Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-09-15
GLASS iEYES.
What Was Seen in a New York Taxi
dermist's by an Observing Reporter
Shapes Oft the Cats Eye.

glance was returned by hundred
eyes of various colors and dimensions.
They were yellow, blue, carmine,
brown, and round and oval, large and
small. Some had the mild, suppl
eating gaze of an Alderney COW,
some the glare of the tiger, some the
wary glance of the fox, some the steady
stare of the owl, and some the idiotic
look of a wax dummy.
A sign on the case read: Artificial
eyes for stuffed biros, etc." and a
painted hand pointed upstairs. In a
small front room on the second floor
were number of show cases full of
all kinds of fancy articles of glass
ware, and among the cases was one
containing eyes like those below.
Scattered over a table were thin bars
of glass of varioas hues. From the
back room combination of sounds
like the whirr of sewing machine
and the spur up of gas flame in
draught. Mingled with these We're
complaints of the heat, and directions
to a small boy to take a tin can and
get ten cents worth of something
cold. In the back room the reporter
saw two men engaged In glass blow
ing, and third experimenting them.
One of the men had bar of ordinary
crystal glass Holding it in the gas
flame, he worked a lump of glass
around the end of wire and then
pressed the lump into a mold. When
he drew it out round crystal glass
eye was formed at the end of the
wire. While it was still soft he
handed it over to the other blower,
who took very thin bar of yellow
glass, and heating it, worked it into
the crystal. When after while he
removes the crystal and yellow glass
from the flame, the glass at the end
of the wire looks like a round, glow
ing eye. As it cooled down, the yell
low that had been worked in, began
to resemble more and more yellow
iris. When it was thoroughly cool
and hard, it looked like large owls
eye, the pupil being section of the
wire on which the glass was heated.
Before the glass had cooled, the
first man had heated another piece of
crystal glass, nodded it, and handed
it to the second man, who again
worked in piece of yellow glass.
"We've got enough OWLS eyes now"
the Superintendent said. II guess
you had better make fifty pair dolls
eyes, fifteen pair blue and the rest
brown.
"You see," he continued, turning to
the reporter, "baby dolls mostly have
light hair and blue eyes, while large
young lady dolls are brunettes. As
the baby dolls are cheaper there is
more demand for them, and SO I have
to keep more blue glass eyes on
hand"
AS he finished speaking, the first
workman pressed the soft, heated
crystal glass into tiny mold, drew
it out a tiny white human eye, and
handed it to the second workman,
who inserted a small blue iris, Just as
he had inserted the yellow pupils in
the owl eyes. After the glass had
cooled down it looked like wee blue
human eye. When fifteen pairs had
thus been. made, the heated crystal
was dipped into a larger mold for
large young lady dolls eyes, and
brown irises worked in. When ten
pairs OF these has been made the SUI
perintendent said:
Nov that we've made eyes for ba-
bies and young ladies, we'll make
some for full-grown women-millin-
ers' wax lay figures, you know. Brown
eyes this time. because we've got blue
eyes enough on hand"
This time the heated crystal glass
was pressed into a mold as large as a
woman's eye, and correspondingly
large iris was worked in.
us your principle trade in eyes for
dolls and lay figures, or in artificial
eyes for beasts and birds?" the re-
porter asked the Superintendent.
I'm the latter. That is my spe-
cialty. have two diplomas from the
American Society of Taxidermists."
"Do you sell your goods at retail to
people who have had pets stuffeds"
mo. I am simply manufacturer,
and sell to dealers in artificial eyes,
though I also sell to taxidermists."
"And for what eyes do you have the
most demandr
ssOf course for artificial eyes for
stuffed household pets-dogs' eyes,
cats eyes, and small birds eyes,"
"And do you keep these in all
sizesi'
"Not only in sll sizes, but in all
shapes. The shape of the eye differs
according to the position of the bird
or animal, though the difference is
greater than in BIRDS"
'sIn what animal does the shape of
the eye vary the mosts"
Decidedly the cat The shapes Of
the cats eye run all the way from
round to oval. It depends on whether
the cat is looking into flame Of light
or in dark room. or is purring, or
just waking up, or opening its eyes
in a doze, and on many other circum-
stances. Now, people may remember
their cat with most pleasure in GER
tain position, and according have it
stuffed in that position. OF course
the taxdermist comes to me for the
eyes which suit the position, and it is
in shaping them according to the ex-
igencies of the occasion that the man.
ufacturer shows his skill"
''Some animals, / suppose, have