The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-27

| cured as "raw hide" and cut into mar
 row strips while wet These strips are strung on nails and allowed to dry, They are then transparent, but stiff. | Before using they are placed in bot tie, with both ends out, and the bottle Is filled with water. After soaking for | some time they become perfectly pla- ble, while the ends remain hard. These ends are shaped when. the strips, or | strings, as they are now, are needed for
 sewing, and form needles to sew with.
 Cutting a moccasin is a simple affair.
 There are but two patterns, one for the l sole, which is also the sides after being shaped, and the other for the top sides. | The relative size of the patterns for
 these two pieces is about seven to one.
 No last is, used in making a moccasin.
 The toe is gathered up around the small
 top piece and crimped stitch by stitch,
 a special kind of stitch being employed. When the entire toe of the shoe has 1 been made a stick with a round end is | introduced, and the toe is further
 shaped by pounding. The heel is then
 closed up, and a small ear is left at the l bottom by cutting from the heel itself
 short strip, that is used for pulling the
 moccasins on. When thus shaped the shoe is complete, except for the string,
 which is introduced through holes in the top made with punch. This string puckers the top of the moccasn, draw ing it around the foot, and is tied over the instep. When properly tied a moe casin cannot slip off
 The majority of moosehide moccasins made in Maine now are for summer wear in dry weather, or for use as slip pers in the house. They are soft tanned with glove finish. The tanning is done in NeN Hampshire. all the skins used in Maine being sent there to be cured. The outer surface is buffed and colored like buckskin. Moccasins made from this are very warm. As sum mer shoe in the woods they are we'll nigh perfect.
 When shod with moccasins the hunt CT can feel every twig he steps on, and if he is tracking deer or moose he makes no more noise than if barefooted. Should he step on a twig he can raise his foot before it breaks and thus pre- vent it's snapping. Tn still hunting this is very important, as the snap of twig will apprise game in the neighborhood of the hunter as effectually as the dis i charge of a gun. The guide who takes you into the woods sums up the argu- ment for the moccasin as follows:
 "These dude hunters come down here in what they call a hunting costume, and they don't get nothing. They wear shoes with nails in 'em and soles as thick as your hand or they have what they call hunting boots Might as well go hunting on freight train Give me I a good, soft, neat hide moccasin or a shoepack, and I'll show em what's what in getting through the woods without making noise. I tell you the old Indi- | ans knew their business, and it ain't | any use trying to improve on what they | wore"
 The moccasin idea has been employed | successfully in Bangor in the manufac- ture of dainty bedroom slippers for wo- men, made like moccasins, but without r the strings. These are made of elk's hide very soft and warm and very much like moosehide. They are trimmed with heaver, the remnants from furriers' cutting tables being used, and when ready for sale, with a bit of embroidery on the top piece, they are a temptation to any woman who sees them.-Boston Daily Globe.