Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-02-28
PLUCKING LIVE GEESE.
An Operation Necessary to Procure
Good Feathers.

an operation Necessary 10 RrOCuf'
Good Feathers.
Yes" said a manufacturer and deal
er in bed furnishings, ''it 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-
whoIeSomeness.
'-They say it doesn't hurt a goose to
pluck it. but 1t seems to me that one
might as well say that it wouldn't hurt
a man to have his whtskers yanked out
by the handful. The reason they give
for believing a goose doesn't suffer
when its feathers are being plucked
out Of it is that it never squawks or
sQueaks or makes a fuss while the
plucking is going on.
Now, believe 1t hurts a goose like
the mischief to have it's 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 it
is such q blame fool. A goose will
sQuawk and clatter and cackle as If it
were suffering more agony than a
horse with the collie just at the mere
sight of you. but If you corner 1t up
and pelt it with stones 1t seems to for
get that it has a voice and will take
all the punishment you give it without
a further word
rha fob %
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 srikingly made known
to you when they are being rounded
up In such an Enclosure If there should
happen to be a 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 It and try its best to get through
the knothoIe. Induced. though. to try
the door, every goose viii bob its head
down as it passes through for fear of
knocking it against the top of the
door jamb, six feet above
There is a man or a boy in every
Heighborhood 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-
far 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 It
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 IN
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 garment
to which no feather or down will cling.
The plpckers will sit on. low stools