Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-05-11
Where They Come From.


Tho4ne, in the Home Companion, when
1 tell you that your doll came out of
RAG bag, her curls from the back Of a
goat, and her elegant china tea-set out of
maud hole.
But what will you say when tell you
that your jelly is made out of old boots,
and your delightful perfumery from hor-
rid-smelling coal tar.
You don't own all the made over things
in the family, either. Johnnie's new
beaver cloth oyer-coat was worn out on
the back of a beggar, and perhaps even
played the part Of a scare-crow in some
farm yard before it began to come into
the world again; and the stable gelatine"
which every one of the family loves 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 which has reason to boast Of its an
cestors. Queer stories you would hear if
the things around you could tell their
history There's your tatting shuttle. It
once made itself useful as bone in a
horse, while the ivory dice in your back
CANNON board adorned the jaw 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 Of the sea, while mammals
shell comb was the comfortable roof over
a sea tortoise.
Your guitar strings were indispensable
to the internal comfort Of some poor pussy
or unfortunate sheep, and your piano
would be but a dumb wooden box with
out some of the internal arrangements of a
horse.
Your nice hair brush first saw the light
on the skin of a dog. The crinoline that
stftens the bottom of ladies' dresses was
used originally to switch the flies from
the backs of horses, and the mattress on
which you sleep~so comfortably served
the same use before it fell into the man
ufacturers' hands.
Your dainty toilet soap-dear me, how
can tell you-was made of dead cats
and dogs, found in the streets, and the
SPLITTER almonds which so delightfully."-
favors your candy, from the horrible
smelling coal tar.
The scent-bags of that offensive ANNA
the skunk, furnishes some desirable ad
ditions to the toilet-table, used 70
removing freckles and tan, and the dread
full stuff left in drains is turned into
fashionable toilet article, and adorns tn
face of the ladies.
To be sure, these dsagreeable material
have some pretty tough handling befor
they come out in their new colors. Tn
old boots, for instance. They do not ste
: from the gutter into the jelly kettle b
= any means. They gothrough a long pr
cess of washing and soaking in lye an
smoking with sulphur, and steaming an
. boiling before they come out white an
delicate and fit for the table.
The coal tar, to grow into perfumery
goes through the hands of chemists, VIII
- treat it to | don't know what dreadfr
process; and the dead cats and dogs al
u boiled to extract the grease, purified
4: whitened and perfumed before we Sc
them as soap.
= The doll whose ancestors inhabit a raj
mans den endured unheard of operation
} of washing, soaking, bleaching, chopin,
. molding, and so forth, before she took h,
u place in the nursery to amuse the lit
u folks, and the clay. from the mud no
Was WaSneu, anu puIlneu, anu Wntene
and kneaded, and baked and glazed, b
y fore it ventured to call itself china, ar
$ take its place on the tea-table.
l. The horse tails that stiffed the dress
$: and stuff our mattresses are washed al
q soaked and boiled and baked before '
81 use them; and the intestines, which nal
e, the voice of guitar and piano, we
q through long processes of scraping, soa
g ing in lye and washing, before they we
r, drawn out into the fine, tough strin
le with which you are familiar.
y Nearly all the things we throw away
n alleys, or even through our drains, t
a most disgusting things you can think {
le are valuable, and, after going thorug
Ia the hands of skillful workmen, come o
al in new shapes, and have new fields
m usefulness.
d. The feats of old-fashioned fairies, wi
H. turned pumpkins into carriages, al
IN shabby old gowns into elegant robes,
ly not compare with the wonders perform
le in our workshops, by rough-looking me
u in shirt sleeves and white aprons.