Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1882-03-02
OHirlch Feathers.

thO nhA OobAAbh ANohhVA" WVHS
up to an enormous price in this country.
When We had to pay as high as 26O
for gold to pay not only for the crude
feathers, but for the work OF preparing
them for the market and the heavy du.
ties exacted upon them in their
finished form, they became almost un-
attainable. At that time the arts of
bleaching and dyeing feathers were
hardly known in this country. A
German, Isidor Cohnfeldt, was the
first to establish the. new industry
here, and already New York has
the lorgest establishment for feather
manufacture in the world, and is en-
abled to maintain n lively competition
in this line of products with the prin.
cipal European cities. This principal
establishment employs in its busiest
season-the spring and summer months
-525 girls and thirty-six men, and all
the year round finds work for from 435
to AGO persons; turning out sl,250,0OO
worth of goods per annum. Few peo-
pie have any idea of the amount OF
rough treatment an ostrich feather will
stand and has to go through to make
il the beautiful thing which eventually
adorns some lady's Gainsborough hat
or Knight Templar's chapeau.
As it comes from Africa in its crude
state, it is plain, rough, discolored and
dirty. In that condition it may be
worth any where from s5 to $3.50 per
pound, according to its length, fneness,
absence Of color and thickness. First,
after being counted and tied together
by their quilts, with long strings, the
feathers are vigorously brushed, ono by
one. TO free them from dirt. The
workman trys them on one brush and
works them with the other, touzling,
hacking and mussing them in such a
way that their destruction seems iney.
table. They are then soused in great
tubs Of soapsuds, rubbed with brown
soap, and washed moro vigorously than
laundresses wash clothes. After that
they are bleached by a process which
turns even black feathers t) snowy
white. From the bleaching tubs they
go to the dye vats. We now excel in
this country the European feather
dyers in the delicacy aud durability
OF all our colors, excep. the coral tint,
in which the old world is still ahead.
However, tha. tint has not yet been
much in demand by fashion. " When
it is" urdyers say, I'VE shall Of course
beat them in tha. too" When thor
oughly dried, beaten, redried. combed
and sorted the feathers pass into tbs
hands OF girls. The thick, unsigbtly
stem Of each feather is pared down thin
on the under side, and in place OF its
stiff and ugly quill a tapering substitute
of wire, covered with cotton and paper
is firmly fastened on. By careful sort.
ing, clipping, selecting out and match.
ing pieces from different feathers, q
composite second feather il made, tc
underlie the long and perfect one which
constitutes the top Of each completed
plume, and these vArious pieces are 50.
ourely sewed together, so that il re-
quires a sharp eye 10 detect that the
fine construction, OF doublo thickness.
is not q single feather. In exceptionally '
valuable plumos, the lower As we'll az
the upper feather Is whole and no;
made up OF pieces, bnl in all cases the
completed plume is double. II tho
stem Of the upper feather is discolored
it is carefully sorapsi.
After steaming, to soften the feathers,
they are next curled aud "laid." In
the first process q girl, by passing the
hbers between her thumb and d ull
knifeblade, gives them a regular curl
all along both sides OF the feather. and
the second consists in giving them a
series OF dexterous little twists which
throw the curled ends upon the upper
side of the plume. All this work adds
an average Of ten per cent. TO the value
of the feathers. A pound OF fine ones,
suitable for plumes. will contain about
$50 feathers, sufiiciep. for seventy ve
plumes, and costs, say, $3.50. The fu.
ished plumes command from 81 to Sic
each, according to length and quality,
but the general average lie lowered By
the small comparative value of tho
lover grades.--Nep York Sun.