Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-07-20
BRISTLES AND BRUSHES.
BY OLIVER TnORNE.

| our ringers, and clean our teeth, and take
dust our of our clothes, and paint our
houses, and-oh, dear! | can never tell
you half the necessary things for which
you are indebted to them
| Why, the amount of bristles used every
year is something simply enormous, and
almost impossible TO believe. England
alone, besides using the bristles of the
thousands of swine killed in her own
island, imports from Russia every year,
two million pounds of bristles.
It's rather funny that we're indebted to
such an untidy looking animal for the
means of keeping clean, and when we see
bristles on the pigs back, they don't look
as if they would do much toward keeping
anything clean. They do have to go
through very thorough course of scrub
bling before they go into brushes.
When they arrive at the brush factory
they are packed in barrels, and extremely
unpleasant to handle, and the first thing
of course-is to wash them. The next
operation is to sort them, for you needn't
think they're all alike. In the first place
there are several different colors. When
they come they are divided into black,
yellow and white; but they have a still
further sorting into black, grey, yellow,
white and lilies. Think Of lilies from q
pigs back.
But, funny as you may think it, l have
seen one lot of pigs that looked almost
like lilies themselves. I'll venture to say
that all their bristles were lilies. They
belonged to nice old gentleman who
owned cheese factory in New York State
Perhaps you know that in these factories
they take fresh milk, and make into
cheese. OF course there's good deal left,
which they call whey And they gener.
ally keep pigs to eat it up
The old gentleman | speak of had gen
tlemanly horror OF anything dirty, SO he
resolved to try an experiment, and see If
pigs were untidy from choice or because
they were not usually furnished with bath
ing cOnveniences.
His pig-pens were kept as nice as some
parlors. Every day they were thoroughly
washed out, and the last pail of water that
went into each pen went carefully on to
the unwilling animal They had clean
straw TO lie on, and Of course were fed
only on the nice white whey.
A trip through the piggcry was the reg.
ular thing for visitors To take. The old
gentleman would walk down between the
two rows of pens, swinging his cane, and
detying any one TO show neater fam
lily of pigs. One could contemplate eat
ing that pork without shudder.
But was telling you about brush facto
ries, / believe.
The bristles are sorted, not only as &c
color, but as to length, for some are three
inches long, while others are ten. Be
sides this, the root ends of the bristles
must be kept together
The next thing is 10 comb them. You
know If you comb your hair long time,
it will get slick and nice 1t has the same
effect on bristles; so they have long
combing to go through.
Picking is the next operation, and that
is done by children. Poor little things -
how would you like to spend the long
summer days, picking over bristles, care
fully taking out every one that was a
shade lighter, or darker, than the restG
After these sharp.eyed little folks have
been over them, the unfortunate bristles
have to be secured. Idont know whether
they take soap and sand, as Bridget does to
the kitchen floor, but the result is the
same they are much whittier, and are now
ready for brushes.
Now, to ignorant outsiders, brush Is a
brush, whether it is hair brush or paint
brush but TO the trush-maker there is a
vast difference. They divide the whole
army OF brushes into two grand divisions,
single brushes and compound brushes
Your paint brush belongs to the single
division, because IL has but one tuft, OF
bundle Of bristles but your hair brush is
compound, because it has lots Of little
punches Of bristles
But don't fancy we have got to the end
of divisions. No indeed! Brush making
is reduced to a science. Of single brushes
we have,
First Brushes inserted into the handle.
Secondly: Handles inserted into the
brush.
That sounds like twedle dun ard tive
dle-dee, but there Is an important differ
ence, and
| Thirty: The tufts side by side, like a
white wash brush-if you ever saw one
or like the holes In mouth organ, which
/ know you've seen.
must tell you how they make single
brushes, before we go To the compound.
The easiest TO make are the little paint
brushes, that come In your box of paints.
They are not made Of bristles however,
but Of the soft hairs Of animals, such as
the sable and the badger.
The hairs are cleaned in alum water,
soaked in warm water, dried, combed, and
sorted. The brush maker takes Of these
hairs, just enough for brush, lays it in a
little place she has, which holds it tight
while she winds thread around the root
ends of the bundle said she, for only
womens fingers are delicate enough to ar
range the soft hairs 80 that they will form
point, and not blunt end when wet.
The quilts for the handles are prepared
by soaking in hot water, which swells
hem. When the brush is ready, the op.
traitor takes the quill from the water,
cuts the hairs in, point first, to the large
pnd of the quill. Then, by a neat little
continuance, 1t is drawn through till the
tied part comes down to the email end of
the quill. There it is left, and when the
quill gets cold, 1t contracts, or grows
smaller-and holds the brush very tight.
I'm afraid good many birds have TO die
TO furnish the quilts, for they use swans,
turkeys, geese, ducks, pigeons and larks'
quilts, according TO the size Of the brush.
Your tinisst psint-brush probably grew on
the wing Of q lark, while the biz one that
you dsub with, had NO grander home than
the wing Of goose.