The labor world., 1900-02-17

aside dusty curtain in one of the
studios and find staring rows of the
trunkless heads of old friends. They
are a motley crowd. with nothing in
common save that they have. ceased to
be interesting, and the public is
through talking about them and their
originals. Just now Garcia, De Les
sepa and Gladstone are in the front
row. -
We'll melt them down soon," says
the cheerful artist; and the reporter
meditates on the mutability of human
affairs.
The great musicians were relegated
to limbo some time ago in order to
make room for a group Of persons
talked about Wagner, Beethoven
and. List We're the only ones who es-
capped this fate, and they have gen
eral air of being i'll at ease among the
persons talked about" and wishing
that they, too, had perished with their
peers, whose heads now decorate the
IBluebeard's closet upstairs. The per
| sons talked about were for the most
part. like Hobson, willing to give sit
tings to the Musee artists. Not only
did they give sittings They gave
| clothes. Not that they have posed in
the altogether. Far from it, but, after
their figures were ready, Anna Held,
| Mrs Fiske, Mrs. Carter and the rest
| furnished costumes which they had
| Worn in their plays. True to the rul-
| ing feminine passion, the originals turn
UP at the iMusee, at short intervals,
11,o
costumes. 1t vexes the souls Of the at
tendants and officials. but it has to be
done. Mrs. Langtry and Mr.. Croker
qualified for the Musee when the
talked about credentials were de-
clared sufficient, but one of the at
ltendants prophecies a short career for
both.
They'll go soon, and Bryan and
Dreyfus and Anna Held will go with
them. We've got to make room, ana
none Of this push will hold out long,
except >those musical guys. The heroes
and the rulers, they're pretty steady;
but nobody talks about anybody more
1 than few days. We've got julius
Caesar group, and Marshall P. Wilder,
and Sinonides and Iris, and Sousa and
Joubert coming on. Then there's all
them British heroes Kitchener and
Roberts and Butler. I can't see as
| they've done much yet, but we've got
to have them ready, for fear they do
break out and shoot a Boer or do some
thing fierce. So you see we must make
Iroom, and some of these literary and
artistic folks will have short iite''
At the Musee the sword is. mightier
than the pen.
| The making of these wax figures is
a more complicated and difficult mat
ter than the casual visitor to the Musee
limagines. In the .Workrooms scores Of
lmen and women are kept constantly
busy. Competent sculptors make the
designs for ideal groups and portrait
| figures, working from life models or
photographs. When the plaster cast
is finished it is passed on to the wax
modellers. Usually only, the head
limbs and perhaps some small portion
Iof the body are of wax and the casts
for these portions are separate. The
wax modeller takes white beeswax, 1m-
ported from Russia, and dyed to the
tint which will serve as a basis for
the flesh tint he wants. The melted
wax is poured into the casts, and when
| it is colored and hardened to the thick
ness of two inches on the surface the
rest Of the wax is poured out, leaving
the hollow wax cast, which is taken
from the plaster cast and painted as
carefully as one would paint por-
trait In oils. After that the glass eyes,
prepared beforehand and inserted from
Inside the head and stuck in with melt
led wax. Next, the head is passed on
to the coiffeur who has the necessary
hair ready and pricks it into the scalp
| with fine needles. He also pricks the
eyelashes and browns into the face;
Meanwhile the carpenters have put to-
gether a jointed framework for the
body and the paper workers have
covered it with a papier mache body
moulded from the plaster cast. Last
of all the figures goes to the costumer
who must be scrupulously accurate in
every detail. Accuracy is the fetch Of
the Musee management and, for ex-
ample, in the representation of d scene
| in the .barbette of the Olympia every
thing wa modelled from exact speciti-s
l:cations furnished by: the government.
The Musee sworkneh are busy now
with some work for the. government
(which is to be finished in time for. the
Paris. Exposition and to be displayed
there. There are to: be. three groups
of separate figures. one showing Of
Ificers and sailors of our navy. another,
officers and privates of our army, and
the third illustrating the development
and the departments of our postal de-
EHvery----the. Indian +; ca rrier.. with MS
sledse and dogs, the cowboy carrier
on his : horse, the messenger. ~er his
fbieycle, etc. AS the: French have a rep
utation in the .waxworks field, the: art
lists here are eager to produce some-
! thing that. will give the worklnen Of
the Musee grevin point or two. Work
done for the government isl the only
work ever sold outright by the Eden
Musee. All. other groups, done for
| large shop: displays, &c, are only rent
ed and eventually returned, to the
Musee, which in this way protects its
models and designs and keeps all its
casts as exclusive property.-New York
Sun. y ! +.
| SOL kLEIN'S ADMINISTRATORS.