The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1871-09-07


marked out on the bank in colOTed stones
or in Towering plants; or the letters are
cut out of the sod, and the borders so made
are gay with flowers or green with vegeta-
bles. if this plan were more generally
followed in this country it would not only
inure to the benefit of railroad employees,
but would give pleasing variety to belts
OF land which now are generally gwen
over to weeds or any wild plant which will
grow on them -Hetrh and Home.
A Paper Of Pins.
Pins and poking sticks of steel. Winters Tale.
What pleasant iingling of pins we find
all through Sh&kspeare's plays, sometimes
suggestive of uBcouuted abundance, as,
mot worth pin y occasionally bearing
under the shadow OF a pithy sentence
some seed of hcmely, perhaps unwelcome,
truth. "TO give crowns like pins pass
ing into a provelb, expresses world-em-
bracing benevOlenCe. All very charming
this favor of freedom and thrift, but times
have been when these now most common
and prosaic little imple ments were luxu-
ries indeed nav more, time was when they
were not, at least as we enjoy them, slen-
der, glittering shafts" without which no
| household is fully equipped.
| Looking back, we find it recorded of the
fair damsels who fluttered about the Eng
! fish court in the thirteenth century that
| they FUSED skewers of bone, ivory, or
| lockwood, in the arrangement of the
| toilet" We wonder, in an unSatistied
way, how the delicate fabrics of tissue,
! gauze and tleGCy netting, of marvellous
device and cost" were deity tucked into
place. a little Later, in 1347, the year fol
| lowing the memorable battle of Cressy,
| the great want was met, in so far at least
as one grand lady was concerned, for it is
told Us that "fOr the Princess Joan, twenty
thousand pynncs were ordered"
| Until the middle of the sixteenth cen
| fury, large, heavy articles were in vogue,
fashioned sometimes Of silver and gold,
and not unfrequently precious stones were
! for this use pressed into beautys service.
| We read of one belle of the period, who,
in addition to much rich apparelling,"
with
"A sapphire bodkin for her hair
stepped bravely into the arena of fashiona-
| bic life. Times of Improvement were
! dawning, for history certities that "pins,
| girdles, 'hrOideries and rings" were now
accounted necessities in the outfit of grand
or titled ladies: "thc hetttr sort, it is
added. being supplied from the Cont
nent'
How the old story repeats itself! In
| Egyptian tOmbs pins have been found
much resembling in general style and size
the old Continental and English articles
Just mentioned, with a difference, how
ever, in favor Of Oriental artisans and the
resources of the market to be supplied
These ancient implements were otter seven
or eight inches in length, exqnisitely
headed with gold, and richly wrought.
Less fancifully inclined, the ancient
Mexican danes appropriated as "taoten-
ers" of their simple attire the long taper
ing thorns of the agave, most con-
venient, and decidedly attractive natural
pin-eaCh household doubtless command
| ing at its very door as it were, without
cost OF trouble, and ever thriving, never
barren, family pin-Cushion.
Importation from the Continent must
have been active before 1888, for IL was
then interrupted by prohibitory statute
France, we arr told, had become the great
business center of this banch of industry,
and with reservation and much over.
sight on the part of the authorities it
was allowed a modest place among the
mechanical enterprises Of the day 1t was,
however, deemed of sufficient importance
10 call forth statutes concerning the
ancient pin-makers of that section, which
IN these later times seems odd and strange
One, most stringenty err breed, was,
that no master could op n more than
one shop for the sale of his wares, except
on New Years day and the eve thereof"
1t is amusing, in this connection, to note
the charming simplicity of courtly cav
alier or honest burgher, purchasing for
the la lies of his circle, as rare and accept
able New Years gifts, a box of these
small, glittering Implements
In the reign of Henry the Eighth the
making of brass pins became so important
a trade as to claim the attention of the
crown, and an act was passed For The
true making of pynnes, to wit, that no
person shall Put TO sale any pynnes but
only such as shall he double headed, and
have the heads soldered fast 10 the shank.
the pynnes well smoothed, and the shank
we'll sharpened." improvements soon
made the statute of no importance.
In 1926 a pin-making establishment was
set up in Gloucester, and became so pros
porous that in little time fifteen hundred
persons found there steady employment.
Ten years later, London could boast a
mandatory bidding fair to Guido the
Gloucester interest Birmingham followed
suit, soon becoming the nucleus of trade
III this as well as in other noted manufac-
turing operations in England.
The Old English method involved four
teen distinct processes; everything was
d1ne by hand. The crimpipg of the pa
pers, then the final disposition Of the pins
IN them ready for market, was accom-
pishei principally by women and chill
dren. Machinery, the result of much
thought and deep calculation, has utterly
changed the character Of this branch of
business, that of rapidly and elegantly
"papering them, being considered one of
the most curious and admirable inventions
In the United States pin-making was
inst begun soon after the war of 1912,
when, IN consequence of the interruption
70 commerce, the value of a paper of pins
was no less than one dollar, and that, too,
Tor such as can now be purchased tor six
cents From yesr 10 year trials were
made, improvements gave announcement
to labor, and IN 1924 Wright's patent gave
to the world the first contrivance for max
ing by machinery, solid headed pins In
1882 How machines were patented in
this country, snd four years lster intro
! ~