The Portland daily press., 1898-01-08
RELATIVE OF A QUEEN.
The Remarkable Descent of Woman In
SIKH Avenue Trade in New York.

SIKH Avenue Trade in New York.
(From the New York Commercial Adver-
tissr.) r.
Tucked away in an out OF the way
neighborhood of Sixth avenue Is slhail
shop, long and narrow, like tunnel Ii
contains q number Of curious things. Ihe
most curious, perhaps, is the manager
character whom Dickens would nave
liked to sketch. She ia little woihaii'
wfthfsoft white. hair, soft blue eyes "a sou
voice and 81 marked propensity sfor talN-
ing. She belong, as she informs the
casual visitor, during the first fifteen
minutes of his stay, to the Hyde family
of England, direct descendants OF queen
Anne, while her husband is a relative Oh
George Washington!
The aristocratic pair claim to have been
the first merchants In New York to ln'-
port fine Japanese goods. In the oidsaays'
before the Centennial, they had urge
establishment on Front street. Ihey
brought over forty Japanese worknen,
artists in embreideries and bronzes, ana
wont into the business OF manufacturing
on American soil those exquisite products
of the. East. The experiment. faaiea' now
ever. The- establishment was broken up,
the Japanese drifted away, died or went
home, and the descendants OF Queen Anne
and George Washington mourn the de-
parted glory of their house.
| There is little In the outward appearance
of the tiny shop to hint at its character
to attract the ATTENTION of the passerpy
| Its one window shows u rather common
place arrangement in blue and Whlee--
nothing but white ana blue por,elains'
backed by bamboo portieTe and plue
kimmono hanging in one corner. IL Is
the sort Of thing to appeal to those people
who, come in, rs the little manager salu'
withya fine expression Of scorn, ana
want something forzfve cents" They go
away disappointed, however, for there Is
nothing for five cents In the shop; thoss
blue and white dishes are boullion cups
at $12 dozen and single dishes at ~. oo,
and so on. But there are more interest
ing things inside.
OF course there is smell Of sandalwood
and Chinese incense. Down at the emo
Of the tunnel Japanese in American
clothes, the sole representative of the
former forty, is working away, FASTING
something. The only other occupant, be-
sides the relative Of Queen Aune, is
bright green parrot in 3 cage. The bird
is silent-indeed he does not often get q
chance to put in a woodland he looks
mournfully at an empty cageson the op-
posite Shelf Here indeed is an odd med
ley of things, valuable and otherwise
dainty Japanese teapots, some cheap Man
chester ware, solid, blue, English and
ugly, looking strangely out OF place
among the graceful Oriental shapes, and
two queer, old-fashioned she'll combs,
also descended from the Hyde family.
On the walls between silk gowns embroid
cred in gold hang two plaster medallions
Of Mckinley and Hobart, photograph Of
the lamented forty Japanese, and
French water color Of Louise Quatorze
taking leave of La Valliere. Below is q
small glass.casa, containing specimens Of
almost priceless ware, the Opaque
Satsuma. Satsuma decoration in gold or
porcelain, and enamels on porcelain anc
on metal. There are tiny coffee cups IL
Satsulna at fabulous prices, and some il
another ware called the Hundred Wist
Men," Around the cup and saucer il
represented a procession of thoss disciples
of Confucius. The design is said to date
from the time of the Chinese cage, ane
the faces of the Hundred Wise Men art
said to be actual pc ftraits.
In the dark corners Of the shelves one
catches glimpses of tail, old vases II
bronze, black with time, with wonderful
&c q animals, crabs and reptiles crawling
over them. These count their age anf
price, too. by the hundreds. Below them
is rose-jar in earthenware, with gill
designs, containing potpeurri OF peculiar
and delicious fragrance.
II am says Madame, mournfully
"the toriginator of The potpourrf.
brought the recipe from Japan; was the
first to make 1t. But ofscourse people. go
it away from me, and have made thous
auda Of dollars while l got nothing
That's the way of the world-the peopi,
who invent things never make the
profit"
Madame, in fact, takes a gently gloomy
view of life. Business is extremely bad
che says. The Chino-Japanese war hur
the trade, and the new tariff seems tt
have given the finishing blow. The firm
no longer import anything, except upor
order from some of theirsold customers, O.
whom they retain few.
Opening drawer the little woman
pulls ont some wonderful embroidered
robes in crepe and the softest silk: Their
are some In white, embroidered in th'
faintest colors. She stescribes the Graz
years ago for curtains mnde of these robe
and tells how she sold to Mr.. Vanderbilt {
at $50 apiece, q humber CT them. to b.
used as draperies in house he wa
furnishing.
In another drawer aressome gowns fo
child of nine OF ten years. They are IL
the traditional Japanese shape, and arr
made of peculiar fabric of raw SILK
| gaudily lowered in red and blue, waddet
and soft to the touch. Madame's daugh
r tor, it appears. married a Japanese. ant
there Is u child for whom those prett,
things were imported.
> Vanderbiltois not the only aristocrati
, name in the annals tof the shop. Man,
\ OF the old New York families patronizet
= it in the old days and some are faithful