The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1891-12-09
TRADES IN SKELETONS.
APHILAoELPHlA FRENcHMAN's GREW.
SOME BUSINESS.

SOME BUSINESS.
| Dealer Who Has Handled Over Five
Thousand Skeletons During His Luxa-
! brious Career-Hideous Decoration, %
Bedroom-A Being That Loves Bones.
To deal in the bones Of human being.
would be an occupation repugnant 70
most men. Yet in the vicinity of Sixth
and South streets lives an old French
man who finds more pleasure in this oc-
cupation than anything else in his life.
His store is a veritable den of skeletons
The weather beaten sign swinging over
the door, creaking dismally with every
gust Of wind, bears this simple legend
NJ. de Robaire, Parfumerie," from
which 1t Is evident monsieur wouid have
the world believe that he deals alunoat
exclusively in those psrfumed waters so
dear To the feminine heart. Every fam.
ny has skeleton in the closet, however.
and monsieur's family, which consists
only Of himself, is no exception to the
general rule. He has his skeleton-in
fact he has scores of them-ln closets
and otherwise, the majority otherwise.
The truth of the matter is, the old
F'renchInan deals in skeletons.
The second floor bnasts OF only two
small rooms, tho rear one being used as
a workshop, while the other, directly
over the store and fronting on the street,
serves the double purpose of bedcham.
Der and storeroom.
Such another bedchamber as the one
occupied by the old Frenchman prob
ably does not exist, and how monsieur
manages to sleep the sleep of the Just
among such grewsone surroundings is
an insolvable mystery to the few who
have been admitted to 1t.
The walls Of the small room are orna-
mented with skulls and crossbones and
real life size skeletons, or rather death
size skeletons, in all sorts Of grotesqus
positions. -Four hideous skulls grin from
their positions on top of the four posts
Of the bed, and close to the sides of the
bed stands skeleton with arms out
stretched doing duty as a clothes rack.
The whole is dimly lighted up by faint
glimmer of light emanating from a lamp
made Of a CHASTITY skull suspended from
the middle of the ooiliDs with thongs Of
tanned human hide.
THE SKELETON TRADE.
De Rebairs himself is an odd locking
man, and the resem blance between him
and one Of his own skeletons is decidedly
striking. He has gaunt. wolflike ia
lures, his thin upper lip and bony .Ehin
being adorned with an iron gray nous
tache and imperial.
For score of years he has been carry
ing on his business in the old place, hay
ing emigrated from France in 1855,
coming direct to Philadelphia, where he
established himself in business. For
time he had hard struggle to keep body
and soul together, owing TO the number
Of competitors in the field, together with
the dullness Of business. 1t soon became
necessary for him, in addition to his
other trade, to set himself up as drug
gist, and ne still runs his little shop
though principally as decoy.
Late in the sixties, when the Knights
of Pythias were organized in this state,
the demand for skeletons increased, as
they were used to great extent in the
lodgerooms. De Robaire prospered, as
| a consequence, since most of his COR pet
( itors had given up the business.
Off and on during the following twenty
/ years business was duh and brisk by
/ turns, but the old man had amassed a
small fortune, and there is no reason
why he should longer continue In the
| business except that he has taken ik
ing to his work, such as every true artist
does He is an artist in the full sense Of
the word. There is undoubtedly no one
who can articulate skeleton az neatly
as he, and it is no idle boast on his part
when he claims that with eyes blind
folded he can take mass of bones repre-
senting the human frame and build up
the skeleton as it was originally, with
out one bone out of place.
WHAT THE DOCTOR" SAYS.
The doctor" while standing in his
workshop "a few days ago with his sleeves
rolled up over his skinny arms, thus held
forth on the subject nearest his heart;
This skeleton you see me operating on
l have imported from France You will
notice the high polish on the bones, dua
to method Of preparation practiced
only by the French. They clean the
bones by a process of maceration with
muriatic acid, the whole operation re-
curing two or three months time, while
in this country the bones are hastily and
carelessly boiled and come out rough
and dirty. In all my twenty years serv
ice | have never come across a Chinese
skeleton. This is due to tine fact that 8
Chinaman believes he will not reach
heaven unless his bones rest in the Flow
Z cry Kingdom,
1.-THE different prices of skeletons art
based upon their degrees of hardness
and whiteness, upon the development Of
the bones and the amount of absence o.
fat in their extremities. For this reason
the French article is decidedly of more
- value than the American or German
n Up to this year over {, 900 skeletons hav,
r. been imported into this country, bu
II they have become scarce of late fo
If some reason, and to supply the demand
d. l ind it necessary to manufacture then
of paper
"Ot course ! have stock of them il
my bedroom, but / would not part will
any of these. Mon Dieul have come {,
n look upon them as dear friends and com
W. panions Here You see my artificial skel
IS etons made Of papier mache, with arti
ne tcial teeth, and the whole covered witt
ed a white polish which gives the appear
ance OF the genuine article. | can max