Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-01
HI PAINT HABIT.

"a HdAttlC vi Oil ~ NiNSS W
which the head of a family can be ad-
dicted, the paint craze is probably the
most devastating in it's effect upon the
mind, clothing and purse.
Unlike drunkenness and playing on
brass instruments, it is a vice which can
be practiced without publicity, and his
is doubtless one reason why it is so
awfully prevalent.
There seems to be something wonder
fully fascinating in the private paint
brush and the cans Of prepared paint
that are extensively advertised as com
bining the two-fold mission of preserving
| and identifying objects upon which 1t IS
| applied. II.
The mar who has once allowed himself
to paint the kitchen chairs or the dog
kennel, takes a step which he can rarely
ratrace. His thirst for paint grows WITH
indulgence, and he soon comes to reel
! wretchcd unless he has a brush IN ms
hand.
Among private painters there exists
O strange and morbid unwillingness 70
allow a particle of paint to be wasted.
! The man who buys a pound can of blue
paint with which to paint a table, ana
| finds that after the work is done he has
a quarter Of a pound of paint lett, m
stantly tries to find some other article OF
furniture on which to use 1t.
Thus he is constantly led from one ar
ticle Of furniture TO another, and REDUCES
himself to poverty, madness and de-
spair.
The story of a man who was once a
respectable and worthy rate-payer of an
| adjoining municipality, presents a fear
full illustration of the misery caused by
private painting. The man in question
was induced by an indiscreet friend to
buy a pound of red paint with Whlch to
paint a small ~dog-kennel.
Without rejecting upon the danger to
which every one exposes himself VINO
takes the unhallowed brush in his hand
this nan painted the ~dog-kennel ana
with the quarter of a pound that was left
undertook to paint the bathtub-in order,
as he told himself, that the paint should
not be wasted.
He found that when the bathtub was
not more han half painted his supply OF
paint was exhausted, and he therefore
bought another can. With this he fin
ished the bathtub, n had this time
! three-quartcrs of a pound left.
1t was, of course, impossible for him
to allow so much paint to be wasted,
and, accordingly, he began to paint the
six kitchen chairs. There was enough
for five chairs only, and the Wretched
man saw that he could not help buying
a third pound. nearly all of which was
left after the sixth chair was finished.
with hungry eyes and an excited air
he now roalncd through the house seek
ing what he might paint, and finally de-
eide to paint the woodwork of his study.
Two additional pounds were used before
the woodwork was finished, but he found
that in his anxiety to finish the work
without buying a sixth can of red paint
he had laid ON the paint so lightly in
some places that the result dissatisfied
him.
AS a remedy, he resolved to run a mar
row bar of black paint around each
panel, and. therefore,. bought a pound of
the best prepared ivory black. Not more
than half of it had been used when the
work was finished, and it became neces-
sary to find something on which to use
the remainder.
The unhappy man now realized when
it was too late to save himself that he
was a confirmed painter, and that he had
not sufficient strength of will to cast the
accursed paintbrush from him, no matter
if he did thereby waste nearly a pound
Of ivory black. He pursued his down
ward course with great rapidity. Heed
less of the tears of his wife and the en-
treaties Of his daughters, he painted
everything in the house on which a
paintbrush could be laid.
His wife and daughters could not &C
into the street without showing, by their
involuntary patches of black paint, that
the head of their house was a private
painter. His money gradually found its
way into the pocket of the storekeeper
who sold the paint, and his health even
tually gave way under the influence of
painters collie.