The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-11-05

How many kinds of gloves do you
make?"
"Oh, so many" said the cutter.
"There are heavy gloves for warmth,
both gentlemen's and ladies coarse,
thick affairs they are; there are the
driving gloves, the gauntleted gloves,
now SO popular and the visiting
gloves. Then there are leather nit
tens, lined with the wooden and topped
with the fur, and the castor glove and
all the undressed leather gloves Of both
yellow and black. All, there are many
glovesw
" How much does the ordinary
gloye-maker earn per week?"
!" From $40 to SIS. Some earn $50:
but usually they get $40 in the month,
and the demand for the labor is
greater than the supply. Little girls
that do nothing but tie the ends of the
threads on the coarser kinds of gloves
can earn SIS per month, All, it's the
good business. 1t is not the heavy
kind. 1t makes no back to ache. =
Later | learned the process of pre-.
pairing the skins. The domestic, that
is, the American skins of different
kinds, and the imported, both lin the
raw" are placed in cask, seventy
five or eighty at a time, to receive a
salt pickle; they are then washed and
placed in an alum bath, in which they
remain twelve hours. Then they are
stretched by a thin, round-faced iron,
to remove wrinkles, and then are
fastened to frame to dry, either in
the sun or by steam. They are next
sorted for coloring, the best being re-
served for the lighter shades. Again
they are washed and put in an egg
bath, the yelk alone being used. After
the egg bath, the skins, being now a
pure white, are laid flesh side down
on zinc or lead tables, and brushed
over with liquid dyes, composed of
wood, citron, redwood, lignum vitae,
Brazil bark, etc., according to the
colors desired.
" Is this the final process?" I asked.
ooh, no., said the proprietor of the
mill. "The color must be set, and for
this purpose mordant of some kind
is used-that is, the skins must be
brushed with a preparation of alum,
copperas and blue vitriol, again dried,
then dampened and rolled up in sepa-
rate parcels, flesh side out, and packed
in barrels to season; that is to render
every part alike, and equally soft and
pliable. After the seasoning they are
shaved; that is, a sharp knife is passed
over the flesh side, and every little
bunch or supe1fuous particle is re-
moved, making the surface smooth and
soft. The last process is to polish the
grain side of the skin with pad made
of flannel, making it still softer and
more pliable and ready for manufact-
ure. The finest white skins are re-
served for white gloves, and are rubbed
and rerubbed with the flannel pad"
"What slow process!"
eyes, and one requiring great care.
Deer skins are the most difficult to pre-.
pare and the tanning is somewhat, but
not essentially different, save in th&
smoking to which they are subjected.
They are placed in a smoke-house to
dry, the smoke also darkening them
Oh, there's work in it, plenty of work
hard, careful, pottering work, but it's
a good business and an enduring one"
The question of economy in gloves
would seem to be difficult one, with
the ladies especially. There is, it APP
pears, no substitute for kid glove
either in wear or in appearance; thread
and silk gloves are a delusion and a
snare. The dogskin glove outwears
two or three kids, but it costs more, to
begin with; it looks well, but can only
be worn in the street. The cheap kid
glove hardly has enough endurance for
street glove, though cheap, many
buttoned giant de suede, if one is so
fortunate as to find make that fits,
can be very well worn for occasions of
half dress, as, for instance, dinner or
reception, where the hands are not
much used, or the gloves removed early
in the evening. One can find such
gloves for from sixty to eighty cents
pair, and they will serve many such
occasions. At dancing party, how
ever, they are exhausted in an evening.
Perhaps it may not be considered out
OF place to advert here to a remark of
common occurrence, bearing on the
subject, at the meeting of friends more
especially when it takes place in the
streets. Certain kinds of mistaken
politeness, sincere as they are, are
absurd enough to be grotesque. A
common mistake of this sort with
some persons is to say "Excuse my
glove" when they offer their hand to
casual acquaintance or on introduction
to q stranger. 1t might be inferred
from this remark that the wearing of
gloves is extremely rare in a civilized
community or that the wearer wishes
to advertise the extraordinary fact that
he or she has gloves. All he really
desires is to appear polite; never sus-
pecting for a moment that he is simply
ridiculous If one offers to shake
hands with ony one in place where
it is necessary to wear gloves, he
certainly needs no excuse for compli-
ance with the habit. He might with
equal reason on receiving q visitor at
his house, apologize to him for not re-
moving his coat before bidding him
welcome. The superfuous phrase
probably had its origin in the days
Wneh gloves were clumsy, ana used
more for protection than as an essen
tial to dress. Then the naked hand was
thought to be an evidence of good will
and cordially. Since gloves have been
universally adopted, the idea of asking
pardon for wearing them is an
anchronism as well as an impropriety.
Gloves are now made to fit exactly, SO
that, were it courtesy to take them off
on encountering ones friends and &C
quaintances, an amount of time and
trouble would be required which would
inevitably render a social greeting at
once comical exhibition and a bore.
ID. @. H., IN Brooklyn Eagle.
WAS IN LOVE.
Why a Crippled and Blind Man Appealed