Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-03-24
THE BOY AND THEGUN
a FAMOUS ARTISTS YOUTHFUL
PRANK RECALLED.
The brooklyn Institute and Professor
franklin w. Hooper--A Cool YER
monter at Gettysburg-A
Unique Room.
fcorre.pondenco Of the Richmond Dlspatch.l

| thsIuS s~D'
correspondence Of the Richmond Dlspatch.I
New York, March 2f.--One Of the best
known of our artists had, when he was a
little boy. blow-gun or tube, in the use
Of which he was fatally proficient. He
| lived at the time in a little country town
ana the house of the next-door neighbor
was pretty close to his home. One autumn
dav. being armed With his tube, he hap
pened to spy big pan of pumpkin I'LL
ing,n all ready to be put into pies, stand
ing in the neighbours pantry-window.
The window was open. and the boy knew
| where TO look for big box OF eathartic
niIls These he obtained, and blew
! through the tube one after another
! with unerring aim into the pan, where
! thev promptly dissolved. The pies were
made and baked. and almost Immediately
thereafter, the entire family partaking OF
| them was thrown into the Widest sort OF q
/ manic. The doctor came at q gallop, emet-
| Ice were administered, and there was talk
| of having pumpkin sample analysed to
! detect the mysterious poison, when the
thoroughly frightened boy made a con-
| fession. The alarm subsidized, the analysis
nroiect was given up, and the boy was made
| 10 experience a sudden distaste for blow
pipe practice.
Of course it wouldn't be fair to saw who
the artist is whose youth was thus distin-
! tinpuished, but ] have heard Hamilton
/ Gibson, the author-illustrator. tell the
story with keen relish.
THE MAN BEHIND.
Whenever see public project not of q
money grabbing kind making big advances
| | generally conclude that somewhere out
of sight one man is pushing along all the
people who are working to further it, and
that their activity is largely communicated
to them by him.
The man behind the Brooklyn Institute,
who has lifted it in a very short space OF
time from sort of moribund debating So
ciety where respectable elderly people
went to sleep one evening a week and
imagined they were improving their minds,
into a live organization, full of present
usefulness and future promise, is Professor
Franklin W. Hooper.
There is something marvellous about the
energy of the man. No one knows when
he eats, sleeps or earns his livelihood. APP
parently he is always either buttonhollng a
wealthy man for life subscription, doing
the work of some celebrated fgurehead
president of a department, lobbying for
legislative aid or municipal appropriations,
planning the future museums and art gal
ieries of the Institute, or otherwise hard at
work in its behalf. He is q tall, STOPPING,
awkward lump of q man, with face which
seems rather heavy IN repose, but lights
up wonderfully when in conversation.
The Institute will occupy buildings near
Prospect Park. not one of which Is yet
erected. There will be art galleries, science
laboratories. lecture-halls, botanical and
horticultural grounds. There will be
members by the thousand and facilities for
work and study in every department OF
human learning. Already. before the In
stitute has so much as q single building, it
has large and active membership and de-
partments of chemistry, mineralogy, Ian
guages, art. photography, history. arcfl-
lecture, astronomy. political and eco
and more than dozen Others.
Some remarkably interesting things are
always going on. The Geographical Exhl-
bition, now IN the height of its success, Is
one of the most entertaining and lnstruc-
tive shows ever seen In any city IN Amerl-
ca.
People elsewhere, who regard Brooklyn
as q sort of overgrown village, will perhaps
be surprised in ten years TO learn that Its
citizens have the finest museum privileges
in the country and the nucleus of great
university, if it is thought advisable to
found one.
STORY OF GETTYSBURG.
A story of Gettysburg which has not
been in print seems almost like an impOs-
sibility. yet | am pretty certain that the
following incident has never seen the
light. When the tremendous cannonade
which preceded Pickett's great charge was
going on and the troops of Hancock's col
umn were lying fiat upon the ground in
the sitting July heat, a young. soldier OF
the Second Vermont brigade, whose
do not know if he is descendant
of the redoubtable Ethan, left the ranks,
walked back a hundred yards where the
shells were flying thickest. filed his can
teen at a spring, came back TO the line, and
slowly passed along it, giving to each man
in his company few drops. Then he
dropped back into his place entirely I'M
hut. A few minutes afterward, while COM
paratively in the shelter, he received
wound which has famed him for life.
While getting the water and passing it
ever, but "a soon as he was wounded he
realized the DANCE of the situation and
was mortally afraid of being killed until
STANDARDS charge shattered Pickett's
splendid column, and the tide of battle
ebbed back from where he lay.
THIS ROOM CAN'T BE INITIATED.
The wife of one of the best known wall
paper printers in the country rejoices in
some room decorations and furniture
which are certain never TO be widely i'm
itated, simply because they cannot be, al
though the cost was quite small.
The ordinary wallpaper is printed upon
cylindrical rollers, varying in size accord
ing TO the pattern, which is raised upon
them in very high relief. The narrower
borders are printed upon fiat strips of
wood, whose designs also stand bold
~ out. OF course, the cutting of
these cylinders and strips is quite expen-
sive. but when the patterns become old
fashioned they are no longer useful. This
lady has taken large quantity of the cast
of cylinders and flats and combined them
TO make a library-table, a mantel,
decorative frieze, wall-cabinet, and the
framework of piece or two of upholstered
furniture. The effect when the proper
colors are used in painting the furniture IS
remarkably beautiful. 1t is not often that
o private house in America can show any
thing like such a quantity of beautiful re-
lief carvings. A folding screen. fashioned
of the fiat strips. swung from four columns
of cylinders. is the masterpiece of this alb
solutely unique decorative scheme.
so LIKE HIS FATHER.
The artist illustrator, w. A. Rogers, of
Harpe's Weekly. is a thin. boyish-looking
young man. who may possibly weigh 100
pounds after q hearty meal, and whose
dark. slightly moustached face refuses
to record his years. He once ran
some rapids on the Housatonic river
with his canoe. by the safe if unro-