The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-07-01
Where They Come From.

Where They Come From.
You'll be shocked, fear, when I tell
you that your doll came out of rag-bag,
the curls from the back of goat, and
her elegant china tea-set out of mud
hole.
But what will you say when I tell you
that your jelly is made out of old boots,
and your delightful perfumery from hor-
rid-smelling coal-tar?
You don't know all the made-over
things in the family, either. Johnny's
new beaver-cloth overcoat was worn out
on the back of beggar, and perhaps
even played the part of scarecrow In
some farm-yard, before it went into the
rag-bag and began to come up in the
world again, and the "Table Gelatine !"
which every one of the family like to
eat, once did duty as skin on the back
of a rat.
1t is really wonderful to trace things
back, and see where they come from,
and who has reason to boast of his an
cestors. Queer stories you would hear
if the things around you could tell their
history. There's your tattling shuttle.
It once made itself useful as 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 a modest little crea-
ture at the bottom of the sea, while
mammals shell comb was the comfort
able roof over a sea tortoise.
Vow n rrc xr1o,o 10
to the internal comfort of some poor
pussy or unfortunate sheep, and your
piano would be but dumb wooden box,
without some of the internal arrange
ments of horse.
Your nice hair brush first saw the
light on the skin of hog, and it's pretty
back of papier mache came out of the
ragman's bag. The crinoline that stiff
fens the bottom of ladies' dresses was
used originally to switch the flies from
back of a horse, and the mattress on
which you sleep SO comfortably served
the same use before it fell into the man
ufacturer's hands.
Your dainty toilette soap-dear me,
how can I tell you was made of dead
cats and dogs, found in the streets, and
the "bitter almonds which SO delight
fully favor your candy, came from the
Notwithstanding coal-tar, while the
choicest ale is deliciously favored with
-putrid cheese
The scent-bag Of that offensive crea-
ture, the skunk, furnishes some desirable
additions to the toilet table, used for
removing freckles and tan, and the
dreadful stuff left in drains is changed
into fashionable toilet article, and
adorns the face of ladies.
To be sure, these disagreeable mate
rails 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
a long process 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 perfumery,
goes through the hands of chemists, who
treat it to I don't know what dreadful
chemical process and the dead cats and
dogs are boiled to extract the grease,
purified, whitened and perfumed before
we see them as soap.
The doll whose ancestors inhabited a
ragman's den endured unheard of opera
tons of washing, soaking, bleaching,
chopping, molding and SO forth, before
she took her place in the nursery to
amuse the little folks, and the clay from
the mud-hole was washed, and purified,
and whitened, and kneaded, and baked,
and glazed, before it ventured to call
itself china, and take its place on the
tea-table.
The horse tails that stiffen 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
thunnb of a kid glove, and after being
worn out in that capacity went through
ever so many purifying processes, some
what as the old boots did, and ended on
our table.
Nearly all the things that we throw
away in the alleys, or even through our
drains-the most disgusting things you
can think of-are valuable, and after
going through the hands of skillful
workmen, come out in new shapes and
have new fields of usefulness.
The feats of old fashioned fairies,
who turned pumpkins into carriages, and
shabby old gowns into elegant robes, do
not compare with the wonders performed
in our workshops, by rough-looHng
men in shirt-sleeves and white aprons. -
Olive Logan.
Playing Rooster.
1s4I1o 111J1o ex1oH