The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-09
BLACK YOUR BOOTS y
POLISHING THE UNDERSTANDING
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
The Mixture Used in PIiny's Day-Ingredi-
ents of Modern BlacI1ing-The Time
When the Old-FashiOned Boot
Black Disappeared.
fCincinnati Enquirer.l

lCincinnati Enquirerl
It appears to have been customary 10
Undue shoes with an oily mixture of some
kind before the time of Pliny, that is to
say, before the commencement OF the
Christian era. In the fifteenth book Of
his Natural History" the great Roman
book.maker states that Cato recommended
the dregs of the olive. after the expression
of the oil, to be used for amounting
bridle-reins, leather thongs and shoes to
render them supple. The same author,
In the thirty fifth book of this same series
of his, describes q mixture which appears
to be the very foundation of our modern
backing. This mixture he defines as
compound of lampblack, gum and vim
egar, which could be used for cleaning
shoes. and for ink to write with as well,
and he makes much of the double utility
of the invention. That very compound,
with the addition of oil and molasses
would make the backing we use nova
days.
That such a mixture was in use in
Pliny's day is shown by the discovery,
among the old Roman remains in Eng
land, of leather which had been covered
with backing. and some fragments of
which still preserved a dull polish. The
first backing was doubtless rubbed on the
leather with the fingers or a cloth; for, at
the time it originated the stiff brush of
the present day was unknown. Brushes
made of vegetable fiber and hair are men
toned by Homer, but from the designs
which have come down to us, these could
not have been used for polishing.
The stiff bristle brush was invented
several centuries ago, but it was not fit
for polishing tool. either. 1t was only
in the present century that the backing
brush was brought into use. In 1901
whalebone fiber backing brush was
patented, but it seems to have been a fail
lv,ls hau oil
tried and found wanting This about in
1912.
Modern backing seems to have been
originally composed chiefly of tallow,
wax and probably lamp-black, and was,
therefore, somewhat similar to harness
backing Tt was European invention,
and was first used in France and Italy.
a Mr.. Richard Martin got hold of the
recipe for it while on his travels, and
when he returned to England he made a
partnership for its manufacture with a
Mr.. Charles Day, in 1901. This firm has
since acquired world wide celebrity, under
the title of Day 81 Martin. Another i'm
portant backing mandatory was after
ward established by Mr.. Robert Warren.
Another was subsequently founded by
Mr. Everett who commenced business in
Kings Head court, Holborn. All the
parties connected in establishing these
three firms acquired large fortunes.
EHCQ udUy Ol COuISCp
and methods of mixing peculiar to him
self: but the chief materials, namely, a
black coloring matter and certain sub
stances which acquire gloss by friction,
were the same in most cases. In England
they generally consist of bone black, sugar
or molasses. sperm oil, sulphuric acid,
and strong vinegar The lone-black, in
the state of very thin powder, and the
sperm oil, are first thoroughly incorpo-
rated; the sugar or molasses, mixed
with small proportion of vinegar, is now
added, and well stirred into the mass;
strong sulphuric acid is then gradually
poured in the vessel The mixture is then
diluted with an additional quantity
of vinegar. Paste backing is now made
In precisely the same way as liquid black
ing, exc' 1T that the last portion of vine
gar is not added. 1t can be understood
from these Ingredients how boy who re-
Gently undertook to eat three boxes of
b.ackingon wager, could die in terrible
commissions. Baron Liebig states that in
Germany backing is made in the follow
Ing manner: Powdered bone-black is
mixed with half its weight of molasses
and one-eighth of its weight of olive oil,
to which are afterward added one eighth
of its weight of muriate acid and one
fourth its weight of strong sulphuric acid
The whole is then mixed up with water
to sort of unctuous paste.
In the days of Sim Tappertit, London
and all other great cities were dirty and
badly paved. and bootblacks were as
abundant as they are at the present day.
They haunted the corners of the busiest
streets of London and Paris, and some
few, like Mr.. Tappertit, were installed in
shops and little booths. They hailed the
pedestrians with, "Shoeblack, Your
Honorl" "Black your shoes. sir, " and
never had change any more than they
have it to day. They used an oleaginous
and lusterless backing smearing it on
with their la IDS and rubbing it smooth
with a brush or rough cloth. In the pol
ish;ng- shops old shoes were sometimes
loaned the customer to wear while his
good ones were being BACKED. A Curl
Gus old police court case in London con-
Germs the arrest of a man for running off
in pair of the bootblacks shoes, which
were better than his own,
It is an odd fact that when the patent
improved Ulackings were. introduced
the old-fashioned public bootblack who
used to mix his blackin. up for himself
each day disappeared. Every one took
- to having his boots BACKED at home. now
that the tools and polish were so handy,
and for score of years the public boot
black was unknown. Then he began to
crop up again and grow toward he army
he forms to day. In Paris most of the
public bootblacks are old women, and in
Germany they are young ones. There
are no bootblacks in Spain, for the mer
there wear patent leather shoes entirely
The manufacture of these shoes is vast
industry in France, whence the Spanish
market is supplied
a