The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-06-30

Gsughsbie Hxamplcs Of the Nonobserv~
sncs Of This Ruis.
"Poetry, romance, pathos and humor
re all packed In that chest, II ono only
rDuld know the history Of Its contents.
There is century of the outer man
backed away there, and your great great
grandfather or mine may have paid the
bills for some of those things that the
noths got moro use Of than no did"
Mr. Dan Beard, the prtist and illustra-
Dor, was standing by huge old fashioned
wooden chest In his picturesque studio In
Ohe midst of an assortment Of quaint gar
nents, which he had carefully spread out
bn the floor.
There were long, heavy warm overcoats
(pade to keep out the winter blasts OF .
century ago. bucksl<in Jackets Of the kind
q which our forefathers hunted, ruffied
ocats, with many frills, which they wore
- the wooing Of their ladyloves In the
lays when wooing was digni1ed and
elaborate ceremony, and military outfits
nnce of brave colors but now faded and
pefaced perhaps In the bittor campaign Of
Valley Forge or the long retreat Of tho
blacksmith general, Greene.
Many OF them were moth eaten and torn,
nt Mr.. Beard handled them ~ II they
nDce Bruce, the poet, to whom he had been
speaking he continued;
"If these clothes could tell you their
ubory, Mr.. Bruce. you would have ma
serials for poems to Last throughout your
ufetime."
80 you are . collector Of curios, I" no
fAied the poet. "Iknew that all artists had
bobbies for collecting something, but
oevor knew Of any one making speciality
~ old clothes except our friends on Bax-
Der street. There is more 1bmance than
oisplay In your collection"
''To tell the truth, " said Mr.. Beard smil-
ong, lit is seldom that think of the ro-
0ance of those clothes. They arc simply
business with me--part Of my stock In
oradc. They act as a sort Of magic cloak
% carry me, not forward, like the prince In
Me fairy tale, but back into the centuries,
ond there 1 sit and transfer my revered
oncestors and perhaps yours to the present
olme In the form Of pictures.
mot mine, / think" returned Mr..
Bruce, unless you have the tartan and
laid Of the canny highlander.
$50 have, somewhere about, but not
here. These are mostly American clothes,
hnd very handsome some OF them are,
much more so than those we now wear, al
ing in this prosaic present"
"And do you have clothes of every period
~ which you want to make q picture"
bsked Mr.. Bruce, land dress your models
IN themi"
II have the clothes, or II I haven't got
ohem / get them, but I don't dress my
Oodels In them. They are too 6imsy
most OF them--the clothes, mean. Moths
And time have made them pretty light Of
oexture, 80 simply take them to a tailor,
Vho uses them as patterns to build me the
6othes for my models tc wear"
''How long Is 1t, Mr.. Beard, T" asked Mr..
Bruce, that artists began to be 30 40
Uurate in tho matter Of historical dressi"
"Only few years, returned the artist.
eFormeriy an outfit With ruffies and a
hncy waistcoat was supposed to furnish
atmosphere for picture OF any date from
l790 to 1850 Abbey Is tho pioneer In this
movement. Harry Ogden, T. de Shul-
strup, myself and number Of Others are
now following him in making point of
obtaining absolute accuracy In all old
fashioned pictures We collect all the old
fashioned clothing we can, and when we
want to paint picture Of any particular
cate we surround ourselves with objects of
that date. have complete set of fashion
plates from 1899 up 70 date and also a
number Of old books on dress, fashions and
such things.
"After one begins to study these things
none Of the pictures now produced seems
very funny. For instance, we'll known
artist recently drew picture Of old time
aife In this country for London magazine.
Here is the picture: The youth In the fore
ground Is fearfully and wonderfully made,
and the nine tailors that made him pieced
him out with the fashions of 40 years
Now, here Is his sword, of kind not car
ried until 1888, SO we will suppose him to
be at that date. Now, why should man
OF good sense wear In the year Of grace
1888 hat that had been out of fashion
since 1872
by what mental process would no de-
= c'ce to insert his up to date legs in trou-
sers of the time of his fathers boyhood-
z790--and did he think it would be only
right to strike an average elsewhere, and is
that the reason that his coat Is Of the vim
tage of 1S20a
These arc things that have puzzled
over much.
"Now, look at these female figures In
the background. You would take those
for his sisters or admiring friends perhaps
Well, they're not, They're ghosts. i don't
like TO accuse brother artist of anything
uncanny, but they must be ghosts If they
aren't, why should they sport about In the
middle Of the nineteenth century wearing
clothes of the middle Of the seventeenth
I'm not particularly impressionable, but !
tell you IL gives me shudders TO think of o
young man In the prime of life and his IA
ther's old trousers standing coolly up with
no more protection than war hat 90 years
old and a small sword against q collection
Of ghosts two centuries old, and female
ghosts at that.
Here's another peculiarly inaccurate
picture" continued the speaker. showing
an engraving of boat with people on the
deck. There's a packet boat, with a
pleasure party aboard. Now, the clothes
and boat are oil correct, but you SEQ the
people are all sitting on chairs on the up
per deck. No packet boat ever allowed
chairs on tho upper deck because of the
low bridges-so low, many of them, that
the passengers had to lie down fat to es-
Is,t.. IL