The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1918-10-02

Nv through the labyrinthian de-
i" lights of the Metropolitan
Museum in New York and
coming upon the collection of arms
and armor in the main gallery has re-
1ncarnated a past of tall knights and
gentle ladies, has fancied himself q
Launcelot or Guinevere, in the dty's
splendid collection of mail and plate,
OF decorative trapping, battle axe,
spear and broad or long sword.
And many, no doubt, have stood in
fascination before the medieval armOr-
er's workshop set in paneled recess
OF carved oak to the left of the gallery,
a miniature bit of Old World charm,
worn anvils, hammers whose stroke
has rung through centuries of steel on
steel, modelled knights in the gay pam
oply Of the Middle Ages, and the &C.
coutrements of a warfare when COM
batants clashed to the sound of trum-
pets.
But only few Of the visitors to the
museum have been fortunate enough
| to get lost in the cool, corridored base
| ment and find. tucked away in an in
conspicuous corner. complete practi-
cal armorer's shop. where a master
armorer plies his inherited art with a
skill that puts him on a level with
some OF the great master armOrers of
the Middle Ages, writes N. 81. McClos-
key in New York Tribune. This
artisan is NJ. Daniel Tachaux. and
those few who have been permitted to
swing open his shop door-a door quite
like many another along the corridor
may we'll count themselves among
the fortunate blessed. for they have
seen shop like no other in this coun-
| try-a show now closed to the public
and guarded by all the impossible and
invulnerable barriers of government
| regulation.
For here, in workroom originally
established for the purpose of clean
ing. repairing and, in some rare cases,
| restoring pieces Of defective armor NJ.
Tachaux and his young French assist
ant, Sergeant Bartel of the ordnance
department.. are carefully working out
designs and models of defensive armor
that can be worn by the allied soldiers.
and which 1t is expected will result in
cutting down to a very great degree, as
the helmets have already done. the
percentage Of killed and wounded in
this present war.
Forty Models Now at the Front.
When the war broke out Mr.. Robin
son, director of the Metropolitan Mu-
scum, learning that the government
was in need Of models for the prepara-
ton Of armor obtained the sanction Of
the trustees in placing the department
of armOr at the disposition of Secre-
tary of War Baker. BashfOrd Dean.
curator of the department and a man
who has given his life to the study of
the subject, was commissioned as
major and Immediately sent abroad to
report on the status of armor-what
was already in use and what additions
might feasibly be made. He returned
to the United States late in January of
the present year. and has since kept
the armor workshop of the museum
busy, on holidays and weekdays. turn
ing our models in accordance with
the suggestions of General Pershing
and the ordnance department. After
careful and patient experimentation
by experts forty models have been
made. and are even now being tried
ont on the fighting front.
Here in the little workshop where
| the sun comes in through miniature
panes and is detected in myriad col
ors by small tools, age old; bits Of
| brass and bronze. steel bright from
pounding and armored suits wrought
with the intricate traceries of medic
val decoration. NJ. Tachaux plies with
deft skill and the ease Of long prac-
tice the very tools used by his ances-
tors and handed down from father to
son through hundreds of years. The
| museum has collected from all parts
Of the world the implements used in
| the fabrication Of ancient armor. COM
| prising some ninety kinds of anvils
and "stakes," several hundred differ
ent types Of hammers, curious shears
and instruments whose use would be
quite unknown were it not that six
armorers-heirs Of past skill - are
living today. One Of these is in Ores
den one in Switzerland, two in Japan.
one in London and the other America
has in the person of NJ. TachauH, who
has collected about him the dusty ro-
nance of an almost forgotten art and