Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-03-05
GBeVermont 45anit.
BRATTLEBoRo;
FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 5, 1879.
Whore They Come rron.

You'll be shocked, / fear, when ! tell
you that your doll came out of rag bag,
her curls from the back of goat, and her
elegant china tea set out of mud hole.
But what will you say when tell you
that your Jelly is made out of old boots,
and your delightful perfumery from horrid
smelling coal tar?
You don't own all the niade-over things
in the family, either. Johnny's new bea-
yer cloth overcoat was worn out on the
back of beggar, and perhaps even played
the part of a scarecrow in some farmyard,
before it went into the rag bag and began
to come up in the world again; and the
"table gelatine" which every ono of the
family likes to eat, once did duty as skin
on the back of rat.
1t is really wonderful to trace things
back and see where they came from, and
who has reason TO boast of his ancestors.
Queer stories you would hear If the things
around you could tell their history. There
is your tatting shuttle. 1t once made itself
useful as a bone in horse, while the ivory
dice in the backgammon board adorned
the jaws and crushed the oats Of another Of
the race.
The pearl of your paper-knife lined the
shell house of modest little creature at
the bottom ofthe sea, while mammals shell
comb was the comfortable roof over sea
tortoise.
Your guitar strings were indispensable
to the internal comfort of some poor pussy
or unfortunate sheep, and your piano
would be but dumb wooden box without
some of the same internal arrangements of
horse.
Your nice hair brush first saw the light
on the skin of a hog, and its pretty back of
papier mache came out of the ragman's
bag. The crnoline that stifTens the bot
toms of ladies' dresses was used originally
TO switch the flies from the back of horse,
ard the mattress ON which you sleep so
comfortably served the same use before it
fell into the manufacturers hands.
Your dainty toilet soap-dear me, how
can l tell you WAS made of dead cats and
dogs found in the streets, and the "bitter
almonds which so delightfully."- favors
your candy came from the horrible SMELL
ing coal tar, which the chosest ale is deli
cously favored with--putrid cheese!
The scent bags of that offensive creature,
the skunk, furnish some desirable addi-
lions to the toilet table, used for removing
freckles and tan, and the dreadful stuff left
in drains is changed into a fashionable tot
let article, and adorns the face of ladies.
To be sure, these dsagrseable materials
have some pretty rough handling before
they come out in their new colors. The
old boots, for instance. They do not step
from the gutter into the jelly kettle, by
any means. They go through long pro-
cess of washing and soaking in I've and
smoking with sulphur, and steaming and
boiling, before they come out white and
delicate, and fit for the table.
The coal-tar to grow into perlumery goes
through the hands of chemists, who treat it
to I don't know what dreadful chemical
processes and the dead cats and dogs are
boiled to extract the grease, purified, viii
tened, and perfumod before we see them as
soap.
The doll whose ancestors Inhabited
rag-man's den endured unheard-of ope ra-
lions of washing, soaking, bleaching, chop
.ping, molding, and so forth, before she
took her place in the nursery TO amuse the
little folks, and the clay from the mud-hole
wa ""ShSu, anu anu NLllSuCNl,
and kneaded, and baked, and glazed, be-
fore it ventured to call itself china, and
take its place on the tea table.
The horse tails that stifIen the dresses
and stuff our mattresses are washed, and
soaked, and boiled, and baked, before we
use them, and the intestines which make
the voice of guitar and piano went through
long processes of scraping, soaking in lye,
and washing, before they were drawn out
into the fine, tough strings you are familiar
with.
The rat skin which we eat under the
name of gelatine first fourished as the
thumb Of kid glove, and after being worn
out in that capacity went through ever so
many purifying processes, somewhat as
the old boots did, and ended on our table.
Nearly all the things that we throw away
in alleys, or even through our drains,-th
most disgusting things you can think Of
are valuable, apd after going through the
hands of skillful workmen, come out in
new shapes, and have new fields of useful
ness.
The feats of old fashioned fairies, who
turned pumpkins into carriages, and shah
by old gowns into elegant robes, do not
compare with the wonders performed in
our workshops by rough-looking men in
shirt-sleeves and white aprons.
Ollie 1Hoync.