Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-10-17
Stoves and Gum Shoes.

The rage for old china, old furniture
old chimney pieces, mantelpieces, tiles.
fireplace ack-plates, and irons and so
on has so far extended Its searchings for
old things that the queerest sorts of old
stuff are Row being hunted up by those
afflicted with the mania, or those who
make mopey by dealing with lis VIC
tins.
One Of the latest craz6s is that for ten
plate stoves. al article Of necessity that
came into use about the time open fire
places were going out, and occupying
al intel mediate place between the latter
and The modern cook stove. The ten
plate stove took Its pane from that
being the exsct number Of pieces used
il its construction. 1t stood on thin
legs about two feet from the floor, and
was IN size Just deep enough to hoid
cordwood cut into two-foot lengths, and
was about as high and as wide as mil
liners bandbox 1t could be made as
hot as downstairs in kingdom come.
but needed constant watching and re-
plenishing, and on top of it frying and
boiling and stewing could be done, and
iroDs heated. but il was innocent of any
ability to broIl or roast. About fifty
years ago Its use began to peter out be-
lore the rapidly advancing use of coal
aud the invention of the early type of
the modern cock stove, then fingered
for time among the poor or the very
old-fashioned, and died within decade
after. Then for a while the ten-platers
could lie seen Iustipg in junk shops
until the foundries finally ate them
up.
And yet that there are some left is
shown by the eagerness with which they
are now searched for, and the fact that
a small number have been found among
the Dutch in some parts of Pennsyl-
vania. These have been purchased at
song, but are held at fabulous prices, as
high as S130 having been paid to col
leetor for one of them.
Another singular object of interest
among the lovers of the old, simply be-
cause OF age ana rarity, Is old gum
shoes; not the gum shoe US known to
the present generation. but the gum
shoe as first 1ntrodL ced and vorn by our
fathers and mothers. Perhaps nms-
tenths Of tie living of to-day in th,
UIIteG States never raw ont of them.
They weie imported from South Au.ei-
lea, principally Ir"m Brazil, ana we've
made by the lndIan +, castins the f1uld
India-iubber in clay nonlds shaped
something ike fo,t. The outside WIS
then scored III slime way with all sorts
of fantastic designs, the shoe smok. d
till it was black and ii was then fit for
expectation. These shoes were doubly
or more thicker than those OF to-day,
and 1t was labor 10 get them on and a
worse labor TO get them of. They were
much admired, however, by the boys,
who found that they cut nicely into thin
strips, which, wien wound in.o balls
and rolled and boiled. made "bouncers"
that far excelled the prIm tive stur-
geon's nose with yarn wrapl ings These
old-fashioned lpdls-lubber suoes are
Now nearly as sea- ce as the fabied nen's
Ueetn, but are Yet to be found at rare
intervals sioweu away III Lofts or for
gotten rubbish holes and Ill old houses
IN the seaboafd cities. A pair found
recently in the wine vault of an old
mansion on Front street abJv Lum-
bard, Philadelphia, after passing
through the hands of several persons
ignorant of their commercial value,
were finally picked up tor trifie by
dealer ii biic-a- brac, who sold them for
$50 to q well-known banker, and they
now aid to decorate the drawing room
of one of the coetliest and most richly
furnished mansions III West PhiIadel-
phia.