The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-12

New York, Jan. IL, 1S96.-NobOdy ever
accused me of being devoted to high art.
, study that showed a mauve lawn, a
i green sky, a bright scarlet rock and two
i Yellow ladies with white hair-I say ladies
/ because they both had petticoats on-was
o,ee displayed to me, and 1 was told it was
esled Love and Death" You could take
your choice as to which was love and
4 which was death, but each of the yellow
4 ladies' looked seasfck; the result probably
. NJ gazing too long on that purple grass.
{ The Young man who showed me this pic
4 ture said it was one of the finest examples
. Of high art that had ever been painted.
Then l was convinced that high art and L
. we're two. Hence my liking for art which
4 is ordinary and common. Some years ago,
. longer than 1 like to remember, used to
stand on the street and admire art as de
yeloped on the fences and also on ash bar
Ies 1t is true it was crude.
one always knew the villain by his jet
hack mustache and his glittering white
teeth, for in the picture he grinned as if
he we're an advertisement for some tooth
paste. Then the hero had long fair hair,
wore a sombrero, held the fainting heroine
in his arms while one hand clutched a pis-
to pointed at the villain, and the, other
was stretched out stifly, so that the hero
ines hair which trailed on the ground,
had something solid to rest upon in mid
air and not allow it to stink too much.
There was the elderly mother in the back
ground, with spectacleS and LOOKING IKE
4 tame COW, while the heavy father had
a curly wig that was a joy, and wore
scarfpin that must have been inherited
from his ancestors, who owned the mines
Of GOconda. OF course, you realize that
this was a poster representing the end OF
i the second act of that beautiful play, Inc
Daughters Fault; or How She Won him.
As the years have gone on, and they won
stop to oblige you or me or anybody else,
the theatrical poster has improved. 1t not
only tells the story, but it points TO some
mOratieS and a few faults. with the I'M
provement in posters L began to collect
them, and at that time people thought l
was crazy and wondered what 1 wanted
with clean posters. But let us be in the
SWIM my friend, and no longer call them
posters, but affiches. Still. as my accent
might be improved, stick TO the OLD name
though 1 give you the point necessary.
The first appearance of the realistic pos
ter was made about two years ago, when
an enormous fence was covered by
procession of perfect ladies, whose shapes
were exquisite, whose faces We're falr ana
who were, evidently, believers in health IN
costume. They told by example that the
greatest health was gained by the least
amount of clothing. But this was fne
picture. Up to the time the average bal
let girl had been represented with enor-
nous calves, a twelve-inch waist and for
y-two inch shoulders. The result was
startling, not pleasing, and the looker-on
might have called the pictured person
anything but a woman. However, the
new school painted a magnihcently
shaped woman. 1t is true she was Juno
and not Venus, but her foot was in pro-
portion to the size of her body, ana
while she rounded in at the waist, she
4 did not present an unhealthy look or
impress you with the idea that she could
not take a good long breath. That affiche
measured, l should think, at least five
yards by four. The consequence was it
could not Join my collection, but 1 used
to go and look at it, and one day when
! was gazing a man, also a gazer told
me all about it. He said: This is the
finest picture of women, in group, that
has ever been done, and the reason it's
good is because the women are real Wo-
men, real women in more senses than
one. Not only real in appearance, but
these women exist, and each one was
chosen a little slenderer than the other
before her so that the procession might
be effective in contrast. After the women
were grouped the artist had models of
them made in wax, and from these wax
models the poster was painted" From
mat time on 1 had more respect for
them, but soon l noticed there was
change in the poster
The affiche began to represent a young
lady with a thin face, green eyes, burning
req hair, clothes that were fired on her
with pitchfork, and she caresSed either
rabbit or bunch Of lilies or a red UNI
5Iella. Nobody knew what it meant. This
Iltian-haired young female might have
written under her go and See the Gay
English Girls Tonight" or the sign might
read, Hear Tommy Atkins Sing the Pa
o ulouc Songs of His Native Land or her
only explanation might be, BUY the April
1Qher! 1t is Just Out" You never knew
what she meant: she had to explain her
sen always, and the explanatory letters
were very queer in shape and very odd in
Color. When the magazines began to send
around these delightful and most artistic
posters, then there was joy, because one
o eQtu always bully ones newsman into
giving them away.
,. There was one that frightened our dog.
~ was all in black and white, and repre-
Sgnted a dreadful old monk wearing a
nssen hat-at least it looked like the sort
Vi hlSh hat peculiar to that line. He SEEM
Gu 10 ne arranging his library. He was
supposed to be book collector, but he
Eyer would have answered for any book
ttGpIeelor that / have met, for he lacked
elaI eager look of the eye that seems to
sfs5,, sen, or give me that book, or III
ia IT, But, now, unless you have col
tteC5ed a lot of posters you are out of the
t1@9nlon, and, according to the proverb,
fT might as well be out of the world.
~ you, this is not an eXaggeration, for
no ste mas been book brought out about
a.gls' ana with it there is given away
"nosl lovely one; it alone is enough to
sloAe you want to buy the book which
If ' ", lnree dollars. I am saving up for
ss, lAe trouble is that / have started to
h. III what is, known as a ten-dollar
tbroN' mere TepOSeS IN It's metal precincts
ME- collars and ten cents, and the book
IN pc mine if l could open the bank.
+ ~ alas! have to wait until ten dollars
tbe CuInulated before l can go in and treat
so4ng man in the shop as II buying an
TboonSSlVe book were nothing to me.
to bs no doubt about it; a woman likes
don,tu as If she didn't mind money l
eomoi pelieve she has any pleasure in life
per 70 selecting a box of fifty-cent pa
6ots ana Offering for 1t a hundred-dollar
t6iDe5 ana regretting that she hasn't any
10 rs smaller. If the people happen not
gooJ any change, it does her so much
'Weu ~ snif contemptuously, and say,
not ~ really, came to buy some paper,
Py 10 provide the shop with change
teres+ re Dye, isn't it curious how the in
tipUe5755 IN Robert Louis Stevenson has con-
onlv 10 be quite honest, l care for
70 6agali e OF his books, but there seems
4 Ing az peen something more than charm
4 nevar out the man, for women who have
for seen him shed tears, bitter tears,
death. IN lie fought so hard against
h ifs5 ,Ie seemed to have found so much
4 he eo5,iLihat was good that it was a pity
Which, 0tu not have had more Of the life
The fra lie crank as eagerly as if it were
is po N1.est burgundy But the book? 1t
The fa{oi the learned ones, it's none of
oL adventure and yet 1t is the