The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-26
THE GUTTA PERcHA MAN.
A Workman Whose Hands Must he
White, Soft and supple.
prom the LONDON Nail.


From the London Mail.
The gutta percha man lives in little
red brown canvas tent in the streets OF
London. Nearly always a brazer glows
before the open door of his tiny abode.
A pan SINNERS continuously on the fire.
but the contents of the vessel are lnedl-
BILE They look like silver when the gut
/ TIA percha man dips his big spoon into the
caudron Many time during the day the
gutta percha man buries himself in a
hole dug in the middle of the street. He
is protected by .barricades and the traf-
fic Is diverted or stopped altogether at
his coming Only royalty and the Lord
Mayor share this prerdgative with the
, gIitta percha man.
The gutta percha man is amphibious. He
is to be met with in the Pacific or At
lantic, but not so frequently as in Fleet
street. The marine species has a habit
of penetrating the water to a great depth
and fishing up mysterious looking objects
from the floor of the sea.
Although no reference to the gutta per-
cha man can be found in any dictionary
of natural history. he Is an interesting
biped and well repays a little study. His
greatest popularity Is his hands. A great
part OF his life is spent in washing them.
A little dust or CRIME on the gutta per-
, munication between England and the seat
of war. it might lead to the tearing up
of another London street The gutta
percha man has, so to speak, thousands
of pounds in his hands. although he him
self Is only workman with between $40
! and SIS week.
The other day a reporter took the lib
erty of dropping in on a gutta percha
! man who had erected his temporary
| bona In tla eha1oW Of 81 Bani'g The
visit could not have been timed more OPP
! portunely for the gutta pereha man was
| performing a sort of massage on his
| hands with an oiled cloth, warranted to
removed every speck of dust.
Sorry ] cant ask you TO sit down." be
| said. politely, pointing to the two-foot
| deal seat in his cramped quarters. With
| the exception OF his unusually white and
| supple hands he was, after all, an ordin-
| AIRY looking workman dressed in honest
| fustian and with shoulders that suggest
| ed they had been bent by sitting in his
| low-ceilinged hut and creeping into mar
| row holes.
] 1T is quite, true" he added, that
/ have to keep my hands scrupulously clean
| and very soft. When a joint has to be
| made in the underground cables 1t is my
! duty to make 1t. The wires are, of course.
| insulated with gutta percha. IL while
| making a joint l should soil the gutta
| percha with my hands leakage would
| occur as soon as the wire were working
/ again. and the streets would have to be
pulled up once more and the work BE-
| gun all over again. What that would
| cost ia money and the interruption OF
| traffic you can well imagine"
BY this time he had completed his mas
sage and was gently drawing through his
fingers yards of what looked like inch
ribbon Of a reddish color 1t was really
| gutta percha.
1 Another reason for keeping our hands
in the pink Of condition." he further ex-
| planned, lis that 1t Increases our delicacy
| of touch which has to be as fine as that
of professional piano player"
Important as 1t is that the land species
| of gutta percha man should keep his
hands clean and supple. 1t Is necessary
that the marine type should be even more
careful A little dust from the fingers
settling on tn gutta percha while making
| a Joint in a submarine cable would In
| volve the sending OF another ship to dis
cover and repair the leakage. This work
| might occupy months and involve an ex-
penditure OF thousands Of pounds.
Time was when the gutta percha mon
| was a more important parsonage than he
| is now. He was trained from youth to
| cultivate hands whose wilderness and deli
eaey would have aroused the envy OF a
duchess. He received handsome salary
| and had men to wait upon him. Now,
| however, his glory is dimmed and his
| wages diminished.
Employers find that there are now more
worlkingmen with soft and supple hands
than formerly