The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1892-01-22
TRADES IN SKELETONS,
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. GREW
SOME BUSINESS.

APisllAoELPHiA FRENc cHhAN's GREW.
SOME BUSINESS.
A Dealer Who Has Handled Over Five
Thousand Skeletons During His Luru.
briOus Career-Hidcous Decorations s,t
a Betlroom-A Being That Loves Bones.
To deal in the bones of human beings
would be AL occupation repugnant to
most men. Yet in the vicinity of Sixth
and South streets lives an old French
man who finds more pleasure in this OK
cnpation than anything else in his life.
His store is u veritsble den of skeletons.
The weather beaten sign swinging over
the door, crealsing d;s,nally with every
gust of wind, bears this simple legend,
IN. de Robaire, Parfumerie,n from
which it is evident monsieur would haro
the world believe that he deals almost
exclusively i'll those pcrfrlned waters so
dear to the feminine heart. Every fam.
lily has a skeleton in the closet, however,
and monsieur's family, which consists
only of himself, is no exception to tlls
general rule. He has his skeleton-ip
fact he has scores of the,n-in closets
and otherwise, the majority otherwise.
The truth of the matter is, the old
Frenchlnan deals i'll skeletons.
The second floor boasts of only two
small rooms, the rear one being used as
Il workshop, while the other, directly
over he store asi;l fronting OIL tho street,
serves Ii" ',onhle purpose of beucllaln-
Ter and .;tois.aoo.n.
-: -. ....: se'lchamber as the one
>f2" III: IL -. I'll Frenchman prob
::;,!v does Ms! asi..s. and how monsieur
i!l:;;'::~...':; ;a -l."!, the sleep of the Just
%i::.a'.s :;:::, s:vi"'sone surroundings is
an iese!S:: J.. ::,ystery to the few who
lai:H '.s.:: #..'i:::::g,l to it.
~. w.:'',:.: Ia. small room are orna-
"."m.. : wi, :!::!...; and crossbones and
real !fe s;.e skeletons, or rather death
size skeletons. in all sorts of grotesqus
positions. -Four hideous skulls grin from,
their positions on top Of tho four posts
OF the bed, and close to the sides of the
bed stands q skeleton with arms out
stretched. doing duty as ~ clothes rack.
The whole is dinly lighted up by faint
glimnler of light elpanating from q lamp
made of 81 CHASTITY skull suspended from
the middle Of the ceiling with thongs OF
tanned human hide.
THE SKELETON TRADE.
DE Rebaire himself is an odd looking
man, and the resemblance between l,i,n
and one OF hi; own skeletons is decidedly
striking. He las gaunt. wolflilse fea-
t'lres, his thin upper lip and bony chin
being adorned with an iron gray nous.
tache and imperial.
For Il score of years he has been carry
ing OH his business in the old place, hav.
ing cmisratel from France in 1865.
coming direct to Philadelphia, where he
established himself in business. For a
time he had Il hard struggle to keep bod,
and soul together, owing to the number
of competitors III the field. together with.
the dullness Of business. Itsoon became,
necessary Cor him, in addition to his
other trade, to set himself up us a drug.
yist, and no still runs his little shop.
though principally as decov.
Late in the sixties, When the Knights
of Pyyhias We're organized in this state.
the demand for skeletons increased. IS
they were used to u great extent in the
lodgcrooms. De Robaire prospered, as
consequence, since most Of his ccmpet-
itors had given UP the business.
OFF and on during the following twenty
years business Was dull and brisk by
turns, but the old man had amassed q
small fortune, and there is. no reason
why he should longer continue in the
business except that he has taken a lik-
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 as 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
tie skeleton as it was originally, with
out one hone out of place.
WHAT THE s'DoCToR' SAYS.
The doctor" while standing in his
workshop Il 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
have imported from France. You will
notice the high polish on the bones, due
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-
quiring two CT 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 duo to the fact that a
Ch;naman believes Ire will not reach
heaven unless his bones rest in the Flow
cry Kingdom.
"The different prices of skeletons are
based upon their degrees of hardness
and whiteness, upon the development of
the bones and the amount of absence of
fat in their cxtremities. For this reason
the French article is decidedly of more
value than the American or German.
Up to this year over 1900 skeletons have
been impor ed into this country, but
they have become scarce of late for
some reason, and to supply the demand
find it necessary to manufacture them
of paper.
"Of course have stock of ther, in
my bedroom, but I would not part will,
any of these. Mon Dieu! l have come to
look upon them as dear friends and COM
panions. Here you SEQ my artificial ske1.
etons, made OF papier ,nache, with arti-
fetal teeth, and the whole covered with
white pol; Ii which gives the appear
ance of the genuine article. i can make
three of these eacl. wrelx and tLav l,r;n,;,