THRIFT AND PROSPERITY. By Frederick Dielman.
Copyright by Frederick Dielman. From a Copley Print, copyright by Curtis & Cameron, Boston. Reproduced by permission.
THRIFT AND PROSPERITY
By Frederick Dielman
From a mosaic picture in the Albany Savings Bank, Albany, N.Y.
A mosaic is a decoration formed out of small pieces of natural stone or enamel, of various colors, set in cement. This decoration measures fourteen feet by seven and one-half, the figures being somewhat larger than life size.
Under a fruit tree in a landscape suggesting grain fields and meadows, is a group of figures. The central and principal figure, the mistress of a household with her distaff and spindle, typifies industry and good management; behind her on either side among the hollyhocks are beehives—the conventional emblems of industry and saving.
In the foreground on the left, a woman with a sheaf of wheat at her feet and a sickle in her hand turns toward the keeper of the flocks and herds. At the right, a kneeling maiden lays a basket of fruit near the sheaf of wheat, while a stalwart man, adze in hand, bares his arm for work. All these figures symbolize the different branches of agriculture. The children and the young animals typify the way in which each young generation is nourished by the industry and thrift of its elders.
The whole impression of this picture is one of industry, prosperity, thrift, and—by reason of these three—happiness.
The nature of profits.