The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1873-01-04
Oar Olio
Kid Gloves.

In the hrst place they re not kid, prob
ably, but lamb skin. Or, if they're extra
nice three button gloves, from Paris, they
undoubtedly grew on the back of colt
You see there are not kids enough in the
whole world to supply the glove makers,
and that's why they war on lambs and
colts.
| am afraid there wouldn't be many
colt skin gloves, if they had to come to
America for skins. We are too fond of
horses to kill colts for their skins. But
they get them easily from Tartary, for the
people of that country eat their colts as we
do lambs.
Besides kids, lambs and colts, sheep
skins are made into gloves, in Germany
and Italy, and sold in America for kid.
They have the advantage of being cheap,
so that Biddy can buy gloves for dollar,
that look just as well at a little distance,
as yours that cost three dollars.
But whether sheep, kid, lamb or colt, the
skins have to go through several operations
before they are put into snug packages of
one dozen pairs of gloves. In the first
place they are collected from the ends Of
the earth, and sent to the glove maker,
we'll say in Paris, since all gloves profess
to come from that city.
The first operation in the factory is to
remove the hair. If it were common
skin for shoes it would be taken off with
lime, but delicate skins require different
method. So it is soaked in water and In
dian meal. What that does to it, I'm sure
| don't know, but when the meal is well
beaten out, the hair comes off with perfect
ease.
The skin has next to be cut down lit
tie thinner, and is then ready to be colored.
For this operation, it is laid, right side up,
on large, fiat stone, while the color is
put on with brush, painted you may say.
That's why gloves of whatever color are
always white inside. When the color is
dry, the skin is ready to cut out, and that
is very funny operation.
The glove cutter has steel frame, shap-
ed like a pair ofopen hands, and all around
the out side of the frame is sharp edge.
Having laid the prepared skin on this
frame, he takes up club--a droll club it
is too, all stuffed and padded so as to be
soft-and with it he gives the stretched
out skin one blow. The sharp edges of
course cut, and the glove is ready for the
sewer. The strips for the inside of the fing-
ers, are cut from the edges of the skin.
They are tied up in bundles Of dozen
pairs, and sent out to be sewed.
This Is done In the country, BY women,
at their own homes. Holes are punctured
for the stitches, and that is the reason why
you can never mend a rip in glove, and
have it look as nicely as it did when new.
After being sewed, they go back to the
dealer, who puts them up in the packages
you've seen in the shops, dozen different
colors in package. There are for ladies',
ten different sizes made, The smallest is
five and three-eights, and the largest is
eight, though the largest numbers are not
sent to America. In fact, we use the
smallest gloves made
Do you know how to tell what size Of
glove you need9 Take tape measure
and measure your hand around the knuc-
kle. The number of inches and quarters
of an inch that it measures is exactly the
size of the glove. That is, if it is five
inches and three-quurters round, you want
gloves No. 81.