Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-03
LOW BRusuns AmE alApE.
PECULIAR Features of a Turkish Bath
Brush-Tricks OF the trade.

f5ries IN America not many years ago
ItlvVas then thought that nice brushes
could be made only VITA French bristles
hut a workman from the old country eX
Blamed that the superiority was due only
n boiling, and now an American manu-
lecturer cam prepare his own bristles:
IS hen the bristles OF the wild boar OF
Russia are imported, they are very dirty
and are not straight. The curve Is OW-
iug to the fact that the bristles grow 10
wards the tail Of the animal, and hug tDe
body. BY boiling they are made plaUIe'
and are then bound with cord IN bunches
an inch IN diameter, and dried IN rooms
ileilGATa temperature OF l2O deg' AS
bT1sties are bought by weight, Toe puI-
chaser OF raw material loses III per cent;
hY-the absorption OF tie MOISTURE ana
ii ne washes them he loses another 10
per cent. because OF lhe "SiSuI VI ullCOt
when they are relieved
The i'm nOrter OF brisLss always stores
them in } wet warehouse on tue river
'front.' so they Will absorb water and
weigh more. He also binds each bundle
with about 80 feet of cord, which is some
times substituted for the native bark
string which is put around the bundles III
Russia, and the cord wildrink in another
generous allowance OF moisture, which
must be dried out at the expense OF the
brushmaker. Black bristles are the low
est grade, gray next, yellow third, and
white are most expensive.
Backing brushes are made of horse
aalr at well as brlsJes. the boOtblack
VINO mas a stand ON Park row or Broad
way will use horse hair brush, because
no matter how thick the dirt and backing
may be on the boot, the horse hair Will
polish over 1t all, and do the Job quickly.
AT the Hoffman hotel and Fifth Avenue
hotel the bootman uses bristie brush
which be would pay 81 for at retail, but
he usually buys them by the dozen, and
orders for $50 worth are not few. A bris-
lie brush takes of all the blacHug which
sas gathered from previous shines, and
puts on thin, hard polish that lasts the
travelling man or Senator all wet day.
There is "A place in Chicago, called the
Chicago BOOtblacking Parlor, where 100
shines are made in a day, only with bris.
tie brushes, and they send to New York
drm TO get them. You cannot sell brush
10 the proprietor Of motel backing
stand which has not French polish and
q groove for the fingers and thumb.
An eccentricity among OOOtblacke,
which is peculiar TO New York, has made
1t necessary for brush manufacturers TO
make a new style. When the writer
dropped into basement room, near an
uptown theatre the other night 70 have
bis boots BACKED, the little darkey at
chair No. I beat jig with his brushes on
the boots OF his customers, rapping alter
nately with either end.
THAT don't wear 'em out,v he said
Eyer see one o. these backing fellers that
we buy of got wind OF the way we DO and
he had a lot OF brushes made thicker at
both ends than in the middle"
When a rosy, hut perhaps delicate,
woman goes to the Turkish baths for the
first time she is treated by the attendant
with only goats hair brush. Her soft,
pink flesh could not stand anything
rOugher. So the brush trade must furnish
what is wanted for every class of people
and all conditions of life. The married
woman who has become a constant at
tendant at the baths is rubbed with a
brush made OF the name OF a horse. It
gives q pleasant titilGtiOn, aud brings the
warm blush to the flesh, which becomes
RgloW when the towels are used. Nothing
but a tail hair brush will bring the
pleasurable sensation TO the ''Old stager,"
and if a goats hair brush were used she
would probably say it tlckled her, and
ask for something harsher. People often
talk of camePs hair brushes, but there is
no such thing in the market. They are
made OF squirrel tail hair, which is got
from the red squirrel of Russia, though
perhaps the majority Of cancels hair
brushes are only skunk hair.
Probably every man, woman and child
n
one in a thousand knows where the
bristles come from or how the brush is
made. On entering a factory one is struck
by the TACT that no machinery is used. If
it were not for boring hOIes there would
not even be a lathe IN the whole estab-
lisbment- Every brush has an exact
weight OF bristles IN it. On the benches
in front Of the Workmen are scales in
which they put the bristles which are
10 form a brush, and then as they sew
them in. or stick them in holes with &C.
ment, they gauge the i've or ten ounces of
bristles 50 that the allowance will bold
nut for the entire brush. This is done
solely by touch, and the brushmaker's
knack is the estimate of his skill and
salary, They are paid by the piece in
most places, and unless brush is cor
rectly made they must take IL apart and
make it again. Many earn $50 week.
The hair brush 10 the rough is a piece
Of wood, perhaps six or twelve inches
long and one or two wide, and has no
curved shape. The bristles are sewed in
with wire before the handle is sawed out
men in this country who can cut out the
handles OF a brush with artistic accuracy
and beauty, that they command large
salaries. The stiff end OF bristle is the
root. The other end is split, and il is
owing 20 this fact that the shoemaker has
Whhb ut Calls WdAtu euQ LOT sewing
with. BE braids or twists the two parts
OF the split end with his heavy sewing
thread, aud the bristles is his needle
There is fber or nap on bristle so
noticeable that If one tries to work It be-
tween the thumb ana forefnger against
ihe nap the bristle will move In directly
the opposite direction from that intended
The public know so little Of the quality
~ bristles that manufacturers have found
% Is easy 10 deceive them with cheap imi-
tations, and some firms make nothing nut
the inferior article. Their factors are
sailed slaughter houses Ia the trade. They
pay their hands by the week, and under
sell the market. A fbrous root called
tampioo, found In Mexico, near the city Of
Nampieo, can be split up into the brlstles
when dried and prepared. IL looks like
punch d bristles, but has n reddish tinge
hiceroot Is used, too, for horse brushes.
Argentine bristle can be told by the wav
ltburns-nasning up aud curling like
snake Iampico burns with a steady
light, and slowly. In use, tampicO mats
down, and the brush IL worthless in A
short time; bristles always spring back in
place.
When Boss Tweed had control of the
finances OF New York city he did not for
get has old friends IN the brush business.
and IL is said the one order the street labor.
FRS were obliged to obey with fidelity was
10 90 70 certain factory every morning