The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-05
BILL-POsTING HUMORs.
Picturesque and Mirthiui Effects Produced by These Clever Fellows.


 All trades have their droil aspects. but that of the bili-poster Is one long vista of fun. He may become an artist comedian of the first order. It does not require much brain weight, either. An old fence is his only arena and his post CTS are his stock in trade.
 His fun is but momentary. but 1t Is potent while it lasts. He accomplishes 1t by means of the combinations he is forced to make when he pastes new bills over the old ones.
 Some of the combinations are very funny. Thus he is forced to become a mirth-producer whether he will or no. but there are some among the men who get their livelihood In this manner who Intentionally place the new bills where they will produce the oldest if but mo- mentary effects A reporter watched one of these knights of the paste-pot while he proceeded to cover up a rather flaming picture of his Satanic majesty with bill which portrayed naval | officer fin full uniform. The first sec ton put on was the officers head. AS 1t fitted exactly on to Mephisto's shoul- ders the effect was comical. The next section brought the naval man down to the bottom of his coat. From short distance 1t appeared precisely as If he was minus his neither garments and stood bare-legged in the rising flames which enveloped him up to his knees. The bill-poster chuckled as he surveyed his work at this point, and asked the reporter what he thought of 1t while he covered the officers nakedness with a pair of trousers and shoes.
 The bill-poster was quite talkative In his way. and spoke of the droll side of his business. Did 1t ever occur to you," he said, as he picked and sorted some flaming colored bills preparatory to pasting them on the fence; did 1t ever occur to you what an odd and amusing business this is? You saw me put uniform on the devil. Funny, wasn't 1t? We'll 1t wasn't a patch to the effects produced sometimes. These bills have to be changed nearly every | week, and the posters get fixed up in the queerest way. I've put angels heads on devils and devils heads on an- gels. I've put man with dress coat on where a ballet girl was, so that 1t looked as if the skirts branched out be- low where the coat was. I left 1t there fore a moment while I pasted other bills and quite crowd gathered around. A policeman came along and I had to cover 1t up.
 "Once I had a Salvation army poster to put up, and when I pasted the top portion of it over bill advertising the play of Julius Caesar the large blue bonnet of the Salvation army girl fitted Caesar perfectly. It was too bad had to spoil it."
 You see that ballet girl on the fence over there. I have got to paste this big cat over it. Now watch me do it.'
 He took a section of a bill with the head of a grinning feline on it and placed it so that it fitted to the girls shoulders. A halo surrounded the cats head and the whole affair had puss- in-boots air about it that reminded one of early fairy tales Near by on the fence was heroic-size negro minstrel, whose immense teeth showed through lips which stretched from ear to ear. Now see how will fix that fellow, said the man of the brush, as he got ready bill on which large tiger was represented balanced on big blue ball. The tigers position was on the upper part of the poster. The first section fixed the animals head on the fence and with the next the body and feet were pasted up. Then appeared a curi- ous effect Where the blue ball was to be pasted the negro's face still grinned, but the tiger was now standing on top of the mans head.
 That" said the bill-poster, grimly, lis what call real artistic effect. It isn't often an artist can create a Sam son in almost one stroke of his brush. '
 Following his pasting of the tiger the man proceeded to put up a. bear. On the spot where it was to go an over fat baby held up a package of compound much advertised of late. The bear was built up from his feet, which rested on a horizontal bar. The bears neck and the baby's neck touched the same point. and before the bears head was pasted lu0Ie dppcdl GU t ol hu- man and brute anatomy which could hardly be equalled by a monstrosity in dime museum.
 Bill-posting has undergone great change in recent years. It is not the hap-hazard business it once was. That is it is not allowable for men to go around pasting bills wherever they could find fence. Most of the big fences are pre-empted now by firms, who pay rent for the privilege.
 The old sign of "post no bills" is more potent than it was. It's infringe ment now may mean a lawsuit. It used to be very much disregarded. There is record of very literal man who was arrested for infringing a sign which read 'tpost no bills under penalty" When the judge asked him if he had any excuse to offer he said he had not posted under penalty. He had posted