Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-02-20
LIVE GEESE FEATHERS.
lFrom the Kew York SUM

(From the New York SUM-
THE feathers aren't alive, but the
geese they were plucked from were"
said a dealer in live geese feathers. and
the geese they were plucked from never
once squawked or squeaked during the
operation. Not because it didn't hurt
the geese, though. lit hurts a goose like
the mischief to pull its feathers out,
but the reason a goose doesn't holler
and make fuss over it is that it doesn't
seem to know enough a goose will
squawk and clatter and cackle as If it
were suffering more agony than horse
with the collie just at the sight of
person, but if you cover it up and pelt
it with stones it seems to forget that it
has voice, and will take all the pun
ishment you give it without uttering a
bit of protest. There is much to study
about a goose Just observe a flock of
geese some day when you are out visit
ing on a farm. They'll give you amuse-
ment by the hour
IA goose hasn't the slightest idea of
breadth or depth. The assertion that
every goose that passes through an open
BAN door ducks his head no matter
if the opening be twenty feet nigh, is as
true as can be. And while a goose
can't be made to believe that there is no
sill of a barn door, it is equally positive
that it can creep through a two-inch
augur hole or a knot hole in a fence
Just as easily as it can go through a
twenty-foot door. and with more safety
to its person. l have laughed myself
sore more times than a few at the per-
sstence of some old goose in trying to
enter an enclosure through hole in the |
fence hardly big enough to get its head |
through, while a gate big enough for a
team of horses to pass through was wide |
open within three feet of the hole.
Never saw a goose plucking.f Ell? !
Well, it isn't sight that would give |
you much pleasure. On the day set for
stripping geese of their feathers they
are enticed into some air-tight clubhouse. |
The pickers, who are always women or I
girls, go among the geese with their |
heads and faces entirely covered with |
hoods fastened round the neck with a |
shirr string. There are holes for the I
eyes and also little holes at the nose fod,
fresh air.
From the neck down the picker is |
covered with glazed muslin garment |
to which no feathers or down will adj /
here. The. piekers sit ION low stools |
around 1agge and perfectly dry tub |
There issgensr alfy5a man or boy in the
neighborhOed who As an expert at get I
ting the geese readysfor picking. Ev- |
erybody can't do that. The wings of |
the goose have to be locked together |
by peculiar arrangement of them near |
the shoulders, and while the wings are |
not tied or fastened in any other way, |
the lock is such that no goose can open
it. The fowls feet are tied together with |
broad bands of soft muslin or flannel |
When the goose is thus made helpless it |
is taken upon the picker's lap, and she |
pluckS the feathers out rapidly, but with |
such skill that she seldom breaks the |
skin or makes the blood flow. Feathers
fill the air during the process of pluck |
ing, but all settle gradually down into
the tub at last. Before beginning on
the goose the picker brushes the feath-
erS the wrong way, exposing the skin.
An expert can tell at a glance by the
color of the skin whether she must ex-
ercise more than ordinary care in
plucking it, or whether it IS not better
TO let the goose go without plucking at
that time. In every case the picker must
be careful and not pluck the feathers
too close under the wings. If a goose
has been improperly picked in that re-
spect the wings will droop and drag on
the ground. All through this process
of'yanking the feathers out of a goose's
body not a sound of complaint or cry
of pain is heard from the goose. 1t sub
mits to the torture with a silent solem-
nifty that would be laughable if it were
not for the evident fortitude of the fowl
that goes with it.
1T is necessary that the feathers
should be taken from the live geese,
that is, if the comfort and pleasure of
people who must have feather beds and
pillows are to be studied. Dead feath-
erS are no better than husks and are
uITwholesone. But there isn't one
pound of feathers used today where fifty
pounds were some years ago Asthma
and hay fever have done a great deal
TO lessen the demand for feather beds
and pillows, for it was discovered a few
years ago that feather beds and asthma
loved to eonsert, and that nothing would
start an 'asthmatic to wheeling SO quick
" and Positively as a couch of geese
feathers wedld The discovery spread,
and the patient and accomplishing
goose owes al great deal Of its latter day
comfort TO the asthma"
GLASS MIRRORS OF THE ANc1ENTs.