The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-30
COSTLY FURS.
THEY ARE BUTTERED WITH THE
BEST CREAMERY GREASE.

Trodden for Hours Under the Naked
Feet of Men, Are Powdered With
Are FIeshed by Hand, Are Bathed,
Soaked and Warmed by the HUI
man Body and Consequently the
skins Are Worth Their Weight in
silver.
From the animals back to the lady's
shoulders there is much skillful hand
ling of high-priced furs. Aside from the
trapping and selling, and the making into
modsh wraps an intermediate step &C.
ours, and upon this depends more truly
the ultimate value of the skin than its
depth of tone, purity of color or ever rare
breed to which it was assigned by the
Creator. In consequence ordinary skunk
skins have been made beautiful martens
at the dresser's shop while the rarest of
sable has been rendered useless. AS a
trade this intermediate handling has been
little affected by the advance of mechani-
cal ingenuity. 1t still remains primitive
"a trade of hand work and foot work and
mans labor. No mechanical device has
ever been made to equal in delicacy and
result this contact with human flesh.
Machines there are for the curing and
tanning of skins-skins of the lower grade
rabbit and opossum and the heavier pelts
are put through a machinery process. But
the high grade furs-the costly skins-sa-
bic, ermine, mink and chinchilla, still are
manipulated almost entirely by hand, and
this together with the increasing demand
and decreasing supply adds TO the final
cost
EIeshing and ButterinE.
The work of the dresser is interesting.
and in stages highly picturesque. The
skins are turned over to him by the firm
who buys its seasons supply in the raw
state. The trappper has literally skinned
his game-turned the outside or fur side
in, leaving the entire pelt exposed-hence
the old nursery joke of ''skinning the
rabbit" The skins are creased TO pre-
serve them from vermin and soon turn
stiff. This constitutes the raw state.
In curing, the pelt is first put through
a softening process-a chemical solution
and the skins are then tubbed. Here they
remain in the salt and water or similar
wash as required over night, possibly
twelve hours longer. The skins are wrung
out of this bath and partially dried, then
turned over to the f1esher, This is an
other department of the trade and re-
quires skilled hands to scrape these skins
properly. This is done on upright knives
set slightly oblique at the end of mar
row bench on which the fresher sits
astraddle
From the fresher the skins go through
a greaslng process, where fine creamery
butter is literally slapped over the pelt,
the skin all this while remaining pelt-out,
of course.
when Dressers Work.
The next departure leads one to the pic
turesque detail of the dressers' shop Along
either side of the room are ranged large
barrels of three-quarters hight. In this the
men stand waist deep while sacquing
forms the cover from the edge of the bar
rel to the mans body. This keeps in the
heat which in time become excessive, and
men tread and tread day after day and
look as though they were practicing the
couche-couche dance With their naked
feet they work the butter into the pelt
and fur and the heat which emanates
from their body forms a most important
item in the curing of the skins. A shuf-
he board fastened obliquely across the
front inner side of the barrel aids them
in rotating the skin which In time acquire
| a high degree of heat, very surprising
| to the novice. This heat renders the fur
soft and supple. Only a few skins-ten
to a dozen-are trodden at one time.
| When the butter dance stops the skins
| are removed to a drying room and spread
| over the floor At the right point of dry
ness they are gathered together and taken
! to the saw-dust room This saw-dust Is
in truth pulverized wood, as fine in quail
! ity as corn starch. Sometimes it is of
mahogany, sometimes of rosewood. The