The morning news., 1896-12-27
tempted to justify himself to his conf


enough, but people get used to It, or
course, when woman gets costly jewels
they haunt her day and night, at first. she
has to send them to the safe deposit vault
the moment she takes them off. II they
are of extraordinary cost she wants
watchmen and private detectives hover
ing about her when she wears them. She
may send for the police when she gives
a party But in most cases she gets over
this feeling In time, and, instead of dream
| ing of burglars, she treats her jewels with
an unconcern which some people might
call carelessness. Some years ago we
used to supply belts and bags for women
to carry their jewelry in when they were
| travelling. They were worn either under
or over the dress, and were about the
next best thing people thought, to actu-
! ally wearing the jewelry so as to insure
its safety. But they had one very serious
| disadvantage. People were always forget
! ting them. Women would leave their Jew
| el bags in the seats of cars or in bureau
! drawers at hotels-forget all about them.
! So bags and belts have come more or less
! into disfavor for carrying jewelry Then
TOO, while they might do well enough for
| the past they could not come within
hundred miles of supplying the needs of
wealthy women of to-day
Inc present time is so far ahead of the
past in luxury and wealth. and jewelry is
SO much more common and plentiful that
where woman twenty-five years ago
could have carried her jeWelry in a bag
the size of her two fists, a woman in the
same station now would require one tWen-
~ times as big. So 1t is really impracti-
cable for women with much iewelry to
be the custodians of their precious possess
sion when they are travelling. Some send
their jewels from one place to another by
special messenger. others use the express
companies, making them responsible for
the full value in case of loss; but the most
common method among women who own
a moderate amount of jewelry say from
SoOOO TO Sz0,uO0 worth, is simply to pack it
into their trunks and ship the trunks by
express to the railroad station and check
them there just like any ordinary baggage:
and in 999 cases out of 600 there isn't anv
trouble or the slightest cause for anxiety.
Familiarity breeds contempt, and by using
Jewelry frequently a woman gets so ac-
customed to it that she forgets it's great
value. Of course there are women who
keep their jewelry buried in vaults and
are afraid to look at it once in five years
But with silverware it is different
Sometimes when l am more depressed
than usual, think 1t is the most useless
thing that was ever invented. We silver
smiths spend days and nights celebrating
our art, and turn out beautiful objects
worthy to challenge the admiration of the
world; and what becomes of them? They
are sent down here" stamping his foot
on the floor. They are put into the vaults
in our cellar and human eyes seldom rest
upon them. Talk about excavatng In the
ruins of Troy, the rubbish of Athens, for
beautiful Objects" he exclaimed, with a
snort of disgust, why not excavate in
| the silversmiths vaults and the safe de-
posit vaults of New York right here?
Let me tell you an instance" he re-
sumed when his melancholy allowed him
/ to speak again. Thirty years ago one of
I h. w.sdl.r - NT1ww w., ~.
! rope and there saw magnificent tea SER
| vice of silver which he bought for 81. 900
| and when he returned here he presented
| it to the man who was his most inti-
mate friend. The friend valued the tea
! service not only on account of the friend
| ship that gave it to him, but also for its
sake; but what could he do with it? Life
even among the rich was far palmer hen
/ than 1t is to-day, and even to-day what
| could a man do with an $1,000 tea SER
| vice? So he did what seemed the most
! sensible thing to do under the circum-
stances; he sent the whole outfit here for
safe keeping; and don't suppose it's been
out of our vaults half a dozen times
since.
but that isn't all. couple of years
ago the daughter of the man who went to
| Europe got married. The intimacy be-
tween the two families had been kept up
and increased. and the friend, who is a
very rich man, now made up his mind
to show his friendly feelings by giving
the daughter the finest wedding present
he could procure. Now, his tea service
was originally very fine one. During
all the years it has been buried in our
vaults tradition has been having a chance
to magnify its beauty, until now it is held
in the two families to be the most masnifl-
cent thing in the world and it's owner
in searching about for a wedding present
for his friends daughter, could conceive
| nf M Lon har 10 hox
act copy of his own tea service. We made
it; We could have improved on the orig1-
nails i'm workmanship, but hes didn't want
that done. so we made an exact copy
The cost was 5000; so he saved some
thing. Now. what was the bride to 40
with all this mass of silver? What but
send it here to lie in darkness alongside
of the other set; and here it has been ever
since 1t was displayed at the wedding TO
the admiration and wonder of the guests
That was its one public appearance.
nave no doubt that when one of the
grandchildren of the owner of the first
set is married in few years she will feel
1t her duty to have a third set made as a
wedding present Then it will be sent TO
us to take care of along with the other
81 don't see why you should complain" "
remarked the man to whom all this had
been addressed.
I'm not complaining, but do you call II
| CoHIlon sense! IL is prOntable for me- and
cannot see that my conscience should
reproach me for the part l take in it; but
such things make me tired. Think of the
woman who just left. Her husband will nav
between $1.20O and $1,5Oo. maybe for a tea
set for her. and she will keep 1t at her
house for a while and then send it TO US.
Where is the sense of that?"
"But some people do keep their silver
ware at home and enjoy it, the other man
insisted.
''They keep it at home, but they don't
enjoy it. ] am talking now of people whose
silver is valued, by the thousands of dol
lars, who have massive objects and works
of art not for ordinary use. What enjoy
ment do they get out of il? They may
have vaults built IN their houses, and the
bigger and stronger the vault the greater
source of worry il is to them They are
worried by burglar alarm companies, and
by watchmen's companies. and by rival
, safe companies, and by detective agencies,
and every time they hear OF a burglary
they have cold shivers for a week; anu
they can't sec a tramp come to the base
j 4 aN..ava a.rtNI