Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 July 1886 — Taking an Eye to Be Pointed. [ARTICLE]

Taking an Eye to Be Pointed.

The young man whose statement that he had obtained a black eye by running against an open door in the dark was [ received with such incredulity and he I.tjtw obliged, to repeat , this stofy so . often that he decided to undergo an operation known as having the eye painted, in order' that he might not perjure himself beyond redemption. He had a vague recollection of having seen a sign, “Black Eyes Painted Here,” while riding on a Third ; Avenue street ear through the Bowery j and he° accordingly mounted the front platform of one of these cars and rode down to find the place. He found it without any. difficulty, in the vicinity of Chatham Square, a location where the trade in black eyes ought to flourish, by the wav. the first sign, “Black Eyes Painted Here,” pointed around a corner. Here another sign on a photographer’s case pointed to a hallway, amj on every landing and at the foot of every flight for four flights of stairs was the sign,. “Photograph Gallery. Black Eyes Painted,” indicating a surprising versatility on the part of the artist. Up these four flights of stairs the youth With the black eye toiled perspiringly, and finally found himself in the photographer’s reception room, where two or three young women and one embarrassed young man were waiting. It was totally unnecessary for the young man with the black eye to announce what he had come for. The eye saved him the trouble, and the young woman in charge of the gallery said: * “Gen’l’man to ’tend to you be out in a minute.” The other young women giggled, the embarrassed young man cheered up a trifle, and the young man with the black eye looked as dignified as possible under the circumstances. It was a very superior person who at the expiration of a few minutes, during which the patient held a newspaper before his face and affected to be interested in it, came out into the reception room. He did not need to be informed what the young man had called for, either, but bade him summarily: - “Come in here,” and led him into the photographing room under the skylight. “Take a seat,” he said, pointing to a chair before the camera. “I don’t want my picture taken, you know,” said the young man with the black eye, and added a feeble joke about looking better for a photograph when his eye got well. The black-eye artist ignored the joke, and said: “I know you don’t want no picture.” Then he proceeded to mix up a species of white paint upon a palette, an operation that required several minutes, during which time the man with the black eye engaged in a hopeless task to stare the photographer’s assistant —a dirty boy-—out of countenance. It was hopeless, because the boy only stared at the black eye and grinned. Finally the black-eye artist approached with the pallette, and the young man asked: “What is that stuff?” “That’s a secret,’’ responded the artist., “Well, is there any danger of its injuring my eye?” pursued the young man. “Naw,” said the artist briskly. “It’s both healing and concealing. Look up at the roof. ” The young man with the black eye gazed heavenward, and the artist applied the paint, whereupon the young man involuntarily closed his eye. “Open that eye!” said the artist sternly, with the "brush uplifted. The young man did as he was bidden, and the artist painted the face carefully close up to the lids and for half an inch below. When he got through the young man’s face, felt as if a heavy plaster was pasted over it. The blackeye artist brought him a mirror, and as the othergazediate itpiakk— ——— “Don’t get any soap on that, or rub it with a towel. Fifty cents. ” The young man found that the preparation was" sq nearly tho color of the skin that the fact that it was applied was only apparent on dose scrutiny. He ventured to ask the artist if he did much business. - “I paint about ten men every day,” the artist, who was a youth of few words, said. “There’s always two or 'three fights a night around 'here, and I can fix a man u.p so. that even his wife won’t know he’s been hurt. You see a black eye is always worse the second and third days, and I have to paint it at first so that the discoloration spreads underneath. Yes, it requires skill to paint a man’s eye. ” And the young man with the painted eye passed out into the street and was saluted by the young lady in the . reception room, with the remark: “Now you look like a whiteman agin. Next time you git into a fight you know where to come. ” — New York Sun.