The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-09-09
MAKING SODA WATER srRAws.
A Trade Which Keeps Two Young
Girls in Pocket Money.


ave make our own allowance rails
ing soda water straws," said young
girl who came to New York the other
day on shopping trip. Five years
ago we moved to the country and
father planted rye patch for the
chickens. The next summer, when
the grain began to ripen. my sister
and /, who were small girls, used to
play hide and seek in the rye patch.
Then we began to pick some of the
longest straws and make suckers
don't know just how long this was
going on when mother took us into
town with her one day and we went
to a drug store and had some soda.
at was the first soda water my sis
ter and l had ever tasted, and we no.
ticed that the straws were just like
the suckers we had been making for
our own use. One of us called moth
er's attention to this fact, and she
very promptly recognized the oppor-
tunity for turning our play into
money making business. She sent
for the head Of that department of
the store and learned that there was
a demand for good straws at $1.25
thousand, done up in little bundles
containing 100 straws each.
"The next day father cut an armful
of straw and brought it to us on the
back piazza. Then under mothers
direction we cut our first soda water
straws for the trade. That year and
the next mother worked with us, but
for the last three years sister and l
have been doing 1t ell alone and every
cent We make is our own.
"For us there is no outlay besides
our own work Father plants the rye
each year for the chickens and cows,
and gives us as many straws as we
can clean and bundle. So far as our
experience goes, that is the only limit
to the market.
"To make the best soda water
straws the rye should be cut little
under-ripe and left loose, not tied in
bundles. When allowed to dry in the
field the straws will split and are
worthless. The heads of the rye are
cut off so there is no waste of the
grain. Only about two joints of each
straw can be used, as the first two are
generally spoiled by cutting and the
last one, the one next the grain head,
is much too small. The first step
after getting the straw in the work
room is to clip out the joints with the
scissors, peel off the outer covering;
then grade them as to size and length
and make into small bundles of 100
each
"The longest straws we turn out
are fourteen inches, while the short
est are seven. The straws should
always be clipped with sharp scissors
Obliquely, because II cut straight
across they are graded as machine
cut, and do not bring such good
price. Another important matter Is
that each bundle should contain
straws as nearly the same size as it is
possible to get them and they should
be exactly the same length
when we first began the work
our season was very short, because
the straw ripened so quickly. Now
that we have learned how to keep the
straw in condition by housing 1t in a
, cool and not too damp cellar the sea-
son is more than twice as long, and
we make about five times as much
money. Our customers are always
! willing to buy more straws than we
have, and l have understood from
them that the wholesale dealers were
eager to buy at any season of the
year. During the season, which now
includes nearly our entire school va
| cation, my sister and earn S. week
apiece working about five hours a
day. New York Sun.