There is a story going around that may or may not be true … but
fiction is far more fun than fact … and the world of misinformation
is far more exciting than the world of accuracy … and so–in
following that reasoning-- may I suggest we proceed … the devil
take reality.
Monsters and stuff make for the most beautiful pieces of sculpted
jewelry … probably because ugly is often more beautiful than
beauty. I have this mechanical bank of one ugly Bull Dog you see …
and if you’re wondering how a mechanical bank relates to jewelry …
well … you puts yer pennies in and pretty soon you’ll have enough
to buy a bauble … and that makes a lot of cents … no? No. Wait.
I didn’t say that. Don’t attack. Don’t … yaarrrrghhh.
But what–perish the thought–what if the person who sculpts the dog
who uses the hydrant that quenches the fire that burns the village
… what if that person makes a mistake? What does he do? Egads man
… this is serious. Well … he does what sculptors of days of old
did. He hides his errors with wax.
Here’s the way it goes. In times gone by … after a choice bit of
marble was taken from the quarries … sculptors of the day would
take hammer and chisel in hand and begin hacking and whacking away
till–from a formless blob–a thing of beauty would emerge. But then
… oops … El Sculptorissimo goofs. There’s a crack going down the
bull dog’s face. One of his teeth is split. Oh to fix to fix before
the emperor finds out and cuts some precious anatomical parts off …
causing enormous changes in vocal timber. Fill it all with wax (in
Latin Wax would be Cera) and hide the flaws. Ahhh … much better.
No one will now know the difference.
Yes … but the master sculptor … he whose creations are flawless
… he who works without wax (in Latin Without is: Sin) … his
talents will ensure he will remain a basso profundo for all his
years. He works “Sin Cera” (without wax) and it is from these two
words that "Sincere and Sincerely are derivative. Truth? … or
fiction? Takes yer picks ladies an’ gennulmen. There seems to be
disagreement on this issue.
I have a magnificent image of a Mechanical Bull Dog Bank which is a
sight for thems wot love ugly/beauty. It was designed in 1880 by
J.H. Bowen. Place a coin on the doggy’s nose … pull his tail …
and he opens his mouth and swallows the money. Don’t know the value
… but it’s worth a look see … it is truly a work of art.
And oh yeah … one more thing … before I forget. May you all have
a most wondrous Memorial Day. And I mean this quite “Without Wax”.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Tidbits Graphics … and then click on the link that says: Bull …
where you’ll see an image of a Bull Dog Bank.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark