The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-08-05
SOME QUEER TRADES.

Cue puOllC. OOIue Vi tueu nave
been carried on for generations in
obscure corners and only come to
light by chance, while others are of
recent origin, resulting from the
pressure of the struggle for exist
ence. Dickens had a peculiar facul-
ty for discovering these curious
callings, and loved to crowd them
into his books, but when in "Our
Mutual Friend" he described Mr..
Venus as an "articulator of human
bones" there were some who said he
had carried the thing too far, believ-
ing that no such business could ex-
ist. But, as matter of fact, there
lives in Philadelphia an old French.
man who has followed this trade
for over quarter of century. The
signboard over his door bears the
simple legend IN. de Blanque, Par
fumerie." He runs this shop prin-
cipally as decoy, for he has found
it necessary to ply his queer trade
ION the quiet" In rear room the
walls are decorated with skeletons
in all sorts of grotesque positions.
Four hideous skulls grin from the
posts of the bed, and close by stands
skeleton with arms outstretched,
doing duty as clothes-rack, the
room being lit by lamp made of
a skull which is suspended from
the ceiling with thongs of tanned
human hide. When the Knights OF
Pythias were organized some years
ago, the demands for skeletons in
creased, as they were used to a
great extent in the lodge-rooms.
De Blanque prospered, as a conse-
queuce. The price of skeletons va
ries according to their degree OF
hardness and whiteness. The gen.
uine imported article costs any
where from $50 to $35, and the do
mestic 500, but the trade is about
lost to this country, because they
can set up a skeleton so much
cheaper in France. There are old
teeth dealers who sell the product
of many aching jaws to these artic.
ulators for as much as dollar a
quart. They have often to buy more
than this to get tooth to suit, fol
a skeleton with full set of teeth ie
worth half again its value otherwise
Jennie Wren, the dolls dress
maker, another of Dickens crea
tions, has many living representa-
tives, but their wages are disgrace
fully mean. One large firm l have
in mind pays but twenty-five cents
for the gluing of hundred dozer
dolls arms, the glue being provided
by the worker, who thus barely
clears fifteen cents. For filling these
arms with sawdust, which has also
to be provided by the workers, the
girls get seventy-cents a hundred
dozen. Those who glue on the dolls
heads, stuff the figures, and sew or
the clothes are paid five cents pei
dozen, SO that even the most active
cannot easily manage to earn TWEEN
ty-fve cents a day at this occupa
ton. There is a German of my
acquaintance living in a Bleechel
street basement whose speciality i:
making wicker armchairs for dolls
He sells them to the wholesalers
and the bulk of the product reaches
the public during Christmas week
He receives $36 a gross for thes'
chair, and is able to make abou
three dozen day. When l asked
him why he didn't make things fo1
live grown folks, he referred me t
big factory where he was once EN-
ployed, saying that in big things
the manufacturers could undersel
him.
So, again, I know of a Frenchmar
and his wife who came over to New
York not long ago and began tn.
manufacture of those chenill.
monkeys that one sees in toy-stores
The man was a genius in his way
With half a yard of chenille, :
needle and thread, and few blacE
beads for eyes, he would turn ou
in ten minutes monkey so lifelikt
that it would deceive real one
These he peddled about town a
prices ranging from five cents to {
quarter, and apparently did a gooe
business. He was originally chif
fonnier, or rag-picker. The chiffon
nier's trade is one of the most curl
Gus in Paris, and one of the mos
characteristic. The industry has
suffered considerably from the in
PRODUCTION of ash barrels, which art
regularly emptied every morning
but withal a good deal of rubbish il
| still thrown into the streets, and thu
chiffonnier may be seen at late hours
of the night, lantern in hand, with
his basket on his back, and tht
long hook with which he turns ovel
the refuse. He will turn any refus;
to account and make something
out of it. Thus, all the rags o.
good quality are kept for the Eng
lish market, the French retaining
only the inferior. The woolen rags
unraveled and carded, are made
into cheap goods; the red trousers
of tho French armv- for instance