The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-02-28
"BLACK YOUR BOOTSr"

me mixture Used in Plny's Day-Ingredi-
ents of Modern Blacking-The Time
when the OId-Fashioned Boot-BIack
Disappeared.
1t appears to have been customary to
mbue shoes with an oily mixture of
Sme kind before the time of Plinv, that
7 to say, before the commencement of
ne christian era. In the fifteenth boo
II his Natural History the great Ro
nan book-maker states that Cato re
commended the dregs of the olive, after
tle expression of the oil, to be used fol
Amounting bride reins, leather thongs
ald shoes to render them supple. The
SINE author, in the thirty-fifth book Of
us same series of his, describes a mix
Glre which appears to be the very foun
dstlon OF our modern backing This
MIXTURE he defines as compound Oh
lanpblack, gum and vinegar, which
could be used for cleaning shoes and
fot ink to write with as well, and he
makes much of the double utility of the
invention. That very compound, with
tht addition of oil and molasses, would
mike the backing we use nowadays.
That such mixture was in use in
Plhy'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 preserve a dull polish. The
lllst backing was doubtless rubbed ON
. tie leather with the fingers OF a cloth;
ia, at the time it originated, the stiff
l1.1lh nf 10 do
Brushes made of vegetable fiber and
hairare mentioned by Homer, but from
the designs which have come down to
us, these could not have been used for
polishing.
HE stir brstle 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 a
whalebOne fiber backing brush was
patented, but it seems to have been a
failure. Split quill brushes have also
been tried and found wanting. This
about in 1912.
Modern backing seems to have been
originally composed chiefly of tallew,
wax and probably lamp-black, and was,
therefore, somewhat similar to harness,
blackng. 1t was a European invention,
and was first used in France and italy.
A Mr.. Richard Martin got hold of the
recipe for it while on bis travels, and
when he returned to England he made
partnership for its manufacture with
Mr.. Charles Day, in 1901. This firm
has since acquired worldwide celebrity,
under the title of Day & Martin. Another
important backing mandatory was
afterwaM established by Mr.. Robert
Warren. Another was subsequently
founded by Mr.. Everett, who com
menced business in Kings Head Court,
Holborn. All the parties connected in
establishing these three firms acquired
large fortunes.
Each maker had, of course, proper
tons and methods of mixing peculiar to
himself; but the chief materials, namely,
black coloring matter and certain sub
stances which acquire a gloss by fric-
ton, were the same in most cases. In
England they generally consist of bone
black, sugar or molasses, sperm oil, sui
phuric acid, and strong vinegar. The
bone-black, in the state of a very thin
powder, and the sperm oil, are fist
thoroughly Incorporated; the sugar or
molasses, mixed with a small proportion
of vinegar, is now added, and web
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 row made in precisely
the same way as liquid backing, except
that the last portion of vinegar is not
added. 1t can be understood from these
ingredients how boy who recently I'M
dertook to eat three boxes of blacking
on wager, could die in terrible con-
WILSON'S. Baron Liebg states that in
Germany backing is made ia the fol-
lowing manner: Powdered bene-black
is mixed with half its weight of molasses,
and One-eighth of its weight of olive oil,
to which are afterward added enc
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 We're 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: "Shoebiack, YOUR
honor?" "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 hands and rubbing it smooth
with brush or rough cloth. In the
polishing shops old shoes were some
times loaned the customer to wear while
his good ones were being BACKED. A
curious old police court case in London
concerns the arrest of q man for running
off in pair of the bootblack's shoes,
which were better than his own.
1t is an odd fact that when the patent
improved blackings were introduced
the old-fashioned public bootblack, who
used to mix his backing up for himself
each day, disappeared. Everyone 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 the
army he forms to-day. In Paris most
of the public bootblacks are old women,
on in