Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-29
nlrnRsCHAUM PIPES.
Their Manufacture At the village OF huh-
Ia in the ThurinElan Forest.

this. Where they come from ] do moi
know. bat vast numbers Of them, thous-
apds Of gross, come from one Of the pref
4iest. ouainiest little towns IN all Ger
many. from Ruhla, at the foot OF the War
therg, in the ThuTingian forest. Here on
the hillsides and in the valley, in cottages
shat shine with cleanliness, stretching
along the banks of the clear stream that
gives the district It's name, lives race OF
Idpe-makers peculiar in language ana
customs. and. until a short time ago, pc
culiar in costume as well. Like the toy
makers of SOnneberg, whom ] described
in my last letter the plpe-makefs OF iSln-
Ia would be i'll off, indeed, il they depend
ed solely upon the soil OF their mario"
mountain valley for support. just now
they happened to take possession OF the
nine industry 1t IS hard 10 determine, ior
fhere is not one part OF pipe that origi-
Mates in Kulla or within easy access OF
Inc village. Mouth piece, chain, the ma
terials for the silyerer, glider, decorator,
are gathered up IN the most diverse parts
ofthe world and brought hther to the pipe
makers of the Thuringian forest from Asia
Minor, Syria, Brazil, from sweden,
France, Austria, the shores Of the Baltic
and tue valleys OF the Pyrenees.
RUHLA.
The single street OF Ruhla winds from
the valley an hours steady elm Ding up
wards. The houses daringly built among
the mountains indicate the CHEEKY,
thrifty. nature Of the inhabitants IN their
wealth OF plants upon the window lodges
sand the presence of song bird IN his cage
among the flowers. One OF the most at
Tractive features Of the whole Is the after
noon lunch hour, when the young girls OF
Ruhla, said by the ge0grapher Elisee Re
clus to be the prettlest OF all Germany,
gather upon the stone steps OF the mills
(Which differ from the cottages only IN
being somewhat larger to eat their yes
per bread" The glorious world when
Surrounds them, world OF woods ana
meadows. springs and the breath oil the
pine. has succeeded i'm preserving the
freshness OF their bright color and tue
a~ticity Of their steps, IN spite OF the
aailv struggle with want and tine eVer-re-
newed battle for existence.
The history OF Buhla goes back even FAR
ther than that OF SOnneberg In the
eleventh century the iron mines oil kuhla
were at the height OF their prosperity,
and the people believe that they recog-
nize traces even at this late day OF the
mines in the sides of the mountains that
form the long, narrow, winding gorge
that they call their valley. Those were
the DAYS Of mail and trappngs for the
warrior and his steed, and when they
passed away and she demand for helmets
and swords and hammered steel in all it's
applications grew gradually less and less
the proud smiths of Ruhla slowly changed
into humble cutters. Their cutters guild
won renoWn aud their wares were export
ed to Stockholm and Riga, as well as to
the most distant cities Of Germany, to o.
nigsberg, LuDek, Breslau and Franck-
furth-on-the-0der. Yet there came day
when the cutters followed the mail ham
nd ho Uun of "A
A NEW INDUSTRY.
Frederick the Great had founded iron
and steel works in Mark Brandenburg
and offered especial advantages for skill
ed workmen. So in the year l347 the en-
igratiOu from Ruhla began with Is falni-
lies and went on in spite of the interVen-
ton OF the government until the cutters
had ceased to form noteworthy feature
OF Ruhla industry.
When the decline of the cutlery branch
became unmistakaDle, a branch which u
certain Simon Schenk had introduced in-
TO Ruhla in 1888, the manufacture OF pipe
bowls and the metal portions of pipes
was taken up IN earnest. Ruhla was
used to dealing with fire and IRON and it
soon proved favorable soil for this new
metal industry. The direct heirs of the
vanished smiths and cutters were the
men who made lids, rings and chains
not for delicate meerschaum pipes only,
but for those OF wood, clay and porcelain
as well.
The present fame of Ruhla rests upon
its meerschaum productions. II dates
back TO time before the Seven Years
War, when an inhabitant named idert
bought chest Of rough meerschaum
bowls nom a Polish Jew, worked them
up and made profit upon them. BY de-
grees the trade assumed undreamed-of
proportions, and the shavings that fell
away in the processes Of turning, fling,
cutting the bowls and the pieces too small
Tor use as bowls, were used by one Chris
tor Dreip for making imitation meer-
schaum, and the secret OF the invention
was guarded so well that Ruhla kept the
monopoly OF the imitation half century
unmOlested. Finally the secret found is
way from kuhla to Vienna and Paris
where, however, the pure article still
forms the staple industry.
NfEERsCHAUM.
The raw material for meerschaum pipes
Is brought from Asia Minor, from Eskls.
chebr, where IL Is dug out OF government
mines, sold moist and with earth still
clinging TO 10, TO the exporters, who con.
vey IL to the city and subject it to long
prOcessM refinement. The stocks, when
fresh from the mine, are coflee-cOlOred
and must be kept in an air-tight room
while being cleaneed, cut. shaved, rubbed,
dried in the sun and rubbed again with a
liquid polish. This raw material is then
sold neither by piece nor by weight. but
by the chest, good and bad pieces lust as
they came. The pieces vary according to
the yield of the mines and host OF other
circumstances. Thus, for inetance. dur
ing the Crimean war and after the earth.
quake at Brussa IN 1896, in consequence
OF which the deepest mines WITH the pur.
est meerscbaum caved in, tho price of
meeTschaum rose nearly 800 per cent. On
the other hand, in lS7itthe prise per chest
fell suddenly from 900 forms TO go for.
ms. Such sudden IND considerable iuc.
tuatiOns in price ave 70 the neerschaum
manufacture something of the character
OF game Of chance and make the manu-.
facturers reluctant 10 produce except di
Tectly in response TO orders. Hence the
carvers receive their orders most irregu
larly and suffer greatly from the
fluctuations in their work and ineir earn
ings.
In the preparation Of false or initiation
meerschaum the refuse OF the cutters il
pounded in water and then ground OF
pounded between stones 20 a fine mea
and reduced TO a pulp In great water
casks. When II ie thin enough IL IL rub
bed through tine cloth, mixed with 3
transparent glue, steamed in a kettle ant
dried in the sun. And the refuse OF thi,
imitation meerschaum is treated in the
same way 30 long as IL can be made TO re-