Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-09-13
THE BLIND BROOM MAKER.
BY JEANNETTE y. PHILLIPS.

-DIOoLlS IlslNlt mere, Is Il rute
sign over a dingy shop which l pass
on occasional errands. The door stood
open one morning and curiosity
prompted me to look within. Stepping
upon the threshold l saw slender man
at work, and addressed him with:
Good morning. May l see how
brooms are made?"
The old man turned and l noticed
that both his eyes had been destroyed
so that he was totally blind.
Certainly, just step this way" was
his cordial answer. There were in the
room piles OF broom corn, rough. rag
ged, seedy, sorted into different lengths,
and placed in boX-ike compartments.
\ small quantity was soaking in water
after which it had to "drccn" for an
hour, l learned, to make it tough
enough to work well. There were also
stacks of handles Of different sizes care.
fully arranged At every motion l was
surprised with the readiness with which
the sightless worker put his hands upon
tools and machinery. He made nd
mistakes, and [ more than once forgot
that he was blind so deft and unerring
was he. He placed a broom stick in 3
horizontal vice and attached to it the
end of a wire from a reel held fast OF
loose by wheels, crank, bands, weight:
and screws. He took up half a dozen
sticks of corn, held them in his hand
and cut them off with a sharp knife,
then placed them against the handle
under the wire and turned the vice by
crooking his left elbow around handles
set in a wheel. Latchet clicked, wire
sang, reel creaked, and corn was bound
fast to the handle.
Gould you wind that wire firmly
enough by hand?"
my sakes, no. 1t pulls as hard as
a horse"
Another layer of filling was selected.
and the knife applied to trim off the
thick ends of the corn stems.
Said the blind man, knife would
work better if it was sharper"
''I'm afraid of sharp knives, said l.
I'm too plaguey lazy to use dull
one. Guess l wouldn't cut me, =" said
he.
Wise turned round, latchet clicked,
wire sang, reel creaked, and more
broom was bound tight as a drum. "
The corn stood out in a circle and
! looked worse than our grandmothcrs'
, oven brooms ever thought of looking.
A layer Of covering was next whitfield
and wired to place with more turning,
clicking, Creabing and singing. This
was larger and of better quality than
the filling and its ends at the head Of
the broom were shaved close to the
wire. 4 little piece of japanned tin
had at one side slipped under the wire,
round went the wise and the tin was
| hrmly fastened down. The wire was
tfien slackened and with a skilled twist
broken off. Two tacks were quickly
driven in to hold the ends of the wire
and tin.
II should surely pound my fingers. y
1 remarked.
Il have never hurt myself yet, " was
the blind mans proud reply.
The broom, very crazy looking af-
fair, was placed on its handle end, and
two iron jaws pressed up against tho
corn by means Of lever, and what had
/ been round, and frowzy, and so IN
broomlike was hattened out and began
| to look like an old acquaintance
Then the brOom-maler found his
needle, which was eight inches long
and partly fiattened Pulling a pink
! string from a bundle he tied one end
into the eye of his needle, and on the
other end he tied knot Hepunched
the hole through one edge of tho
broom and wound the pink string
twice around it, giving it a curved
! shaped by following the edge of the
clamp. Wearing a sort of huge thim-
| bic on the palm of each hand he
pushed the needle back and forth,
right hand, left hand, left hand, right
! hand, clear across. Three rows Of
I pink threads and stitches were put in
and the broom was released, but it was
still a ragged specimen of its kind \
! cover was removed from 4 set of sharp
stiff wires fastened into a strong board,
and the broom was brought into fur
I ther semblance of its proper self by
| undergoing a "gOod hetchcling,"
through and through, this way and
that, the broom was pulled, seeds,
splinters and rough parts falling, lcav-
ing only the best. Then cutting
machine chopped the bottom off
straight and square.
at is ready for use now" l observed
with a sense of relief for the poor thing
No, not yet, see here"
Forthwith the patient worker took up a
sharp toothed iron and administered
further discipline in the shape of Il
| Thorough COmbing down
"Now, when it is dry, it's done"
said he.
And sure enough it was really finish
ed, trim, straight, fiat, smooth and
ready for the clean sweeping that a
new broom always does; ready for its
career, cleaning daintiest carpets in my
ladys parlors, then passing on to
! kitchen and cellar, growing distorted.
tipsy, frOwsy on the way, until, con-
demned as a disgrace. to the house it ia
cast into the fire, unless percharcc it IS
whisked off on some dark night by that
industrious old lady who from time i'm
memorial has made it the mission Of
an endless life to sweep the cobwebs
from the sky.
"How many can you make in 9
day"
"Oh, tive dozen if I work long
enough"
How long?"
"Well, from six in the morning until
ten or eleven at night.
"How much do you make On :
| dozen?"
"Oh, about forty-fve or fifty cents,
| aero riding To the market -
/. "scan you always sell enough to keep
you busy"
Not always. Sakes alive, wish
! could"
Rather hard life, isn't it?'
''Yes, but we live four of US without
beggin', an that's more an most blind