The Forrest City times., 1901-05-31
The GUTTA PERCHA NAV
4 Workman of Lors,op
Hands Must BE White. sos,
aud supple.


The "gutta percha man" nvss
little red brown canvas tent n
streets of London. Nearly 81 'ne
brazier glows before the open do
his tiny abode, says the Mail ~
city. mat
a pan SINNERS continuously on n.
fire, but the contents of the yas '"s
are inedible. They look like s;,s
when the ''gutta percha man. dim i.
big spoon into the cauldron.
Many times during the day the .,.
ia percha man" buries himself
hole dug in the middle of the -
He is protected by barbados. and ~
traffic is diverted or stopped a,,s
gether at his coming. Only rovalt.
and the lord mayor share this preros
ative with the 'gutta percha man
The "gutta percha man. is amnb;h
ious. He is to be met with in the D. ,
cific or Atlantic. but not so freouen,.
ly as in Fleet street. The marine en-
cies has a habit of penetrating ~.
water to a great depth and fisb;r.
up notwithstanding objects from
the floor of the sea.
Although no reference to the "o,,..
percha man can be found in any DIE.
tionary of natural history, he is on
interesting biped and well repavs
little study. His greatest pecularitv
is his hands. \ great part of his l;fs
is passed in washing them.
A little dust or Crime on the "putt.
percha mans" fingers might cut "a
all communication between ENGLAND
and the seat of war. or it might lead
to the tearing up of another Londo,
street. The ''gutta percha man" has
SO TO speak, thousands of pounds in
his hands, although he himself is only
workman, with between e2 and "a
week.
The other day Representative of
the Daily Mail took the liberty of dron-
ping in on a "gutta percha man. who
had erected his temporary home in the
shadow of st. Paul's The visit could
not have been timed more opportune-
~, for the 'gutta percha man" was
performing sort of massage on his
hands with an oiled cloth, warranted
to remove every speck of dust.
Sorry | can't ask you to sit down.
he said politely, pointing to the two.
foot deal seat in his crarnped quar-.
tiers. With the exception of his n.
usually white and supple hands be
was, after all, an ordinary looking
workman, dressed in honest fustian.
and with shoulders that suggested
they had been bent by sitting in his
low-ceilinged hut and creeping into
narrow 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
il is my duty to make it. The wires
are, of course, insulated with gutta
percha. If while making joint
should soil the gutta percha with my
hands leakage would occur as soon
as the wires were working again. and
the streets would have TO be pulled
up once more and the work begun all
over again. What that would cost in
money and the interruption of traffic
you can well imagine"
BY this time he had completed his
massage and was gently drawing
through his fingers yards of what
looked like inch ribbon of a reddish
color. 1t was really gutta percha.
Another reason for keeping our
hands in the pink of condition" he
further explained, sis that ii increases
our delicacy of touch, which has to be
as fine as that of professional piano
player"
Important as il is that the land spe-
cies of 'gutta percha man" should
keep his hands clean and supple. it is
necessary that the marine type should
be even more careful. 4 little dcst
from his fingers settling on the gutta
percha while making a joint in
submarine cable would involve the
sending out of another ship TO dis
cover and repair the leakage. This
work might occupy months and In
volve an expenditure a thousands OF
pounds.
Time was when the 'gutta percha
man. was more important person
age than he is now He was trained
from youth to cultivate hands whose
whiteness and delicacy would have
aroused 1he envy of duchess. He re-
ceived handsome salary, and had
men to visit upon him. Now, however,
his glorx is dimmed and his wage d.
minished.
Employers find that there are now
more wcrkmen with soft and supple
hands tian formerly.