Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-01-12
THIS WOMAN PHILATELI

Of this strange collection dates back
many years. The first chair OF the set
that was decorated was owned in Nir-
ginia. in the middle of the last century.
Gradually. the chair passed from hand
TO hand until at last it came into the
possession of Mrs. Wilson.
This chair IS noticeable, in the accom-
panying illustration, which was drawn
from a photograph, ny its general quaint
appearance and its particularly straight
back 1t came from the banks OF the
James river. 1t was with the idea OF
identifying and preserving the piece mat
Mrs. Wilson began decorating with post
age stamps.
Since this ancient relic of Colonial days
has been adorned in the unique manner
shown in the picture, seven other arti-
cles of furniture have received similar
treatment. until now the whole forms
one of the most peculiar results OF the
curio-collector's art that IS eXtant.
The collecting Of postage stamps IS
something in which many persons are
engaged. and thousands more interested
IT is really the only fad in which old and
young find equal enjoyment. The htte
miss not yet in the grammar school ana
her mother at home both pursue with
equal eagerness the accumulation or those
little bits of gummed paper which carry
articles through the mails the world
over. Strange and unique are the forms
the collections take in order that they
may be properly preserved. But Mrs.
Wilson's is the queerest OF them all.
QUAINT ARRANGEMENT.
Included in the tiny specimens
Of stamps. which conceal every vestige
of woodwork about the furniture which
they adorn. are stamps from everywhere
that the international postal system
reigns, and several places where no eX-
change Of mail matter has yet been
agreed upon. All these are arranged IN
a manner as quaint as the idea itself.
II must not be supposed that Mrs. VIII
sons patriotism is of so light an ORDER
that she would permit any other thah
the stamps Of the United States to be IN
the majority There are the faces Of
every President who has been allowed
to he made a sample of the steel-en-
graver's art. from Washington down.
There are odd old stamps which most
neonle have forgotten ever existed, stamps
only known to the stamp collector, as q
rule. and which would be immensely val
uable by themselves. All these curios are
of orr own make, that have borne mis-
sives on many a strange errand. Every
one has been cancelled, and therefore
each of them has had it's use before it
reached it's present condition. IL only
these stamps of the United States alone
could talk. they could tell a composite
story stranger than any tale ever writ
ten by novelists. 1t almost seems as you
see them so firmly struck upon the MS
torical furniture that they are mute rel
les of experiences which history would De
so much more complete II 1t contained
mill
There are stamps that journeyed about
in the crazy postal conveyances which
carried the mail that was not Uncle Sam
during the days when civil war waged
relentlessly. There are one or two
stamps that were used when California
was the Golden Gate TO so many fortune
seekers. The nations history is plastered
all over this furniture, and the story that
might be told about it, if the truth were
known. would no doubt make it vie in IN
terest in the eyes Of the American peo-
nle with the treasures of Mount Vernon,
the sacred relics at Springfield, or those
remembrances to which all the world
bows at Galena.
There is TO particular method of ar
rangement Of this nearly a million OF
stamps. Noble and peasant are side by
side. and the comInonest bit of postage
evidence Is just az iihNiy ~ NAAfN a B't'A
ton of honor as the big piece OF gummed
paper with two figures on it. Evidently
Mrs. Wilson believes with the poet, that
rank is but the guinea stamp.
FOREIGN SPECIMENS
OF the foreign specimens OF postal ne
cessities. there are very many, and as odd
are they as they are numerous. The
oueer looking dark colored affair that
comes from the land Of the Cossack and
Of Tolstoi seems strangely out Of place,
lodged for life on bit of wood In town
where the very essence OF freedom is in
the air Itself Properly enough, there
nestles close 10 the reminder Of the Little
Fataer's country. the stately and benign
ant face of her Gracious Majesty on
whose empire the sun never sets. Along
side of these two is the jolly postal en-
HEM of Roumania, while the Kaisers
Youthful face looks out at you from his
neishbor that once brought a letter from
the land that now Is wrenched with the
taIes of SHAREHOLDERS assassination.
The King Humbert looks out from
roar nv. whie-and one may almost fancy
n sneers-a type of the face that frowns
savoeely on everything Americas Is seen.
And from everywhere peep al you coun-
tanances which European history ana
current events make US familiar with.
while the fame of Mrs. Wilson's queer