On another occasion a rich manufacturer of Birmingham managed to secure an entrance into the artist's house, after considerable parley with the disagreeable janitress whom Turner employed. He hurried upstairs to the gallery. In a moment Turner dashed out upon him with anything but a hospitable air. The visitor bowed politely and introduced himself, saying he had come to buy some pictures.
"Don't want to sell," said the artist gruffly.
"Have you ever seen our Birmingham pictures, Mr. Turner?" inquired the visitor blandly.
"Never heard of 'em," returned the artist.
The manufacturer now took an attractive package of crisp Birmingham bank-notes from his wallet.
"Mere paper," said Turner contemptuously.
"To be bartered for mere canvas," retorted the visitor calmly, waving his hand in the direction of some paintings.
This ready wit and tone of cool depreciation had the effect of putting the erratic artist in a good humor at once. He changed his manner immediately, and not long after his visitor departed, having bought several fine paintings, and leaving the comfortable sum of five thousand pounds behind him.
(860)
See Odd Behavior.
ECHOES
The explanations provided by the method
of fairy tales are based upon the evidence of
things that can not be perceived and upon
assumptions that can not be tested. Take,
for instance, the explanation of an echo; to
the primitive mind, hearing the repetition of
its shout, and conscious of only speaking
once, is it not inevitable one should suppose
that the shout came from another person?
A futile search in the wood or under the
cliff would lead to the thought that the person
was hiding, and the more naturally, as
on coming to the cliff whence the shout
seemed to come one's call would receive no
answer. As at other times such mocking answers
would always come from the same
place, what more natural than to think that
some person or spirit dwelt there? Hence
such a story as Lander tells of his voyage
down the Niger: "As they came to a creek
the captain shouted, and where an echo was
returned half a glass of rum and a piece of
yam and fish were thrown into the water.
On asking the reason why he was throwing
away the provisions thus, he was answered:
'Did you not hear the fetish?' And so, in
South Pacific myth, echo is the first and
parent fairy to whom divine honors are paid
as the giver of food, and as she 'who speaks
to the worshipers out of the rocks.'"—William
Schooling, Westminster Review.
(861)
Economic Injustice—See Injustice.
ECONOMIC MOTIVES
We know that an extremely severe medical
examination is imposed upon immigrants
to the United States, and that entrance into
this country is pitilessly denied to those who
seem even merely puny and sickly. The
result of this examination is that the ocean
transportation companies must return to
their countries, at their own cost, rejected
immigrants. To avoid this expense, the
companies of the various countries have decided
to take all the precautions necessary
for protecting the health of their passengers.
Thus, at Hamburg a company has had great
halls built to shelter emigrants during their
stay in the port before their embarkation;
and, the results having been favorably recognized,
they are going to build booths, capable
of containing each 120 beds, arranged in accordance
with the rules of up-to date
hygiene, each group of four booths to be
provided with a special booth fitted up as a
laundry, with vapor-baths, etc. We know,
on the other hand, that the establishment of
sanatoriums for consumptives had its origin
in Germany in similar anxieties on the part
of the insurance companies. Thus it is that
the care of the pocketbook is still the surest
motive power of social progress. (Text.)
(862)
ECONOMY
We are enjoined to "lay aside every weight" in our Christian career. One way to do this is to study the art of reducing our necessities to the lowest terms, like this umbrella:
A twenty-six-inch umbrella that will fold
up and go in an inside pocket without
crowding has been invented and constructed
by a Minneapolis man, we are told in The American Inventor. Says this paper: "This
seems almost incredible until the secret is
told. The handle and all the ribs consist of
fine and very strong steel tubes, in sections,
which telescope one inside the other. The
covering is of very fine silk, which takes up
but little room. The wooden handle of the
umbrella is hollow and receives all the rest
