Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-09-13
A CANDY FACTORY.
WHERE SWEETS Of ALI, KINDS
ARE MADE.
Girls Who Make Fair Wages mud
Have Pheasant l;mploymcnt-
How the Work Of Preparing
the Candies is Duac.


day, and the air of the ncighborny street
is filled with the fragrance of hot choco-
late and boiling sugar They nestle
mostly III the ,hickly settled PORTIONS of
the East and West sides, aud are not in-
wiling buildings to the ordinary observer.
Still the story OF life inside the walls
turned out to be II pleasant one.
Into one of tho big gloomy looking
buildings the writer went, aud the wall:
up three flights of narrow and somcwna,
dark stairs, past much noisy machinery
and barrels of what seemed like sugar
was not calculated to give one II favor.
able impression of the place. But the
room which | entered on the third llooi
was revelation of light and cleanliness.
IL was the place where the girls
and women wrap and pack choco.
late and bonbons. 1t was great room
set with long tables and cooled by revolt
wing fans. On comfortable, long legged
wooden chairs sit the girls before the
table, chatting us they work Each one
wears simple calico frock and long white
apron, with old fashioned mob caps pinned
over the hair. This work consists in
wrapping long bars and cakes of chQco-
late ill tinfoil and oiled paper. Then
other women add the thick, white,
stamped paper. seal the ends with glue
and add Il band or ticket of trade mark.
These are again placed in wooden boxes
or piled on trays and carried tn the storage
room. This is II vast room, with Il mar
BILE floor, filled with shelves and tables,
while cool draughts of mir come M
fhrntlnl, 4.1 al, 90, a. NJ
Here are great blocks Of chocolate ms thick
and square as paving stones, cuokinr
cakes put up i'll papers, ground chocolate
III pans MI prepared for use, and thou.
sands upon thousands of pounds boxes and
bnnbonicrs ready for the retail shops
"Wcil," remarked the forcwoman of
this floor, al lave been here eight wears,
and like my business. | began jus. ;s
you see them doing in the worlrooin, at
wrapping, and now | get pretty little
salary, and my duties are almos, light
overlook the girls work, initiate new
corners and keep Il record Of the storage
room. We none of us are oppressed 10y
! rules and regulations. are fairly paid foI
our work, and find that il there are no
restrictions to bind one or bosses 10 insist
upon rules, we work quite as well and are
twice as cheerful and Happy The girls
fingers must fly, hut their tongues may
also. AT intervals they are allowed To
get up, walk about, and often exchange
places at the tables and so learn to he pro.
iicient i'll every detail of the business AT
noon We rest for three quarters of an
hour, eat our lunchc0ns in comfort and
go back to the tables ready for the two
or three hours Of work that are required
i'll the afternoon. Then there is NOTHING
dirty or disagrccablc connected with it.;
the rooms, table, etc, are the perfection
Of sweet cleanliness, and, ii YOU will no.
tice, most of our women haze hands thai.
ii dainty lady nigh! envy in their white
ness and softncss.
''Do we cat much candy Well, for
my own part, ann very fond of il, and
find that my long association with 50
much sweets has only scrvcdto strengthen
my liking for it. We may eat II good
deal, and To me il is Il regular part of my
diet, and would miss it sorcly were
Obliged to stop. Outsiders maginc that
we never touch even Il chocolate drop, as
the constant working with it soon dis
gusts the appetite, and physicians will
Insist that sweets are very injurious; but
our constitutions are not yet wrecked
and / am sure We are far roster.
healthier looking set Of women than you
will find in other factories Exercise,
fresh air and absolute cleanliness is what
keeps the skin clear and the eyes bright,
and if this were the case in the other
great manufacturing buildings our girls
would not be the sallow, dispiri,cd set
most Of them are"
The pretty little forewOman then in
sisted should go 20 the next floor,
where caramcls, nut candies and crys-
tallizcd fruits were in process of cutting
and packing by tie women. Thcrcupon
we climbed another flight, and found
that Il great machine, run by hand, was
busy cutting what seemed to be at first
great muddy, sticky looking slabs of
stuff into the delicious and .ucculcnt
caramel. As the little brown and yellow
cubes fell into IL receiver they were car
ricd to tables, where girls with def
fingers wrapped them in squares of oiled
paper.
doesn't il make you almost dizzy 10
sit and twirl those little mpcrsl" j in
CURED Of one sweet looking young wo-
| man.
sob, no, indecdr' she answered, "for
every now and then get up, walk about
bit, pick out nuts or help dip chocol-
ate; and here comes some one to ask the
loan of my place. and III show You what
they do III the other room. Here, you
see. arc big wire baskets full OF English
walnuts, pistachc nuts, pecans, etc, and
here are the nut candies ready to be crys-
lallizcd, " and caught sight of pans
piled high with the tempting daintes.
Near by stood jars OF stone filed with
the cream ready TO Ec run in molds,
dipped i'll IL chocolate tub and SET in the
refrigerator to dry into n full ilcdgcd
chocolate cream. The chocolate tub is
huge porcelain basin fully five feet deep
and ten feet in circumference at the ton.
This is filed with liquid chocolate and
stirred by an enormous stone arm that
works by machinery. The girls place
the molds Of cream, cocoanut, nuts, etc,
oil perforated tin trays, and, holding
them in one hand, dip up the chocolate