The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1883-01-19

An engagement was speedily made
Tor the reporter To be present when the
next operation was performed. 'Come
up this afternoon, said the lady land
you can sect NJ two"
Accordingly the reporter was startled,
not 10 SAY shocked, by the promtness
with which she displayed various por-
tons of her anatomical structure when
he called ut her room. 1t seemed a
trifle immodest of her to show in private
what she proposed to exhibit in public
for living, but after brief struggle
with his sense of propriety he looked
with great interest ut certainly the most
remarkable collection of pictures ever
exhibited. The gentleman who devotes
his days to puncturing his wfe's cpl
dermis is u sailor. or has been one, and
has imbibed o'castle notions of art, to-
gether with his knowledge of tattooing.
Accordingly his wife arms, legs and
body look as il she had violent erup-
ton of flags, tombstones, allegorical
figures and moral and patriotic mot
toes. 'God bless our home" "Procras-
ton is the thief of time" and THE un-
ion forever" fill up the interstices be-
tween Melpomene. Calypso, and the
grave of Thomas Jefferson, while a
large tricOlor adorns the right thigh
and free-hand sketch of a-man-o' war
is pricked into the left. Scores of de-
signs, no two of which are like, have
been engraved ESQ to speak, in the flesh.
and the vacant spaces are being filled in
day by day with others.
''Can i see you put on new pict-
urep" asked the reporter.
The tattOoer carefully wetted small
camers hair brush in some India ink
commonly called, but which he explain
ed was really Chinese ink-and began
to examine his subject to see where he
should begin. After turning her around
two or three times he selected q small
white spot on her left shoulder blade
and rapidly sketched heart punctured
by Cupid's arrow. Then he chose one
of several punches of needles and began
to prick the ink in.
IL go just deep enough to draw the
blood" said he. "When that comes,
stop. Then it Immediately swells up like
this" And he put his finger on raw
sore on her arm. ''After three or four
days the scab comes Off and it looks
like this" and he put his finger on her
left knee, where was an angry-looking
blotch of the shape of bird Then the
skin peels off twice and in about week
more it is all DONE"
"And the picture is there, forever"
said the reporter.
Eyes, unless it is taken out l can
take it out the same way put it in"
| This assertion, by the way, is an ex-
ceedingly doubtful one.
"There is one curious thing about it,"
continued the artist, as he calmly prod
ded away at the woman's back IF
put picture on the knee can't put
one on above it until the inflammation
is all gone, but can put one on below
it the next day if l want to. The inflam-
nation always runs up. not down, and
you can't put picture on an intlamed
part"
The outlines of the heart and arrow
were now completed and he began to
cover the whole space inside with ink.
''Are you going to make that solid
piece of color?" asked the reporter
Eyes, indeed" said the mans wife
| eagerly Don't you see there's no scroll
work in any of themp They are all solid.
This was true. In some places the
color was picked into the entire surface
of block three inches square or more.
eff it was only the outlines | wouldn't
care anything about il" she continued.
''Then it does hurt good deal?" she
was asked.
"Hurt! Well, you just try ii" said she
x.,it a. 1, L. l.,
little with the effort. But the reporter
declined the offer and fell to examining
the tattooer's few and simple tools.
These were only the brush mentioned
and n few lunches or rather rows of
needles. The smallest of these consisted
of five needles and the largest about
forty. They were ordinary fine sewing
needles, dashed on to pieces of bone in
such II way that they lay in rows. with
their points forming an edge like q
knife blade. These edges, the artist ex-
planned and showed, were sharpened on
milestone as knife is sharpcned, in
order to secure an exact line of points.
1t further appeared in conversation
that the woman undergoing the tattoo
ing is the daughter of wel-to-do farm
er in Pennsylvania, and is supported by
remittances from home while her hus-
band is devoting himself to garnishing
her for her debut. AS soon as she shall
have been sufficiently bedizened. which
he thinks will be in u few weeks, she is
to fulfill an engagement of year at
$50 q week. Something like the first
years receipts have been used up while
she has been undergoing the torture of
preparation, but she calculates, unless
the fashions in tattoo change. to be an
attraction in any show for the rest of
her life. -NeW YORK. Hcrala.
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