Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-10
W00ING THE DOLLAR.
Novel Methods Adopted by Ingeni-
oHs hortals in the Cities.
AND WORSE OILS.
Il Thriving Business in the Exchange and
Sale of Wedding Gifts.
PROFESSIONAL ESCORTS FOR WOMEN

Where the country store unites hundred
lines OF labor the larger town has the same
number divided among as many places OF
business. It is only in the great cities that
there can be found hundreds Of curious call
ings in which men and women earE decent
livelihood and in every one Of which would
be utter failures in smaller municipalities.
1t is impossible to tell how many of these
curious trades there are. They are brought
into being with every change in social life.
Immigration introduces kinds Of work alto
gether unknown to the home public. New
fashions, inventions and discoveries are
equally prolific in this regard. On the
other hand, they die off with equal rapidity,
and their demise is neither mourned nor
noticed.
For example, a few years ago, when do
mestie wines were very bad and imported
ones very dear, half dozen men busted
themselves to advantage in selling COM
munion wines to churches and religious So
eieties. They made a fair profit until the
California and other vinIculturists Of the
West entered the field, and then their occu-
patton was gone. Nowadays only one Of
them is left and he makes hardly enough
sales to clear 81 q day.
HIRED FOR THEIR CARE.
So on the other hand the increasing taste
for fine statusry and expensive but fragile
bric-a-brac has given birth to lady busters.
These are educated women, who, having en-
countered misfortune, secure living by 60
ing to the houses of rich art collectors to
dust and otherwise clean the collections off
the latter. The danger of breaking valuable
objects is so much smaller with them than
with the average servant girl that they have
already become popular and find their labor
in large demand.
Many of these curious trades appeal to
old-fashioned notions and even to super
stitions which would excite the risibilities
OF the average reader. Thus one man for
the past ten years has earned his daily bread
by peddling rattlesnake oil. This is made
by few hunters in the wilder parts of the
country and is considered a specific for
many rheumatic diseases. The rattlesnake
oil peddler has a number of rivals who pro-
fess to cure the same ailments with other
remedies. One of them lie a man who re-
tails skunk oil which comes chiefly from
Schatleo, n. Y, and Kansas. A third
deals in earthworm's oil, probably the most
disgusting compound known. It is made
by putting hundreds Of large earthworms in
glass jars and exposing them to the sun un-
til their dead bodies swim in the oil drawn
out of their tissues.
THE EELsKIN BELT.
Another odd remedy is the eelskin belt.
These are made of cotton cloth, to whose
inner side is sewed a number of eelskins,
pulled from the live fish. No matter where
the rheumatism may be the belt is generally
applied around the waist. Our foreign col
onies demand curious things at times, and,
of course, find people who will supply their
wants. For example, the Germans predilec-
tion for May wine has given rise to peddlers
OF the fragrant weed known as Waldmeis-
ter or woodruff, which grows in few local
tiles around New York and finds ready
sale at all times of the year, but more es-
pecially May and June.
=. The love Of the Irish for the Emerald Isle
is utilized by several Milesians who turn an
honest penny by importing and selling
shamrock. 1t is said, however, that dur
ing the last five years they have found it
more profitable to plant and grow the fam
Gus emblem In Jersey City and Hoboken
rather than TO import it direct. This, how
ever, may be a slander upon some honest
man. The Swiss likewise have their purse
string touched BY one or two of their fellow
countrymen who import the Ellweiss
flower. On account of the difficulty in
bringing it over from the Alps the cele-
brRted blossom brings very fair price when
1t reaches the shores of the New World.
ORIENTAL GARDENERS.
The Orientals who are settled here, and
more especially those who come for a short
time, such as sailors, stewards, statesmen and
eonsuls, display a strong affection for many
of the fresh vegetables of home To meet
Al. = A. L.
In the vicinity of Manhattan Island where
Ohinamen raise the fu-qua, or so-called bitter
cucumber OF the East, and su-qua or sweet
gourd. These vegetables are much more
prolific than the everyday cucumber, and
are raised with equal facility. They fetch,
however, from two to ten times as large a
figure as the latter.
The five or six Mongolian gardeners who
grow these delicacies have excited public
attention from their practice of going out
into their gardens by night with a lantern
and picking off the caterpillars and other
insects from the vines when these little
pests are asleep. An equally singular prac-
tice is covering their plants with blankets,
rags and newspapers in cold weather and
with waterproof tissues when it is too
rainy. This extreme care is very profitable,
as it enables them to produce larger and
better crops than our own people ever do.
WONDERFUL DISH OF FISH.
A japanese chef or fancy cook finds en-
ployment from his own nationality in pre-
pairing the fish dinners which are so promi-
nent feature of life in the land of the Mi
kado. One of his pet masterpieces consists
of q large bluefsh, which when served has
not q single scale broken, and which when
opened contains sea bass, and that in turn
one or two smaller fishes, in equally perfect
condition.
The Hungarisns buy their characteristic
boots from one or two shoemakers, who have
come over from Buds-Pesth. The Bohemlsns
display an equally strong affection for their
native land in keeping two Prague hatters
employed all the time in making the singu-
lar haif-conical slouch hats which have been
the style Of that country for at least two
centuries.
- The commoner trades evolve their own
sub-industries. The cooks of the great ho-
tells and clubs buy their snowy costumes in
New York from two men who are known as
cooks tailors. They make clothing for
cooks, scullions, stewards and walters, and
for no one else. They change their styles
from season to season, and display as much
obedience to fashion as any society leader.
The growth OF restaurants, especially of eat
ing booths, has recently evolved what may
be called
WHOLESALE RESTAURANT.
In these establishments meat is bought BY
the carcass and vegetables by the barrel. In
this wise the proprietor can sell a great piece
of roast beef or shoulder of mutton, thor
oughly cooked, to q small restaurant keeper
for less than the latter would paw for the
materials If purchased at retail. There are
three of these institutions in New York of |
similar character, but far more numerous are |
the men who call themselves wholesale |
dealers in free lunch " and who sunnlr