The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877Stewart, George
History
The Story of the Great Fire in St. John, N.B., June 20th, 1877
Stewart, George
Saint John (N.B.) -- Fire, 1877
Mr. Stanton was a New Brunswick artist of fine
taste and decided skill. Mr. Dole also saved some of his water-colours,
notably those by Bell Smith and Frantz. The author lost an excellent
drawing illustrating an idea in Thackeray, and a number of clever
caricatures from the pencil of an amateur artist, Mr. Forbes Torrance,
of Como, besides several engravings of merit, and a massive bronze
figure representing Painting. Mr. Henry Vaughan lost his large costly
painting from the John Miller collection, of Liverpool, England. Mr.
James Stewart lost his whole collection of paintings; several of these
were of his own work, while a number were by foreign artists. Mr.
Stewart copied a landscape painting by an English artist which came out
here as a prize, some years ago, and when his work was finished and the
two paintings hung side by side, the owner did not know which was his
own picture. This copy was for some days in Mr. Notman's studio before
the fire, and it is believed that it is lost, as no trace has been had
of it. The reader will see from this scanty enumeration of known losses,
how great has been the destruction in art-treasures alone. We have not
even hinted at the wholesale destruction of bronzes, bas reliefs and
bits of sculpture and statuary. In these departments the loss has been
also very severe. No money can replace these treasures. These were the
things which rendered home bright and happy. It is the love of art and
literature which refines and beautifies mankind. It is the book and the
picture, and the figure of pale marble which rouse a thousand new
delights. They take away the brutal in our nature. They lift us up as it
were. We look around the room and the eye rests on something beautiful.
We feed our tastes. The picture on the wall refines us, the open book
fills the mind with a hundred delicate, footless fancies. We breathe a
new air. The etchings on the table, the portfolio of drawings and the
books of engravings give to our mind a delight as wonderful as it is
delicate and delicious. Can money replace these? Can money buy for us
these pictures and books which have been for so many years our
companions and friends? Can money replace the bronze figure? Can money
bring to us again the portrait of the dear one who lies out there in the
green wood buried? Can money supply us with that precious volume of
poetry which the author gave us just a year before he died? We may make
our homes bright again. We may hang pictures on the walls. We may fill
to the full our book-cases and hanging-shelves once more with the great
things in literature, but our thoughts will wander back to the days
before the fire came and robbed us of all those delights which peopled
and filled our homes. But we must not give way altogether to gloom and
despondency. We must try and forget the past and devote all our
energies, all our brains and skill to the rebuilding of the homes and
workshops which have been scattered to the winds. We must never rest
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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