Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-03-31
THE sJPtLY OF MUSK.
Perfumes that the Jersey Marshes Fur
 nish for l adies' IIandkerchiefs.

A reporter wa, in a drug store the other evening The store is kept by a friend of his, A lady came in and bought an ounse of musk extract. After she had gone out the reporter said to his friend, the druggist:
 ''I dare say that the race of fragile, but aromatic, little deer from which musk is obtained must be nearly extinct by this time, is it not!'
 Mot the fragile and aromatic little deer that furnishes the musk I sell,' re- piled the druggist. ''That fragile and aromatic little deer isn't any nearer ex- tinction now than he was when he first began to dive and burrow, and that was away back in the pristine years.''
 "Why!" exclaimed thereporter "The animal that supplies the musk of com merce lives among the palm clad hills of Central Asia, where picturesque native hunters follow it's tiny track, ris'5ing LEFT ss...ss-as hardships to secure the almost infinitesi- nal sac which envelopes the precious perfume, and by painful journeys of of trade, where it is sold for many times its weight in gold. Everybody knows that :"
 Yes" said the druggist, ''I've heard of that. But the way I find it now is different. The animal that supplies the musk of commerce around these parts lives largely in those llxuriant realms of bog and malaria known as the Jersey marshes, where the following of its track is attended with no risk to life, no toll, no hardship. I never knew it to be at- tended with much but a jug of rum and a long handled spear. The hunters are picturesque, though. An old fur cap, a large chew of tobacco oozing over an urn- protesting red chin whisller, and a pair of gum boots filled with the legs of nick ory overalls, and long, lank Jerseyman. That ought to pass picturesque, hadn't it? But none of these hunters ever said anything to me about an infin- itesimal sac, enveloping precious per fume, nor ever complained about having to journey many painful miles and miles to reach the marts of trade; nor have I any recollection of their demanding many times its weight in gold for the precious perfume. Not any hunters that I ever dealt with didn't. They just jumped aboard ferryboat, landed on this side and hoofed it up here, and, chucling on the co,inter what he had to sell, said:
 |" Thar ye be, Kernell Didn't have much luck yist d'y, an only slashed the pods out O ten. They're bang up uns, though. Ot to be wuth ten cents a pair, | Kernel.
 Do you mean to say''- the reporter began, but the druggist interrupted him.
 "Ycs, " said he; II mean to say that the picturesque hunters who risk their | lives on the trail of the musk deer in the | Central Asian mountains can do better by packing their grips and coming over here and chasing the willy muslzrat on f4afFFlses. -.Ia.ss.-,.,ia.I,t haze l to wear more clothes, but they'd get more musk and find a market right Under their nose. Yes, my son. The aifete orient is no place for the musk hunter nowadays. The robust occident beclzons him and he had better come. He needn't fetch his spear with him. They are plenty here at fifty cents per spear"
 But somebody sells the genuine ori- antal musk yet, certainly" insisted the reporter.
 ''Yes; oh, yes,'' said the druggist. ''There's good deal of it sold yet; but it's all nonsense. Whats the use? A 1rop of Jersey musk will reach just as far and last just as long as a drop of the most aristocratic article that ever came from Asia. lady carrying drop of the imported musk to church with her will not make the congregation a bit sicker than if she had insinuated drop of the home made stuff into her gar ments. Neither will the high collared youth who sits down next to you at the theatre, eXhaling "reminiscences of an Asiatic musk deer hunt, arouse in you any stronger desire to sweep upon him as an army with banners and dust the floor with him, than will the same young man if he simply recalls to you the hole where the muslrat disappeared. Then what s the use? There ain't any. No one can tell the difference and keep the home article. It's as good as the best and can be sold for less. Mind you, say can be sold for less. Some of the finest and most delicate colognes I sell today are made from the aromatic secretion of the mus1rat of the Jersey marshes. men, tion myself, but if I should place 100 Nsw York druggists in bunch and let Nou chuck stone at the bunch you couldnT hit man in it who isn't on just as intimaye relations with the Jersey nuskrat a am."
 "Then.r said the reporter, "the Jersey men who hunt the muskrat must make a nice thing pf it."
 ''As farl as it goes, yes," replied the d1zlsssist- ssBut as ten or a dozen musk rat pods will make enough extract to last 9 year in any drug store with fair trade in perfumes, there might be more money in it than there is for the hunter. But then you eelthe musk pod isn't all there is to the muskrat. He is an animal ot great resources, the nusllrat is. For in stance he furnishes the material fol many thousands of sealsl1in caps, muffs gloves and trimmings. So you car readily see that neither the musk deer the seal, nor the rabbit need go off ant be extinct so long as the great American muskrat lives, breathes and has hi. being. New York Evening Sun.
 The Feet in Cold Weather.