Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-28
MADE UP IN MAINE.
Interesting Facts About the Genesi,
of SpOOIs and Shoe Pegs.

u
"Oxford county, Me-, turns out nearly all
the spools on which the sewing thread of
this country is wound" said a wholesale
dealer in such articles to the writer THE
spools are made from white birch timber,
and they are produced by the million in
Oxford county. There are many other parts
of western Maine, ,also,, where the industry
Is important. There are numerous saw
mills In that part of the state which are
kept busy all the year round saving white
birch logs into strips four feet long and
from one to two inches wide and of the
same thickness. These strips are sent to
the spool factories, where they are quickly
worked into spools by the most ingenious
labor saving machinery.
1.-THE strips of white birch are fed into
one machine, and they are not touched in
fact are hardly seen again, until the spoois,
all finished for market, except polishing,
drop cut by the bushel from another ma
chine several rods away from where the
strips started in. The spools get their gloss
by being rapidly revolved in barrels turned
by machinery. the polish resulting from the
contact of the spoofs In the barrel.
In the backwoods villages of Oxford
county one sees scarcely any other industry
but spool making, and every person in the
neighborhood Is in some way interested in
the business. The factories have been eat
ing into the Maine birch forests for years.
but there still seems to be enough of the
timber left to feed the machinery for many
years to come. Hundreds of thousands of
feet of logs are cut and sawed into spool
timber annually.
"Shoe-peg factories are also an important
branch of business once peculiar to Maine,
although It has of late been followed to
some extent in other eastern states and is
spreading to the hardwood forests of north
ern Pennsylvania Maple Is used largely in
the manufacture of shoe pegs, although
white birch is used at some. factories. Shoe
pegs are sold by the bushel and are worth
all the way from IS cents to 81 bushel,
according to quality. More than s150, 600
was received by Maine shoe-peg factories
last year for goods.
"a curious and profitable business has
grown up in thas Maiiie woods near the saw
mills In the utiiizingof the immense guam
sands of tons of this waste material are
bought for a mere nothing. and are pressed
into compact blocks And bales, and in this
form is finding . ready market for kidding
/ and fuel in eastern cities.
Ex-Empress gEsuxenfe's Real Estate.
From the London LEADER
The ex-Empreas E5senie is back at Farm
borough from Her Iopg cruise in the Med
uerranean and the Black sea. She has been
away seven months. n e-
It would beg interesting to note the
amount Of mohey thAt the ex-empress Of
this country. forfnstanee. she has her beau
tifuf place at Marlborough At Cape Mar
tin, in the south OF France. she OWNS
another bdautifuf chateau and estate In
Paris number of houses. notably In the
Champs Elysee district, still stand In her
name. while she stif retains considerable
amount of landed property and houses in
Spain. She Is popularity accredited with the
ownership. through a third party, of
course. Of houses and land In New York.
aKl1 now she ise said to have acquired tie
magnificent park and palace Of the Aus
TRAN emprsss at Corfu. q
"They say. Grumpy, that the Queer, az
any Of tAemss -.
tim & lttIe bit exanped tl11S snriux. hut
tn buy my daughter flfty-nlne more Il
she'll follow the qreen's example. House
hold Word. -;