Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-11-13
TESTIMONY OF ROCKS
TO THE BUSINESS OF AMERICAN
MERCHANTS.
MOUNTAIN SIDE ADVERTISEMENTS.
How the Beauties Of Nature Are
Mnrred-some Very Ancient Signs
street venders-Bricfs and Per-
sOnnls from Alton.
Correspondence of the Dispatch.)

correspondence OF the DlSpatcn)
ALTON, VA, November lin a jaunt
across the mountains the other day 1
was struck with the downright business
cheek of the American merchant.
Autumn leaves blazed In beauty above;
lichens and late, vivid flowers chung in
the inches OF gray rocks. the blue sky
hung like an azure dome over field and
forest below me; and yet-regardless of
sentiment and scattering poetry to the
wild winds Of a stony "ad'-the immense,
gray boulders were but cheap signboards
lining the steed road from Alton to the
mountain top.
And the best of signboards they made,
too! They don't blow down, no limit is
held for the rent, no property-owner
comes sternly up and countersigns
post no bills here" no big mogul OF an
advertiser travels around in state and
subjects these signboards TO a smaller fry,
struggling for bread; no agents ahead;
no-nothing but paint pot and nature
TO do the rest.
No small boy interferes with these
signs, nor does some other poster-man
spread the Haunting skirts of a newer
star over the horse Iniment" OF last
week.
The only enemy is the elements.
These sign rocks are mostly embellish-
ed with glazing letters setting forth the
virtues of this or that commodity 10 be
found "over the Ridge" in Waynesboro'
| or Staunton.
Conspicuous among the advertisements
are drugs, and first among the drugs
since the autumn winds and neuralgia
season set mare the headache" cures.
Some OF these ads" newly painted,
had been washed away in streaks by the
late rains.
AS old Dobblns lelsurely climbed the
steep ascent, 1 spelled out the broken
sentences. Into a timers sign the heal
ache remedy ran: Head" 'of tin or
IRON" and finished grotesquely with
clothier's notice, on rock mile away;
I'm latest fashions for man or boy"
A FASCINATION.
I think there is peculiar fascination
I'm Observation-Disclosures of the chest
nut joke that women read nothing else
in newspaper-and L do not wonder
that a well-displayed "ad" Is counted
now among the finer arts. The beauty,
taste, and variety of modern signboards
when one comes to think at all OF the
subject is something wonderful. More
than that II must be a good custom
which has survived for two thousand
years When the art Of reading was by
no means general, the signboard was an
emblem, and was a much better adver-
tisement than a name. Failing daily
newspaper one can see how forcible was
a painted sign. AS far back as the
Christian era symbolic signs were known
in Italy to distinguish the various trades.
Discoveries at Pompeii have revealed
bas-reliefs of a mule in a section OF
l.r.lrr h..trn -
goat on the front of dairy, and Of
shoemaker bidding for custom by a
floating Cupid, with a half-boot balanced
on his curly head and waving its fellow
in the air
The picturesque, square. swinging sign
board so often told OF by English novel
lists was the outgrowth Of the symbol
The signboard was progressive AT first,
Tor the most part, they bore heraldic de-
vices of animals birds, fish, and flowers,
or figures of a religious character; saints,
martyrs, and monks disported themselves
thereon, and sometimes among mechan-
les. were the tools of the artisan.
we can imagine 'Praise-God Barebones"
and his cronies quafiing their foaming
tankards of ale at the inn called God
Encompasseth U.s." or beneath the creak-
ing sign of alpha Beta" These fell
from their high estate to THE Goat and
the Compass" with prancing beast and
mathematical instrument on the sign
board. or as the Alphabet" with all the
letters from a to u printed over the
door. After this the transition was
rapid and easy TO the lettered board Of
to-day
BY ARTISTS.
In that far time artists of note scorned
not to try their prentice hand in painting
AQadpmipian
the public a blue lion or a green unicorn,
and thought his country well served.
Among these painters, old art notes say,
were Hogarth and Richard Wilson.
/ like to read the signs in strange
city, and if you try it once you will be-
neve as | do, that they read two ways,
and have often a meaning beyond the
! bare letters.
Did you ever notice sex In signs7
Some doubling Thomas cries: 1.-The ideal
| Who ever heard OF such a thingV
Go up the street some meditative morn
| ing and take this sweet-faced sign: "Ori-
entail Cream Of Roses" and hang IT by
the side of this legend: Pool, IL cents
per cue"
The first is just as feminine as the last
/ is masculine. Or this other conceited sign
board. BE Plump and Beautiful. Toilet
Requisites Here" Set il cheek by jowl
with Don't Spit ON the Floor" and
| what have we Of gender?
And did you never notice the old, old
| signs that somehow remind one Of "Old
Mortality" and that spurn fresh paint
and new letters as though proud of their
| aged. Wrinkled, old-established expert
ence? These say, as pat as pie-crust,
| "We've been In the business a long time
| If you want the best, come here!'
/ saw this little sign once by a modest
| doorway in a southern city: