The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-06-04
TURNED OUT A DELUSION.
The Transatlantic Travel and The
Seaside Resorts.
A CHANGING OF SENTIMENTS.


one to pay well for articles of patriotic in
tercst.
One day late In 1892 he sent an agent TO
the auction sale at Philadelphia OF the
collection made by the late j. G.. Mcguire
of Washington. Whether tho agent bought
freely or not is not of record, but no did
get one article of which Mr.. Straus was
exceedingly proud for nearly a month.
This article was nothing loss than de-
llghtfully quaint piece Of antique porcelain
listed OH the catalogue as Martha Wash
ington's fruit stand.' And indeed 1t was
dainty affair Of itself, though Mr..
Straus' great pride in its possession lay in
its associations OF course tho agent didn &
get it without a struggle, there being sew
eral bidders almost rs determined rs he
However. Mr.. Straus considered that the
price paid, $3.50, was moro than reasonable
and he put in several days congratulating
himself on the cheapness with which he
had acquired so rare n relic. Moreover, he
was confirmed in his impression by an
offer OF $500 from friend to whom the
dish was exhibited.
How He Was Undeceived.
Naturally that pieco Of porcelain soon
became one OF the show articles in the
Straus home, and nearly every person to
whom IL was exhibited congratulated the
owner and praised its beauty in unstinted
terms. But one day it was shown TO an
expert who looked at 1t a long time be-
fore saying word.
"WellS" interrogated Mr.. Straus after
several minutes Of impressive silence.
"Well, replied the friend, who chanced
to be business associate, I'm sorry, but
we still have several dishes exactly like
that down at tho store, any one OF which
you could have had for the asking. They
were made just before the centennial cx-
hibition In 1875 and were sold at Phila-
delphia in that year as souvenirs, though
frankly termed rcplicas of the real thing,
at $l.75 each. They went very well, too,
though they were not all sold, and, as I
have said, we still have several In stock.
"What makes me certain that this is one
OF our souvenirs is tho fact that we could
not initiate the fabric of tho original dish
with absolute accuracy, and this ono has
tho peculiarities of our dishes. To make
it more interesting" concluded the speak
er, "dishes like this and, in fact, replicas
vi VoEhib8upi Shoho stS 'tst
were made by your own order, skillful
worker In porcelain being sent to Wash
ington for the express purpose of copying
the original set, which is kept at the capi-
tai In the care Of the government.
Mr.. Straus remembered tho circum-
stances at once, but no could not believe
he had been tricked until tho expert who
copied the original set had been sent for.
He identified the dish promptly as his own
handiwork, and Straus then acknowledged
that the joke was on him.
Transatlantic Travel and the Shore.
AS the weeks pass without anything
serious being done by the Spaniards on
the sea transatlantic travel Is beginning
to pick up amazingly. The revival is by
no means of sufficient volume to make the
total sailings equal those of previous years,
of course, but still the number Of Ameri-
can visitors to European cities is now
found to be two or three times as great
this season as was looked for a few weeks
ago. And some of tho companies, notably
those operating the new and phenomenally
fast vessels, are going to have pretty
good summer after all.
Ono of the most famous of these ships
has made hardly a single trip as yet with
out full complement of passengers, and
sailing days at the piers of the company
fortunate enough to own her present all
the hustle and hurry that wero features In
the flushest days Of tho past. That all the
ships of the American limo and several OF
the smaller ones of tho other lines have
been temporarily withdrawn no doubt
contributes share TO tho good business
on the big boats Of course.
II Is worth mentioning also that a SIM
liar state Of revival Is beginning with re-
gard to the seaside resorts. It Is true that
they will not bc SO well patronized at the
beginning Of the season as usual, but
am informed by the proprietor OF one
large shore hotel that his present book
ings are so satisfactory that he has recon.
sidercd his determination to keep the
house closed, and that he looks for decid-
edly good business in the latter half Of
the season.
Changing Sentiments.
Quite as significant rs these changes
from fear to confidence arc tho changes of
sentiment regarding the future Of this
country that arc going on daily in this
town.
Before the breaking out of the present
war IL is probable that Mt least half of the
voters In New York were dead set against
the annexation Of Hawaii. Now, whilo
there is still n strong minority opposition
TO extending our possessions by annoxa-
ton, thero Is probably decided ma
jority In favor Of tho proceeding. A
corresponding change with regard TO
the size of our standing army In
future Is also taking place, and this is
especially truo In the ranks Of "organ-
lied labor" In the past 10 has been
the cry in union circles that the only ex-
cuse for ON enlarged army was the capital
lists desire to have an armed force always
In hand to help put down strikes. There
are many union men who still hold the
same Views, but they are less numerous
thnn formerly, and the sentiment that
Uncle Sam should never again be without
enough trained soldier boys 90 man all
our forts and do bit OF prompt Invasion
l.. a.