Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-30
SMALL FURNITURE.
Mainly Miniature Pieces Suitable fol
Furnishing Dolls Establishments.

From the New York Times.
Furniture business Is ono 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 by the
business. and 1t is all done in one small
apartment. 1t Is not furniture manufac-
ture on a large scale, for all the work is
done by hand but the returns from 1t 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 upholstered with a dell
cately colored Powered cretonne. The
back is Joined with hinges 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 furniture, ordinary little parlor chairs,
which cost only Is cents, and they are up
holstered 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 a young girl, has
position which she holds for a part Of the
day. and which brings in a few dollars a
week, but aside from this the two are sup
ported by the furniture business. 1t was
by accident that they took 1t 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 at
by trying to white. He was clever man
with his fingers and had frequently made
his little daughter furniture for her dolls
and his whiting turned In this direction
He succeeded after time in turning out
very satisfactory chairs, and the girl helped
him to put them together. Then as the
different pieces became better and better,
as he became accustomed to work without
eyes, the two came to the conclusion that
the furniture was pretty enough to sell,
and they put it into the woman's exchange,
and now 1t 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 different kinds
that will be useful for upholstering at the
shops. They use paste in putting this on
that is used by bOokmakers, and is strong
and lasting The father can do the cary
ing. 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 a man who cannot see. There
are similar openwork patterns on all the
pieces of furniture. 1t Is only by the clos
est comparison that 1t can be discovered
that in different chairs there may some
times be the slightest variance. The blind
workman finds one of his troubles Is in try
ing to repeat a piece Of furniture when he
has not the first made beside him: 1t 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
should attempt this kind Of furniture busi-
ness. but 1t helps the two who are doing It
in New York to live simply and comfort
ably.