Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1910-04-19
An Operation Necessary to Pro-
cure Good Feathers.
LOCKING THE BIRDS WINGS.
This Trick Performed and Their Legs
Bandased Together, the Helpless
Geese Are Ready, if Not Willing, Vic
Tins For the Expert Pickers.

BandaSed Together, the Helpless
Geese Are Ready, if Not Willing, Vie
Tins For the Expert Picters.
Yes, said manufacturer and deal
er in bed furnishings. lit is necessary
that goose feathers should be taken
from the live goose If we are to study
the health and comfort of people who
think they must have feather beds and
pillows. Dead goose feathers are not
much better than husks to lie on and
have not that great virtue of husks-
wholesomeness.
They say 1t doesn't hurt a goose to
pluck it, but it seems to me that one
might as well say that it wouldn't hurt
man to have his whiskers yanked out
by the handful. The reason they give
for believing goose doesn't suffer
when its feathers are being plucked
out Of it is that it never squawks or
squeaks or makes fuss while the
plucking is going on.
Now. believe it hurts a goose like
the mischief to have its feathers pulled
out, coming as they do from the ten
derest spots on Its body, and the rea-
son the fowl doesn't utter any protest
prompted by pain is. according to the
way have sized geese up. because II
is such a blame fool. A goose will
squawk and clatter and cackle as If 1t
were suffering more agony than
horse with the collie just ut the Nero
sight of you. but If you corner it up
and pelt it with stones 1t seems TO for
get that 1t has voice and will take
all the punishment you give it without
a further word.
'"The Pennsylvania Dutch farmers
pluck geese today just the same as
their forbears did time out of mind
and don't know as there is any other
way. 1t certainly couldn't be made
any pleasanter for the goose unless
the plucker held chloroform or some
thing like that to its nose while the
plucking was going on. The geese to
be bereft of their feathers are first
got together in an Enclosure used for
the purpose. The perspicacity of
geese may be strikingly made known
to you when they are being rounded
up In such an Enclosure IL there should
happen to be Il knothole in one end of
it. the door being at the other. That
door may be six feet high and three
broad. but goose after goose will ig-
more 1t and try its best TO get through
the knothole. Induced. though. TO try
the door. every goose will bob its head
down as it passes through for fear of
knocking il against the top OF the
door jamb. six feet above.
There is a man or a boy In every
neighborhood where geese are plucked
who is an expert in getting the goose
ready for the process Not every one
can do that. The wings of the goose
have to be locked together by pecul
lar arrangement of the two near the
shoulder, and. while they are not tied
or fastened in any other way. the lock
is such that no goose can unlock 1t.
The goose's feet are tied together with
a broad band of soft muslin. Then ii
is ready for the plucker.
1.-THE pluckers. who are almost al
ways women, go among the geese with
their heads and faces entirely covered
with hoods fastened around the neck
with shirr string There are holes ir
the hoods for the eyes and also at the
nose to supply fresh air for breathing
From the neck down the pickers are
covered with glazed muslin carmen
to which no feather or down will cling.
The FUCKERS will sit on low stools
around a large and perfectly dry tub.
Each takes in her lap a goose made
helpless by its iDterlocked wings and
bound legs and with rapid plying Of
her fingers separates the feathers from
1t. This Is done with such skill. though.
that the plucker rarely breaks the
gooses skin or causes blood to follow
the plucking out of feather. The air
is constantly filed with the light feath
ers during the plucking, but they set
tie into the tub at last.
"But there isn't as much call for the
goose to undergo this raping OF Its
feathers as there used to be. Not one
pound of goose feathers Is used today
where there were fifty pounds twenty
FIVE years ago. Odd as 1t may seem,
asthma and hay fever long ago began
to have good deal to do with decreas-
ing the demand for feather beds and
pillows. Ii was discovered that asth-
ma and hay fever had an affinity for
such touches and head rests; that
nothing would start an asthmatic or
for a cheerful nights wheeling SO
quickly as feather bed. This discov
cry spread. and the goose owes a great
deal of its later day comfort TO the
asthma. Detroit Free Press.