Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-22
Daily - eagle
PIERCING THE EARS.
How Louisville AuratOtist Prac-
tees His Profession.
Peculiarly Of Girls and Young Women
Who Wear Earrings-How the Lobes
of the Ears Are Treated and
Punctured by Experts
uonisyille COMMERCIAL

louisville Commercially
At four O'Clock Friday afternoon young
lady, tall and slender and a blonde,
emerged from private room at a jewelry
store on Fourth avenue. Her bright face
was drawn with grimaces and her mouth
was down at the corners, while her ripe
red lips were quivering with pain. As she
came out of the room with an elderly lady
she cast an indignant look in the direction
OF the head salesman, who had left the
same room but moment before with
sharp pointed and slender steel instru-
ment in his hand. A close observer might
have noticed a small crimson spot on the
lobe of the young lady's left ear. This
same crimson spot, upon further investi-
cation, would have been found to be a
drop of blood. The young lady was angry,
however and smarting with pain, and
she didn't linger any longer in the jewelry
store than it required to walk to the door,
which she slammed spitefuly after her as
she stepped out on the street, with an
other whitening look over her shoulder at
the head salesman
'fWhat's the matter?" asked a journal
ist, who had just stepped in to buy 81 900
diamond pin for his new spring scarf"
81 have been piercing the young lady's
earl answered the salesman with mean
smile, sand she didn't like the operation.
/ succeeded in piercing one ear and then
she got mad and left. She'll be back in a
day or two, however, to have the other
one pierced. Young ladies must wear ear
rings, you know"
500 you make a business of pierre
ing ears?" asked the newspaper man.
1--WE do great deal of it here for our
customers. At least do great deal of
it. / don't think anybody else in Louis
vile has ever undertaken the same sort
of work. Within the last ten years l sup
pose have pierced the ears of at least
two thousand girls and young ladies' The
operation is very simple one. All l re-
quire is sharp steel point and stout
cork. The lobe of the ear is placed on the
cork and the steel point is pushed through
in twinkling."
SIS the operation painful?"
''As rule it is not. That depends very
much, however, upon the formation of the
lobe. Sometimes the lobe is thin and ten
der. Sometimes it is fat and fabby, and
often it is hard and gristly. A lobe of
the aforementioned sort is the hardest to
pierce, and in such instances the greatest
pain is caused. AS rule, however, the
operation is accompanied only by a twinge
of pain, which is gone as soon as the
needle is withdrawn"
"Do the ears become inf1amed after the
oper. Sion?"
Yes, but as rule very slightly. Free
quently they are made painfully sore by
In uncomfortable desire that little girls
have to scratch. Grown young ladies,
however, generally obey our instructions,
and within a week all trace of the incis-
ion is gone"
"At what age is the ear generally
pierced"
"At from four to fourteen years. 1t is
seldom that a girl gets to be more than
eighteen years old without having worn
ear rings"
''There are exceptions, however. Only
yesterday a married lady was in the store,
a pair of earrings. My husband
would buy these for me- she said, If had
only had my ears pierced l tried to per-
suade her to submit TO the operation i'm
but she emphatically declined
and almost tainted when | brought out my
steel point to show her how easily and
painlessly the operation could be per-
formed"
"Are you ever called to pierce the ears
more than once?"
ayes; quite frequently. Sometimes the
brass is taken out too soon and the OPEN
ing grows together again. This requires
second incision, which is always more
painful than the first. j know one lady
whose ears have been pierced four times,
and she sent for me the other day to have
them pierced again. The trouble in her
case lies in the fact that her ears grow SO
fat TO her face that the setting of the ear
ring can hardly be seem"
R'Do you do ali the earring piercing that
is done in Louisville?"
II should say not. Many mothers pierce
their daughters ears at home with an or
binary needle.and keep the incision open
by inserting bit of broom straw. This
is barbarous sort of custom, however,
and is nearly always accompanied by ex-
pain and Inflammation. Ihave
known instances where the lobe of the ear
has been entirely lost by this rough oper-
alton"
"What do you charge for piercing one
pair of ears?"
Not cent. We do it gratuitously for /
our customers with the hope, of course, of
selling pair of ear rings"
"N hat is the professional title of one
who plerces the ears?"
10. Id