The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-11-07
SMALL FURNITURE.
Mainly Miniature Pieces Suitable for
Furnishing Dolls Establishments.

!
Furniture business is one of the most
satisfactory for any one who wishes to
make a reasonable income without too
much outlay. There is one family in
town which is almost entirely supported
I by the business, and it is all done in one
small apartment. 1T is not furniture
manufacture on a large scale, for all the
work is done by hand. but the returns
from it do much to gain a livelihood for
a blind man and his young daughter.
| One of the pretty toys which show
among other things is a small Morris
chair, made of white wood and uphol-
stored with a delicately colored Powered
cretonne- The back is Joined with him
ges to the seat. the rest for the feet can
be raised and lowered and is held by a
small carved support. The chair costs
81, but there are simpler pieces of furni-
ture, ordinary little parlor chairs, which
cost only 25 cents, and they are uphol-
stored with satin at that. Everything
in the way of furniture for dolls
house is made by the blind man and his
daughter The daughter, who is young
girl, has position which she holds for
part of the day, and which brings in
few dollars a week. but aside from
this the two are supported by the furni-
ture business. 1t was by accident that
they took it up.
The father has been blind for some ten
years now. In the first part of the trial
of endeavoring to live without sight he
attempted to lessen the drearineSS of his
life by trying to whittle. He was a
clever man with his fingers and had
frequently made his little daughter fur
niture for her dolls, and his whiting
turned in this direction He succeeded
after time in turning out very salts
factory chairs, and the girl helped him
to put them together. Then as the diff
ferent pieces became better and better,
as he became accustomed to work with
out eyes, the two came to the conclu-
sion that the furniture was pretty
enough to sell, and they put it into the
woman's exchange, and now it is in
several different exchanges.
The daughter gets the wood in thin
pieces from a regular lumber yard and
picks up odds and ends of goods of diff
ferent kinds that will be useful for up
holstering at the shops. They use a
paste in putting this that is used
by bookmakers, and is strong and last
ing. The father can do the carving
which is all done with a knife, by the
sense of feeling, but handling paste
with delicate materials is difficult, and
the daughter does all of this part of the
work.
It is a surprise to people who have
seen the furniture to learn that the
woodwork is done by man who cannot
see. There are similar Openwork pat
terms on all the pieces of furniture. Tt
| is only by the closest comparison that
it can be discovered that in different
chairs there may sometimes be the
slightest variance. The blind workman
finds one of his troubles is in trying to
repeat a piece of furniture when he has
not the first made beside him: it is
difficult to get the size exact. Both size
and designs he repeats from memory,
not being able to use patterns except
as he copies one piece of furniture from
another by feeling
No one who wishes to get rich in a
hurry should attempt this kind of furni-
ture business, but it helps the two who
are doing it in New York to live sim
ply and comfortabey.-Ne York Times.