Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1901-01-31

Tlished or, better, rubbed down with
=shellac. The rough edge was scraped
sclean, but left in its natural darkness.
After the vanishing and rubbing
down it only remained to add pin
and catch. The butternut brooch was
Eli to handle. 1t did not fasten the
woluminOus collars of the period. nor
WAS it equal to holding down the stiff
cravats. The usual way of wearing
it was to stick it upon the bodice a
little below the throat, well toward
the left. Popular girls often boosted
"a dozen of the pins, and went decked
vvith them as a warrior with his med
sals.
The fashion prevailed nightly in
1he middle west, where &he butter
nut grows Justify. When Kentucky
and Tennessee, both debatable lands,
but in the main under federal con-
troll, took up the fad, black walnuts
were substituted for the butternuts,
and they made even handsomer pins.
1t is a commentary on the then pre-
Vailing state of things that the old
men made the breastpins, which were
given by lads too young to fight to
young women of every age. The old
men lacked occupation, the lads
lacked skill. In combination they
-decked their womenkind. Time was
so tense then, measured indeed by
heartbeats, that any sort of light and
amusing work was little short of a
godsend.
These southern. butternut pins had
-overshadowing rivals in the black
-jewelry, which came out of northern
prisons. The $4,000 odd men who
went from Fort Donelson to Camp
Douglas found a great resource in
carving and inlaying rings, pins and
brooches, made from hard black gut
tapercha buttons. They had only
their pocketknives, and pocketknives
even were by no means universal.
Buttons were not easily come by, so
1T was the part of wisdom to spend
as much time as possible over each
one. With infinite pains and patience
deft-fngered prisoners scraped out
rings, shaped the rings properly to
fit some well-remembered finger and
chen began inlaying them on top
with bits of shell or bone or mother
oof-pearl. The mother-of-pearl came
4out of other buttons bought from a
friendly sutler. Prisoners who had
friends within the federal lines re-
eceived money from them, and divided
with their fellows whose homes were
farther south.
Much of the button-carving was
rude, evidently nothing more than
.pastime work, but some of it reached
the level of artistic handicraft and
was, drawbacks considered, really
wonderful. One Inan, working with
only a two-bladcd knife, and a darn
ing needle puI oh, sent to his baby
whom he haC never seen, a locket
formed of two biggish fat buttons
inlaid around the edges with points
,,of pearl, and with a pearl star in the
center. The two were ingeniously
ceased with strip OIL tin cut from
sardine box and beaten into rim
shape. Tt was held together at tn,
bottom by the wire that served a.
hinge. At top there was a blacl
ring cut out of a waistcoat button
with pearl dots inlaid all round. I
worked in Topped wire which raj
through the casing tin. Inside tn,
rocket was lined with faded red vel
vet. that had originally done duty il
"a daguerreotype case. The lining ant
the inlaying were held in place witt
sgIue, which the locl1et maker had oh
taired by saving the bones of hi
rncat ration for a week, and boilin.
Ghc,p steadily Tor day and night.