The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-24
AN ODD OLD KENTUCKIAN.
The House He Lives in and the Queer
 Things It Contains.

The House lie Lives m and the queer
 Things It Contains.
 Back in the farming district near Anchorage is one of the most remark
 able residences in the country. It is an
 old place that once was elegant, and
 though it is now almost ruin the ec-
 centricities of it's present owner make it
 much more of show place" than it ever was in the days of it's prosperity. ! Visitors often stop there for peep into the old mansion, but as the owner is recluse not every visitor has his eu- riosity gratified
 The proprietor is a self-taught artist, who has exercised his ingenuity in dec orating the interior of his house in the most fantastic manner To see the decorations is the excuse made by strangers for a visit, but the gentleman himself and the strangeness of his sur roundings create much of the interest. Dickens never imagined more desolate home than this is. Surrounded by fer tile and picturesque land the house stands in a yard that is almost trag- edy.
 It is fenced in with an ornamental iron fence that has been broken and eaten with rust until little of it re- mains-just enough to tell it's story of former elegance About the yard are broken vases; faint outlines show where once were flower beds. Weatherworn pine trees droop their gaunt limbs and sigh dismally, Weeds take the place of grass and flowers. The house tells the same story of lost prosperity. The front porch sags from the wall; boards are lacking in the floor, ard the upper balcony seems tottering. Window panes are broken and those that re- main are so besmeared with dirt that they almost cease to serve their pur- pose The house was built many years ago by an ancestor of it's present occu- pant, am an who was distinguished as having promoted and been president or the, first railroad that ran into Louis- ville It was fine house in it's time, and was the scene of much gaiety.
 When the party 1 was with called at | this old ruin there was much scuffling about among lot of negro children, who seemed to spring from all sorts of | holes and corners Then an old darkey | appeared who undertook to say that our host was at home and would see us. | this gentleman came out and | gave us all most elaborate and court y greeting His attire was striking. He wore a. frock cutaway coat, the apels of which were embroidered. In- stead of a shirt he had on what looked ike a woman's waist, made of black silk and fastened at the back. After we lad explained that we wished to see his works of art and after duly modest protests on his part, he took us into the louse.
 There was not foot of the walls and hardly one of the ceilings that had not ,een frescoed with a painting. One vas a bride standing under an electric ieht, large quantities of white paint be- ng used to get the light effect. An ther painting was nude Christ. In ilace of the traditional fg-leaf piece f upholstering fringe was tackled cross the figure with brass nails. 'here was an old portrait of the rail- :, cad magnate who built the house, and he present owner has appropriately dded railroad train to the picture. Iystcal figures adorn the walls and ailings. In many of the pictures appear face that seems to be a portrait of the rtist himself. A great old mahogany bedstead plac- f I on end stood in a recess in the wall, Q nd within it's frame sideboard was 7, lgeniously contrived. A window had i cen cut in one of the inside walls, and lis was glazed with red and yellow II lass Our host explained that it was T n Easter window, and that the red h lass represented the sunrise, while the n ellow showed the sunset effect. About il
 and, indeed. all over the house, were N lied grasses and flowers h Fixed to the headboard of the own- I, s bed is an old wagon wheel also il ghly decorated. Our host explained h at he did not sleep very well and en- rtained himself when lying awake by h 'inning this wheel. The party was n corted to- the second floor and there d e same conditions existed as down. e