The Brookhaven leader., 1883-06-28

Crecy. With Sir Ralph Pudney, who
kept him in concealment at Bolton
Hall, Yorkshire, after his defeat at
Hexham. Henry vi. left various arti-
cles of his apparel, and among them
was glove "of tanned leather, lined
with hairy desr-skin, turned over at the
wrist as deep cuff" A visitor at the
old Manor House will find it there even
now, At the siege of Frederickshalle,
on the borders of Norway, where he
lost his life, Charles XII, of Sweden,
wore pair of yellowish gloves. Though
somewhat faded, they are treasured
among the relics in the arsenal at
Stockholm.
Various materials-cotton, wool, lin
en-, silk, skins-are used for the manu-
facture of gloves, and the industry is
successfully prosecuted in different
countries, each having some specially.
For instance, in France the making of
kid gloves predominates, while in the
United States those of buckskin are
principally made. The most expensive,
and requiring the greatest skill, are the
kids, and the process of their manu-
facture is the following: The skin hav-
ing been stretched on marble slab, is
carefully divided through the middle
with sharp pair of scissors. With
punches of suitable size the back and
palm are cut in single piece from the
half skin, its remainder furnishing the
needed smaller pieces. The punches,
at the same time that they cut the skin,
prick the places for the stitches, so that
they can be sewed with the utmost reg
ularity. Formerly there was consider
able difficulty in so cutting the hole for
the thumb that a good fit should be as
sured; but an improvement by M. Jou-
vim, of Paris, which consisted in cutting
the thumb-piece, like the fingers, from
the same piece with the rest of the
glove-thus rendering a seam for its at
tachment unnecessary-has removed
this stumblng-block. 1t is said that
fifteen million pairs of kid gloves are
annually manufactured in France.
When one calmly considers the matter
he can not fail TO suspect some
error in the assertion, realizing, as he
must, that in all probability the number
of young goats annually slain is insult
ficient to furnish the requisite skins.
There is an error, which appertains not
to the number of gloves manufactured,
but to their material. The truth is,
more than half of the French gloves
whose brand indicate them "genuine
kids are made from the skins of rats.
trapped and slaughtered by urchins
who derive quite an income from the
vocation. And this proves that, with
respect to gloves as well as other things,
it is not always wise to judge from APP
pearances.
A writer in popular journal not long
since proposed the abolition of gloves as
means of personal lornamentation, and
says: :" In protection from cold, or from
abrasion of the skin by the contact of
rough articles, gloves are desirable, but
not as an article of dress. And why
should the possessors of soft, white
hands favor custom which cOnceals
these charms, and places them on a
level of attractiveness, in this respect,
with the most horny handed artisan or
washerwoman? Moreover, a gentility
whose badges are pretty hands is far
less easily counterfeited than gentility
whose badges are gloves at so much a
pair
Is there not more than a "grain OF
sense" in such view of the matterp"
f f. Foster, in Christian Union.