Evening star., 1945-04-08

very lIubii III llIt pdSG
Times Have half century, a glance at
Chonoed The Star for March %,
1895, and a single tele-
phone call would suffice to convince him.
From the former he would learn that
doors of all white pine" IL inches
thick, could be had from Frank Libbey
& Co., New York avenue and Sixth street
NV, at 90 cents each, while by re-
course to the latter he would discover
that doors currently are priced at $3.50
L. w. DiCkerSOn, manager of the Libbey
Lumber Co, told the writer Of these
words last FRIDAY that the explanation
Of the increase lies in the fact that there
has been lot of progress in his lifetime.
Labor was paid so cents to 81 a day in
1895. whereas comparable wages now
are from Sl.35 to $3.50 an hour.
Then there are greater overhead ex-
penses and larger taxes to be taken into
account. But the basic difference. it
seems, is that of an improvement in
doors as such. You buy better article
now Mr.. Dickerson declared Doors
today are built of Western pine-from
Oregon or the State of Washington
and they are kiln dried and treated with
preservative to make them stronger, to
make them last longer
Garnets rubies and some of the fin
est specimens of gold that he ever had
seen were described
Mineral Wealth by Prof. George P.
Discussed Merrill, curator of
the National Mu-
scum in a lecture reported in The
Star for March 26, 1895, under the
heading: Minerals of the District"
Nuggets Of yellow metal las big as his
thumb the speaker asserted. had come
from within 10 miles of the Capital"
But somehow the gold SO far had been
found in 'chimneyS' and 'thimbles and
Its occurrence was uncertain and lllu-
sorry" Black and white mica tourma-
line, magnetic and hematite were more
common minerals discoverable in the
neighborhood of the Federal City.
A forgotten incident in the life of
William Merritt Chase, distinguished
painter and teach
Chase and Bronze er of painters, was
Statues referred to in The
Star of March 81,
1895, where he was mentioned as be-
ing called into court in New York to
give his opinion of theatrical enter
tainment featuring certain individuals
posing as statues of bronze. 1t had been
complained that the demonstration
outraged public decency''; but Mr..
Chase, an uncompromising artist. testi-
fed: Il should be glad if We had more
exhibitions of the kind. They would
elevate the public morals and the public
taste for great works of art by masters
long dead which have never been
equaled" Five other authorities on
living beauty were in court to support
Mr.. Chase, but they were denied oppor-
tunity to give evidence. Those who
differed with the artists were recorded
as preferring fleshings to bronze paint
X
The Star for March 80, 1895. featured
a story about one of the most indubi-
tably famous char
"UncIe Jerrys" acters in Washington.
Recent;on His name really was
jeremiah Smith, but
everybody called him Uncle Jerry"
From President Grants time onward
for many years he was the janitor of
the White House, "a Mark Tapley in
temperament and Chesterfield in
politeness." When he and his "estimable
helpmeet" celebrated the 25th ami
versary of their wedding, many dis
tinguished officials attended the re-
ception. Gifts of silver were received
from President and Mrs. Cleveland,
Mrs. Grant, Postmaster General Bissell
John Mays, who became an usher at
the Executive Mansion in 1909 and
now is the second oldest member of
the staff in point of length of service,
yesterday said; WELL he was before
my time, but I remember reading about
him. One of his duties was the raising
and lowering of the flag when the
President was at home"
A dispatch from Los Angeles, printed
in The Star of April 2, 1895, reported
that: Judge Clark has
Stronoe Cose overruled the demurrer
OF Islander interposed by Rev. J.
c. Campbell in the suit
charging him with slandering the Ii
brarian of the Los Angeles Public
Library" The clergyman, 1t seems, had