The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-07-01
ecissoRs GRINDERS.
Como from the Austrian TyroI, soms
From Italy--tIow to Distin-
ctIish Them

euish Them.
Speaking generally, the scissors
grinders with machines which they
trundle ahead of them like wheel
barrow, como from the Austrian Ty-
rol, while those with machines car
ried on their back come from Italy,
and 1t may be frcm ~ far south as
Naples. But there are some Italian
scissors grinders from the far north
ern province of Venice, bordering on
the Tyiol, who. like the men from Aus
tria, use trun1le machines, and may
themselves more nearly resemble the
men of the German races to the north
than they do those CT the Latin race
to tho south.
The back machine mon have been
here the longer. The trundle machine
men did not begin coming In numbers
until 20 years ago or less. But there
are now here many of each. and they
are scattered all over the country.
The back machines are all substan-
TALLY alike; of the trundle machines,
while they do have some general re-
semblanoe, there are scarcely two just
alike. In Austria there are places
where these machines are made. They
cost there S12 or SIS, and, made of
hardwood, they last for many years.
But many of the grinders make their
own machines, embodying their own
ideas of what would be most conven.
lent or desirable in use, or what might
suit their fancy.
Under this last head might be
classed the cranks seen on scene of
the machines, connecting the treadle
with the shaft CT the driving wheel.
Some of these. instead OF being
straight, Ike an ordinary crank, are
curved, crescent-shaped, or so much
curved that they make all but circle,
which play round and round curious
ly when the machine is worked.
In this country when a man wants
one of these trundle machines he
makes it himself or he draws his
plans and takes them to a carpenter.
The grindstones wear out, oi course.
and have to be renewed, and the
grinders buy stones here. American
grindstone men say that they give the
grinders better grindstones than those
they bring with them.
Most of the scissors grinders con-
fine their work to the sharpening OF
scissors and knives and tools; there
are scme, these mostly back machine
men, who add to that work the mend
ing of umbrellas. The grinders who,
within recent years, have brought
here or adopted the bugle instead of
the time.honored bell, are, Of course,
back machine men. The trundle man
needs both hands with which to wheel
his machine.
Does scissors grinding pay? Not
so well as 1t did when scissors grind.
ers were fewer. The grinders were
all drawn here, of course as sc many
millions of other Old World people
have been, by the attraction CT the
New Worlds prosperity and wealth.
The earlier comers did well, and their
success attracted many more, until
now, a grinder said, the business in
New York is overdore. or the earlier
days a grinder told this story:
Some years ago he maze a little
scissors grinding tour through New
England. He wes a trundle-machine
man himself, but on this trip he car
ried back machine. The trundlo
machine Is heavy and adapted to side
walks and city pavements, not TO
country dirt roads.
His trip was prosperous, for in
many parts the scissors grinder had
remained quite unknown. lie was
tilling fresh ground, and his returns
were corresponding. Even in one
small city that he struck, a place CT
10000 inhabitants, they had never
seen a travelling scissors grinder, and
here he took in six or seven dollars "a
day, something more than $50 N three
days, while his daily expenses had
been about 81.
"A gold miner" said his interlocu-
tor.
"Better than some gold mines"
said the shrewd and good-humored
scissors grinder.
But there are no such New Eng
land cities now. The scissors grind.
er is everywhere, and the business has
found It's level. But 1t Is uncertain
ana variable, even at that.
Here In New York, one scissors
grinder said man might go all day
and make nothing, and then ne might
take so or SO from one house, one
customer bringing another.-New
York Sun.