all, is for a man to buy
what he himself admires. be they pictures or
what not Don't buy a daub that your eyes
tell you is a daub of no interest or delight to
you, simply because great painters name is
in corner of the canvas.
DOUBTLESS good many people who have
visited the Corcoran Gallery in Washington
have recognized the wonderful power of small
landscape of Rousseau's with unusual delight.
1t is the picture for which the trustees of the
gallery paid what seemed at the time an
enormous sum a year ago at memorable pic
something like $4,000 1 believe was the price.
1t is worth almost any sum. Yet it is a very
small and far from startling work-a glimpse Of
a sunlit clearing in the forest, with wood
cutters cottage for an objective point. 1t is so
true to nature that the delicious shade of forest
trees. the simmer of sunlight through the
leaves, and all the pleasant salutation of such a
place to the senses, belong to the man who may
look at it.
THE work OF Congressman who is on the
Ways and Means Committee is by no means
light. During the earlier days of the present
session, when the tariff bill was in process Of
evolution, when the committee met every day
and worked all day, Congressman Bayne, Pitts
burg's representative on the committee, re-
celved over 100 letters day, most of them COM
munications- from constituents suggesting al
terations of one sort or another in the tariff
schedules. OF course a private secretary is
needed to deal with correspondence of these
dimensions.
IT has been said by some that the Mckinley
bill does not go far enough; but remark
made to me in Washington by one of its franz
ers indicates that it has pretty positive merits
as an addition to our protective system. Mr..
Bayne estimates that it will enable domestic
producers to manufacture no less than $50, 000,-
900 worth more of goods, principally in the car
pet glass and tin plate industries, than hith-
erto. This will be the result of new duties or
increased old ones.
a YoUNGsTER who has latent musical talent
possibly but certainly well-developed
abilities in the waste of time, has been taking
violin lessons for six months with the remark
able net result of playing acquaintance with
one hymn tune. namely Jerusalem, the
Golden"
Yesterday his father said: Tommy, sent
Mr.. Blank check for $40 for your violin les
sons. Twenty dollars is good deal for one
tune, my boy"
Eyes, papa" the boy replied. "but think of
it,, Jerusalem the Golden for only S2OT "
MAYS DRAWBACKS.
Mays lovely grant you, the poets proclaim it.
The song birds all sing it, the honey bee huns
Her praise to the flowers and yet all the same it
Is in May that house-cleaning, ahl woe is me!
comes.
1 am free to admire the grass in the meadow,
confess 1 delight in the gay tulips torch,
But it jars me to mind that my better half said:
ssOhl
Be careful! the paint is still wet on the porchr'
The probe of the robin. III venture to say,
But oh! paper hanging is surely depriving
My soul of contentment in this merry May!
The house-cleaning harpies I'd drown in their |
bucket;
The hangers Of paper I'd willingly hang:
The painters an Others who after my ducats,
May die and I'u watch 'enl with never pang.
Mays lovely grant You, for lovers and poets,
The scent of her blossoms IS for their ills;
But shall be heartily glad when know it's |
June-though it bring with it dozens of bills.
HEPBURN JOHNS.
Temperance Workers TO Meet.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPArcH.i