862. Stone Quarry.—Says a recent publication: “A man who has a quarry of good building stone, easily accessible, is richer than if he owned a gold mine.” But there are immense numbers of such quarries unworked and even unsuspected. It is not too much to say that there are at least a thousand farmers bemoaning unproductive land which contains beneath the surface that which can make them richer than anything they can possibly grow from the soil.
863. Artificial Stone.—Many kinds of artificial stone are now employed, such as Ransom’s concrete, Portland stone, etc. They are made by a mixture of cement, sand and gravel, and are molded into blocks. The value depends upon the kind of cement. No really good lime for this purpose has yet been found in the United States. The man who can discover a calcareous deposit capable of making a good, silicious or argillaceous hydraulic lime will have the market for manufactured stone practically in his hands.
864. Baked Brick.—Late improvements in baking brick have reduced the time required to bake 100,000 bricks from fourteen to four days, and the amount of fuel from forty cords of wood to sixteen. The following suggestions by a brick-burner will show the path of fortune to those who can reduce the time still further. Mix a little charcoal in the clay. Double the length of the brick. If by either of these ways you can make the bricks a trifle cheaper, while retaining their qualities, you have acquired a fortune. “Lucky” Baldwin, a man afterward famous for his mining and real estate speculations, made his first large money in brick-burning. “I had no experience whatever then,” he said, “but I studied up the subject, thoroughly mastered the details, and cleared $1,500 in a month.”
865. Glass Brick.—Another new idea! Why not make a brick of glass, partially hollow, so that, filled with rarefied air, it can be a non-conductor of heat? Such a brick would be a great improvement on the present method of constructing conservatories, greenhouses and the walls of winter gardens. The plan is being tried in Europe, but there is no patent on the introduction, and nothing to stop an American from introducing a new kind of hothouse. The adage about the “man in a glass house” may be realized yet.
866. Rubber Floors.—Why do we go on in the old way, employing rough-sounding and creaking flooring, when there is a material which meets every want for a desirable floor? India rubber tiles prevent slipping, emit no sound under the foot, and have the additional element of an agreeable elasticity. It is a positive pleasure to walk on an India rubber floor. It is, of course, more expensive than wood, but the time is surely coming when every elegant dwelling, all expensive halls and public buildings, as well as the saloon decks of our first-class steamships, will have these improved floors. A man, ambitious to be rich and possessing a few thousands of capital, could hardly do a better thing than to manufacture rubber interlocking tiles, advertising them extensively and exhibiting models to builders.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MONEY IN AMUSEMENTS.
Money in Fun—Salary of a “Star”—A Fortune in “A Parlor Match”—A Pianist Who Got $2,500 a Night—How to Get a Start on the Stage—A New Field for the Amusement Artist—Humor and Hard Cash in Shadowgraphs—What Max O’Rell Earned on the Lecture Platform—Money in the Traveling Show—The Greatest Money Burning in the United States—Fortunes in Fireworks.
People who cater to public amusements are so many, their entertainments so diverse and their talents so unequal, that no general statement can be made about the remuneration for this kind of work. There are “stars” at the top who receive from $200 to $1,000 per night, and there are “mediocres,” or worse, at the bottom who barely eke out a living at $7 a week. No one should enter this field unless his talent is equal to his ambition. Here are a few of the prizes taken before the footlights:
867. The Farce Comedy.—Evans and Hoey purchased a comedy entitled “A Parlor Match.” Mr. Evans says: “We played it over 3,000 times, and at a rough estimate I think we must have cleared from $300,000 to $400,000.”
868. Instrumental Concerts.—The possibilities of dollars in instrumental music are seemingly unlimited. Celebrated pianists have received almost fabulous sums. Rubinstein’s six months’ tour in America is said to have netted a profit of $60,000, and a second engagement was made for him at the rate of $2,500 per night.