Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-07-04
Letter from Now England.

Letter from Now England.
By permission, we give below
very interesting letter from Mrs.
G. w. Burbank, of this city, who
in company With her daughter,
Miss Amy, are travelling in the
east.
SUTTON, New HAMPSHIRE.
June 23rd 1901.
d. M. Harris, Dear Friend:-
[ expect you have been wonder
ing if was going to keep nv word
as partly promised I would write
to you. We left the Valley on
Saturday night, June 2nd, at 6 p.
NJ, and arrived in this place on
Wednesday about 6 o'clock p. NJ,
with not much left of us but our
appetite. Amy's cousin, Mildred
Wiley, accompanied ua as far as
Concord, N. H., where we had to
change cars, she going on to her
home in Vermont, and we coming
on to Sutton. l was very glad to
get back to my old home.
l will try to tell you something
about Sutton that may interest
you.
Sutton is divided into three di-
visions, rs follows: North Sutton,
Sutton Mills, and South Sutton.
These towns are about two miles
apart. Sutton is rocky, uneven
township, located on the heights
of land between the Merrimack
and Connecticut rivers. In some
parts there are valuable mead
ow and hay lands. On the east
side of Sutton mills, the place we
are stopping, is Stevens Brook.
Most of the mills in town are on
this stream. There is clothes pin
shop, shingle shop, grist mill, saw
mill, and.other small shops too nu-
merous to mention.
We went through the clothspin
shop one day and watched them
turn out pins. The process is very
interesting. The trees are cut into
chunks about 2 or 3 feet long, aud
then cut into boards l inch thick,
and then into strips l inch square,
and then cut into lengths requi-
red for the pins. These small
blocks are | inch square and S in
long. fhey are first put into a
largevat upstairs which connects
with large chute which lets the
blocks godown stairs into the lathe
which turns them out round; from
this lathe they are carried upstairs
again by means of an elevator con-
sisting of a belt with strips of board
fastened on about l foot apart
This elevator carries the pins into
another chute from which they
again come down stairs into ma
chine which cuts tho slot in the
pin. From this machine they are
carried upstairs again into big
vat where they dry for q day OF
two, and then are carried by cars
into the dry room. Here they stay
until thoroughly dry, then are ia.
ken back to the main building and
put into the polisher. This pol.
Usher is sort of drum about 10 OF
IL feet long and about Eve feet
through The pins are put in with
q quantity of tallow and the drum
turns around all day long and the
constant rubbing of the pins and
tallow polishes the pins. They
are then packed into boxes, five
gr oss in each box. The packing
ia mostly done by women, who are
paid L cents box. The best O
packers can not pack more than q
to 25 boxes per day. The wages
seem rather small for hard day.
work. The factory can turn ou
from 80 to 100 pins minute.
There are several very pretty
ponds around Sutton. Kezar'
Pond is beautiful body of water
containing abont 200 acres, is il
North Sutton; Giles Pond is on
level with Kezar's Pond, and i
about half its size, and not far dis
tant from it; and from appearan
ces shoul judge that they both, a
some former day constituted bu
one body of water. 1 and my broth
or and Amy, went fishing up t,
Kezar's Pond, last Saturday nigh
an1 co,,..b4 OF l,,,1u loroo ,or4e