Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-07-12
FLOWERMAKING.
THE WORK WHICH 5000 GlIsi.S
DO IN NfiW YORK.
Glover limitations of Nature rhn;
May Deceive Even l;Npcri..-
Tho Wages OF the Vork-
cIS and Their Lives.

Curiously pretty faces Ivy the hundred
Will meet yon ii you ever happen To take
IL. early morning walk down in the
French quarter. You will sec scores of
WORKING girls, every third one handsome.
hurryihg to their work in the region
about Blccchcr, Houston and Wooster
streets.
This is the region OF the artificial
nowe-makcrs. Great six-story buildings
ARE aglow on every floor with counterreits
OF natures richest blossoms. Most o.
;hcsc pretty things are intended to enrich
spring bonncts and ornament costly
GOWNS. Do you know where the fashions
III flowers are set! This is what they say
down in Little Paris: Every wear. when
Inc race for the Grand PriN of the real
t"riS is run, all the gay ladies of that
;ity, whether they hcion.: To the great
worlu or only to II vulgar fraction OF the
great world, don their finest garments
and go out 10 see the sport. Clever and
obsGrvant mcn stare hard nj the pretty
bonnets, and hurry back to New York
that Little Paris may know Jus, what the
gay ladies OF big Paris are wearing.
fhen the ilowor;m;lkcrS are promptly sci
to work making flowers in imitation oil
those worn ut the Grand Prx. Not
everything can he safely inflated, because
some of those Partisan bonncts are Il triilc
too autacious for American women.
Fully 5000 girls are busted with this
artistic trade. Men prepare the cloth
from which the petals are stamped 1t is
chiefly velvet, satin, Indian MULE and Vie
torla lawn. Some of il has To be sized
and dyed. The Stamprr takes the cloth.
places 1t on Il broad leather cushion, and
rapidly stamps ont with dye aud mallcl
whatever form oi petal is needed. Thcn
the material is ready for the girls They
SIT side by side n long tables Each is
supplied with few simple implements
small cushion of lead or cloth, a blunt
awl called Il gopher, pincrr' Tor WORK too
delicate Tor human fingers; wire, scissors
and thin runDcr tape. The gopher cnrls
the petals in clever imitation 81 nature.
Perhaps the %irl who sopllerS also wires
The petals. When tine flowers are COM
plctcd they are sent in bunchrs To- the
brhncheIs. This is II delicate part Of the
trade. II takes no great skill TO make :.
panSy or daisy; but only IN artistic
worker can make II rose, and many who
can make roses have little art in branch
inS. That requires taste, care and "A
knowledge Of natures ways.
1t would be hard to name u flower. IA
tive or foreign, that is not coun;erfcitc,i
III Little Paris Sometimes odd things
tii;lt nature never made are produced IL
please wayward taste. Then ''pi,ucis"
are made for quiet bonncts These are
small leaves aud grasses in lunches, in
tcrsrcrscd with fruit buds 1t is n scpa-
rate trade to- make leaves, 'pins" and
pllucts. PipS are the little fruit buds.
Girls begin to learn lowcrinnkin. ri;
fourteen. Al first they are pai'l only
fifty cents - week, and sometimes thcy
must pay for instruction. In :, year !,
girl of any promise acquires considerable
skill, and clever girls learn much more
quickly. Once skilled workers they arc
paid by the piece. They average from
81 TO S10a week. Bianchers earn from,
IS 10 s2oa week, and even more in busy
Seasons, for then they take the flower;
home 10 complete their work at niuht.
The colorcr*, who are usually Foreigners,
earn form 81 to 500 Il week. In winter
work is done for summer custom, and i'm
summer for winter. July is the dull
month. If Il iiowcrworkcr understands
feather curling she may turn her hand TO
that III the dull summer months. = few
fcathcrworl;crs are skilled in mounting
the birds and bc;lst:; that make, beautiful
or hideols the winter hats of women.
young and old. This work is done in
summer lime, and it helps to keep the
ilowcrworkcrs busy the year round.
Most OF those who make flowers IN the
French quarter seldom SEQ natural liowei.,
except in show windows. The branch
crs, however, must return to nature now
and again or their work will become stiff
and conventional. Everything consid
cred, these blossoms of cloth and wire art.
wonderfully like nature The rooms
where the wares are displayed look like
florists windows, except that no single
florist, or, indeed, no dozen florists in
New York, can exhibit any such variety
OF blossoms.
The making Of small trees and shrub
berry is separate. For this men do the
branching and girls the lighter work. a
branch olpeach blossoms, a blooming ep-
pie hougf, an orange tree, in leaf, flowcr
and fruit,arc initiated with excellent suc-
cess. Climbing ivics, creeping plants
AND broad lily pads are favoritc subjects
Here are forty girls in single shop,
and their ages average scarcely Tive nty
years. "No, they seldom grow OLD in
the business" Says the forewonian
"You see, they marry. NAB York STAY.