Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-03-09
An DYEING CONFESSION.
BY AHA.

injury to the grave ; but / lave fixed
aversion, not 10 say hatred, against salt
herrIngs and the fragrance emitted by q
fried blOater ever reminds me with loathing
OF an occasion on which made thorough
fool OF myself.
You must know, dear reader, that I am
afflicted with a red head OF hair, and that
red of shade 10 which only years Of CON-
panionship have to a certain extent recon-
ciled me; but I have never at any time
had the happy feeling OF beng proud of 1t.
Many have been the battles Il caused me
to fight In my q holidays, and often has
the eye or nose suffered for the offence OF
the hair on those occasions. At last had
grown callous 10 "young carrots, :" fire.
brand, ;" or lobster" shouted after me by
smaller boys round street corners, and ex-
perence had taught me TO suffer the In
suits OF the stronger. But it was on en-
tering manhood only that was made fully
aware Of the injury mother Nature had
done me, for at eighteen loved Susan
GoldlnG and worshipped the ground she
trod on; and Susan abon mated red hair.
A Frenchman, a vile frog eater | used TO
call him, although he NAV have been q
very decent fellow, who lived next door TO
Sues, reveilrd in a black curly head Of
hair and was an object of secret envy 10
me, though public y made believe TO de-
splse him. For Susan admired black curly
hair, as she openly confessed, and seemed
TO look favorably on the foreigner. Very
wroth l used TO feel against him end
couldn't have spoken civil word 10 HIM
had he promised me Golconda. used to
try and persuade Susan that Frenchmen
had probably descended from niggers, and
that block curly hair was the worst a man
could have. Sue had her own ideas on
the subject aud couldn't be talked out of
them. Icould plainly see she would never
fancy me with my present color of hair,
though she might never condescend TO
marry Frenchman for his black locks.
Love, as 1 thought, inspired me how to
change thiAgs agreeably, and it came about
in This way.
was reading aloud to my aunt, with
whom was living, out OF book entitled
Five Thousand Useful Receipts, re-
cIpe for dyeing hats; and as my eyes were
roaming to the opposite page they enc0un-
tersd these words "To turn Red hair
Black" For q moment or two the letters
fairly danced before ME. Here was the
very thug l wanted. My hair was red
and here was the secret revealed how to
turn IL to the color Susan admired. /
could dye 1t, reasoned, and get it curled
afterwards, every other day IL necessary;
for / know that Charlie Dovey had bis hair
curled when he went to parties. and the
curl used to keep for two or three days
after.
borrowed that book OF my aunt and
carefully copied out the following re-
cIpe ITO turu Red Hair BlacK.-Tske
a pint Of the liquor of picked herripgs,
half q Iound OF lsmpblack, and two
ounces OF the rust Cf iron. Mix and boil
them for twenty minutes then strain and
rub the hquio well into the roots Of the
hair"
Ia this recipe placed implicit faith with
the ardor and credulity Of youth, and
with Its assistance l determined 70 change
The colJr OF my hair and win Susau's
affection. "Whsre there's will, thers'
way" thought, and set about obtaining
the ingredients. My way, at first, was too
primitive, found. No lampblack In any
quantity 10 speak Of could / gather from
domestic sources where the article ac-
and I was at last oblige1 10
trust 10 the article sold under that name
In oll-shops- With the ixon rust Jared
no better when tried TO sCrape rusty arti'
cles with my pen-knIfe, which latter IT.
retrievably ruined. So ] had to trust to
the chemist for oxide OF iron; not with
out some misgivIngA Ia order 10 obtain
the liquor Of picked herrings [ bought a
Jar full OF them at hsh-dealsr's In
Thames Street where ! chsn>ed TO see
them. But when got home l found the
quantity of liquor 90 insufficient that on a
calculation | found that should have to
buy at least -four more larS- To make
sure | bought ave, and after tough jour
ney got them bone all safe. The liquor
abLtracted, I disposed of the herrings,
which did not at all Care about, by drop
ping them on going oown dark street
and left thcm to fate and the scavenger
In this had t1 observe great Iution lest
the ever watchful policeman Ghould pounce
on me in the act.
Being now In possession of all the In
gredients, waited till one day my aunt
went to pay visit to a friend Ia distant
part nr the town TO spend tle evening.
Behold me now at work, lIvenlng up
the kitchen fire, pouring the liquid into
the best quart saucepan, and adding grad
uallY and under continual stirring the
Iampblack and. the iron-rust. When the
liquid fairly began to simmer I noted the
time by the clock and then commenced
the actual stirring process. To sir for
twenty minutes with q short iron spoon
was no joke, ] Iou7d. Now left, now
right, my fingers and arms fairly ached.
But for the image Of Susan which at
every stir vivldly presented itself before
my mind, Nigh: have relaxed; in my
abstraction the LIQUOR boiled over once or
twice and had TO be taken OF sharp.
However, at last the time was over. and
having poured the liquor into the Jug,
arti6cialy assisted the cooling by putting
the jug into basin OF cold water, which
was constantly renewed from the tap.
When sufficiently cooled ! strained the
liquor by means of cullender and piece
of muslin bought expressly for the pur-
pOSe. 1t was rather tedious, aud perhaps
not quite 10 satisfactory as TO be recon-.
mended. But obtained part OF jugful
of dye, and having poured it into bottle
a certain feeling Of satisfaction pervaded
nay inner man on contemplating the sable
treasure.
Icarfully removed every trace of my
witches cookery and then awaited the re-
turn of my aunt. 1t was while doing so
that noticed that strong, ollv, saline
Hmell pervaGed thG house-the result, no
.ln,,hh nE Tho ny, nkAc,iIinn nR the nn,lnnr,nn-