Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1895-12-17

TWAS quite by chance that the writer
Of this article happened ON man who
has spent his lifetime in tho manipula-
tion Of human hair, transforming It in
to wigs, crowns. frizettos and all tho
other kinds Of false" hair and weaving
Il into watch chains, eyeglass guards,
bracelets, as we'll as mounting it in lock-
cts, rings, pins, earrings and brooches
aud working IL up into all kinds Of
floral designs and omblems.
A charming head OF hair on a won.
an, he said, "is a thing Of beauty and
indeed a browning glory, but to a hair
worker it is Of little value Even tho
longest hair, before it has passed through
the hands Of the manufacturers, is well
nigh worthless. The hair Of a woman's
head which is 80 inches in length, for
example, would not be worth more thnn
90 oents.
i remember woman coming into
my shop one night and Offering to sell
her hair. She said she was a seaman's
wife, and not having heard from him
for many months was in desperate
Straits for money. She wanted to know
how much Iwould give her for her hair,
which was Of considerable length. re-
fused to cut it Off. wouldn't cut any
woman s hair of. 1t is such demorai-
izing degrading thing to do, and the
fact is emphasized when dire need is the
cause Of the sale. However, was in a
position to obtain her assistance until
her husband came back.
''We get our finest descriptions of
hair, " continued the subject of this in
terview, from France and Italy, whence
come all shades Of black and brown.
France, again, Germany and Spain sup
ply the market with brown, light faxen
and red hair. Gray hair, being found in
every parcel, is described as universal
"On the continent there are regular
hair harvests. During the summer time
you can SEQ at every fair peddlers surs
rounded by girls with their beautiful
hair nicely combed ont standing in file
waiting their turn. The peddler has in
his hands n pair Of shears, each girl
bends her neck, few ships, and the
hair is of, tied into awhisp and thrown
into basket standing at the shearer's
side. And how much do you think that
the girls get for this? A few cents,
guady trinket on q bright silk handker-
chief.
"Some peddlers travel from cottage
to cottage plying their trade, and the
same performance is gone through. An
average head of hair weighs four ounces.
When sufficient hair is accumulated, IL
is sold to the hair manufacturers, whS
submit it to process Of cleansing and
sorting into various lengths and shades.
Il is then ready for the wigmakers,
who buy it as they require It, paying at
the rate Of 20 cents or 80 per ounce for
lengths of 10 inches to 10 inches to as
many shillings as there are inches for
lengths of 80 inches and upward The
greatest demand is for hair from IL to
"a inches in length. The longest female
hair on record is 70 inches.
The tycoon Of Japan once confscated
the hair of a whole province and had IL
woven into a ships hawser over q quar-
ter Of a mile long. Then he discovered
that steel ropes were in existence, and
now the cable, composed Of the pigtails
Of the unfortunate Japs, reposes before
the eyes Of the curious in Bethnal Green
museum.
The gentleman interviewed possesses
magnificent trophy of hair, in size
some feet long by feet high. in the
form Of q basket Of flowers, every leaf,
eybry petal and every stem Of which is
composed Of cunningly wrought hairs
from tho human head How long it
took to create it, it is impossible 10 say,
but years unquestionably. He has other
similar displays, mostly tho work of
himself or his son, though they pale in
to insignihcance beside the monument
Of patience in question
The working Of hair into ornaments
has gone ont Of vogue considerably Of
late years, but seafaring men oven now
are great lovers Of this form Of memon-
to. Naturally their favorite designs as
sumo the forms Of anchors, compasses
and other things nautical
One day gentleman came to tho
subject Of slis article and desired him
in a most mysterious manner 20 weave
some hair, which he gave him, into tho
form Of a serpent. The head and tail
were to be Of gold and the tail was to
be fixed into the mouth. The serpent
was to be jn two coils and to encirclc q
golden heart pierced by dagger. In
order to thoroughly comprehend the de-
sign ne had to be let into the secret, and
this was the explanation which was Of
ferod:
The serpent was to represent the nd.
ture Of a certain young lady TO whom
the hair belonged and who had Tilted
the gentleman in question. The golden
heart was symbolic Of his pure and
worthy affection, and tho dagger showed
how deeply lac had been wounded The
tail Of the serpent icing in its mouth in
dicated that in injuring ner quondam
lover she had also bitten herself Tho
Tilted swain was most particular about
tho execution Of the work, sent It back
twice for alterations and finally refused
TO have Il at all, perhaps discovering the
a II