The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-19
FOLLOW
 MANY ODD TRADES Only One Mender of Wooden
 Indians In New York t. TWO QUEER LITERARY JOBS Fleeing Together Dime Novels to Make Continuous stay-one Man Remits IlIegIble Copy For
 Contributions.

From the Now York Sun.
 Here in New York there are men who work at occupations in which no one else Is engaged. Their calltnss are unique in the strict sense of the word Each person So employed enjoys the distine- tion of making his living in a pursuit followed by no one but himself
 One of them is an old man who repairs the few remaining cigar store indians in use by old-fashioned dealers in side streets. At one time he owned a wood carver's shop where these figures were turned out in large numbers. He also did a thriving business in making ec- 'clestiastical figures for churches and carved ngureheads for the prows of ships. Part Of his work consisted in carving decorations for circus wagons At one time he had 120 men working for several months on designs to fill a contract with a celebrated showman.
 This man, who Is probably the last of the old-time wood carvers making d speciality of effisies for tobacconists. churches and yacht owners can still be seen in his Brooklyn shop rounding out 5o years of expert workmanship. But he has not carved a wooden figure for | decade or more. He only repairs images made by himself or others years ago which find their way back to his bench for an overhauling. The reason for the faI1ing off of this occupation is that to- day such figures are all cast in metal.
 In the Grotesque Line.
 Then there Is an artist employed by Brooklyns only manufacturer of comic valentines. For 20 years he has put in all his time drawing the grotesque caricatures received by thousands on February 14 from friends who do not lose the opportunity to remind them of their fraities and defects. And in the employ of the same firm is a verslfier whose vitriolic lampoons appear under the pictures drawn by other men and help them to make the recording angel work overtime on St. Valentines day. These two are kept busy the year round, and have the field to them selves.
 In a certain New York publishing house man sits at his desk from in the. morning until in the after noon piecing together sets of three dime novels for the purpose of making one continuous story for publication in book form. Not alone is he the only man in New York who works at this peculiar form of literary endeavor, but probably he is the only man in the world earning his living in this man ner.
 In another publishing house is man who does nothing but make legible the handwriting of a corps of regular au- thors on its staff. These men for 15 years have been contributing a weekly story for boys measuring about 10000 words, and either cannot or will not learn to use a typewriter. Such an enormous output means rapid writing, even on machine, and the great speed required to get so much out on time by longhand results in bad copy
 The compositors were obliged to work slowly, and it became a question of get ting new typesetters or new authors. The latter course would hardly do as authors with desirable sustaining powers and dynamic force cannot be picked up on every literary bush, and there was no use of firing the long-suffering compos- itors. Therefore the publishers hit upon the scheme of having a man familiar with the scrawl of these high pressure word singers go over each manuscript to round out incomplete o's. deefctive Is and perform other necessary surgical operations in chirography to keep the compositors from throwing a fit at ev- cry other word
 Only One In the World.
 The only girl operator of wireless te- legraphy in New York and possible in the world at present sits on the roof of Fifth avenue hotel in a little office sending messages through the air to ships at sea. She is on.y 21 and her employers say she is superior to many men telegraphers. While the majority of the messages coming and going through her hands are commercial. some. are of & tender nature. And some of these are addressed to her, as she is reported to have a wireless romance Her fiance is said to be an operator on one of the big steamers and when his ship gets within talking distance greetings ere exchanged between them.
 Two coopers make speciality of pack | ing money for shipment for New York | banks. and have no competitors. For i 20 years these men have been put ting gold and silver coin in casks for i their customers to send abroad They | also pack precious metal in three-gallon | kegs for the sub-treasury every time it | wants to ship money interior points.
 During the 20 years the two coop | CTS have handled something like $2000,- | 900, 900 and in single year have made | shipments for their clients amounting to | $2o0 GOO 600. Probably no other two men | In New York have ever packed s' r,aeh | money to be sent awov " as if the coin were just ordinary ship