The record-union., 1897-01-24
MAKE-BELIEVE ELEGANCE.
rIarble That is Not Marble and Carved
Wood That is Not Wood.

People who live in large cities where
the struggle for existence whets the
inventive genius and stimulates COM
petition, often learn the truth of the old
saw: Things are seldom what they
SEEM" Shams and limitations of all
kinds are placed upon the market, and
the limitations range in all branches and
lines of business, from skim-milk which
masquerades as cream to the piece of
of glass which has to do service as a
"real diamond" These frauds are
transparent to a great part of the pop
ulation, and the sham jewelry, sham
fur and the humbugs generally are
palmed off on that class of the popula-
tfon which would rather have an im-
tation than nothing, or upon the rural
visitor who lives in blissful ignorance
of many tricks of the various trades.
But some Of the great metropolitan
buildings which have been erected re-
Gently have within their walls shams in
the way of decorations which are so
we'll made, SO artistically constructed
that they are looked upon as genuine
by men to whom the average sham is
an open book. In q building which was
recently erected in the residence part Of
the city there are groups of columns
which look to the casual observer like
shafts of highly colored marble, scanned
and veined so intricately and colored so
harmoniously that a person with ap-
probation for the beautiful could not
help noticing them and praising their
beauty.
But they are not marble said one
who knew all about the builders shams.
They are not even stone. The highly
polished columns are made of iron ana
decorated to initiate marble"
but the surface feels like stone and
not at all like metal"
1T is not metal, nor is it stone" was
the, experts reply. "Over the surface
OF the iron column there is a coating,
the chief ingredient of which is pow
dered marble. This coating is several
inches thick, and becomes a solid, ho-
mogenous mass, susceptible to the high
est polish; and when it has been rubbed
down and painted its general appear
ance will deceive most people,
In the same building there are cor
nices and panels which seem to the
casual observer masterpieces of the
carver's art, but the garlands and
groups of fruits and flowers which ap-
pear to be stone and ivory and polished
wood are only plaster or prepared pa.
per pulp coated with colors which aid
in the work of deception. Ceilings
which represent great areas of carved
and chiseled stone are only plaster. and
the fiuted columns surmounted by high
ly ornate capitals which stand near the
great make-believe monoliths may be
SkHd with tho ySy~,,I of
shown to be plain, ordinary wood. dis
guised and masquerading under colors
and tints artistically applied
The "Altdeutsche Bierstube" the
Dutch taproom and the old English
banqueting hall, with their dark wood
furniture, unfinished ceilings and mas
sive carvings, have all been reproduced
in some of the modern metropolitan
buildings, and one of the most recent
of these furnishes an artistic sample
of the decorators ability to deceive
over an open fireplace there is a hood,
which looks like piece of carved wood
black with age. The general design is
carried along on the top of an equally
dark wainscotting which encircles the
room. The knowing man who shows all
this to the visitor whom he favors with
his confidence, reveals the fact that the
hood over the fireplace, the mantel
carvings and the ornamental wainscot-
ing are not wood at all, but plaster,
and that the darkness was produced by
well-mixed paint and not by time.
But the rafters overhead" said the
visitor, pointing to the exposed pieces,
they are of the same color, just as
dark and possessing the same degree
of polish-how about them?'
Why" said the guide, they are
made of the same material as the fire
place ornaments. Sham rafters and If
you could get at them you would see
that there is no wood about them"
1t was said in explanation that the
plaster rafters were not put in to save
money, and that hard wood might have
been used without extra expense. But
by the use of wood the weight upon the
frame would have exceeded the archi-
tect's calculations; hence the lighter
material was resorted to, and in that
instance the deception was prompted
by the builders precaution.
In all modern buildings said the
decorator may be found examples of
work which was put in to represent
something which it is not, but the ef-
feet is always pleasing, and the fact
that the work is so we'll done and that
1t deceives people who know the real
things when they see them shows that
the industry has developed artists in
that field New York Tribune