Evening star., 1924-11-16

are suedes, or an ultra-1ash-
ionable sweet cream" tint,
L. unmistakable, inimitable. be
sure that the skins were dyed
under lock and key, in the shack of
a slouchy. happy lucky old Gre
noble artisan, who loafs with his
workmen in the cafe. and rises, say
ing: You boys stick around, until
1 send for you"
Alone, In tho disorderly dye-house.
amid piles Of roots. barks. logs, dried
plants and barrels of fundamental
liquids. tho old fellow mixes and
doses his way to an exclusive tint
through old processes, by traditional
formulas, that demand art and ex-
perience, almost without glimmer
Of modern chemistry.
Only when he has perfected his
bath Of color does he send for the
companions" to get to work on the
soft white skins" that have already
gone through so many processes
before the dye-house dancer" treads
them, bare-legged. in pure. tepid
mountain water. to purge" and sup
pie them for color.
How very few of the great inter-
national Grenoble glove houses have
their own dyeing establishments.
with scientific chemist, modern lab
oratory and chemical dippers. l
would not like to say. But this is
said: To realize the sweet cream
shade. they. too. like all the others,
had to send their skins to Pere Mar
tin, its rule-of-thumb inventor.
So it is with an April butter" nov
city, when famous houses hurried
their skins to atron-teinturier Rev
ell, uneducated artisan with stained
hands, but proud and silent, who
imagines himself to be lineal de-
scendant Of Hughes de Revel, Grand
Master Of Malta in 1860!
And so. up to the war, 1t was. and
so very much remains, all through
the making Of Grenoble gloves
highest priced, exclusive product Of
the chevreau. young of the mountain
goat, the chevre, what we call kid"
Neither modern science nor up-to-
date system helps them greatly.
They do not profit by machinery,
and, although a single glove often
passes through the hands OF 10 diff
ferent workers. factory economy,
they think in their hearts. really
initiates against quality.
Since the war certain great houses
have been modernized-in their own
way; but the System" as applied
to all the processes Of "the cut"
from thinning the perfected skin to
forming and assembling the parts,
did not exist in Grenoble before the
war; and even today the master
cutter Is allowed to do all his trade"
and, still, often enough, he takes
work home, to be helped by his wife.
who often cuts and forms the forks
between the fingers. The only ap-
prentice his close union lets him take
is his own son.
GO, with every detail-the great
~ houses are impeded by Jealous
specialists. Jealous specialists abound.
For example, no apprenticeship exists
for the art Of sorting in white
which is the estimation of perfected
skins, ready for dyeing. In small
Grenoble houses the proprietor does
1t himself: and the great interna-
tionals pay their sorting specialist up
to $500 francs per month-which is,
really, double what $125 would buy in
America.
The only machinery used is the
sewing machine.
Even before the war the decorative
lines on the backs Of gloves were en-
broidered by hand. The eye recog-
nized their human" look, which ma
chine embroidery does not quite give
even to straight lines.
| So, in long Winters, down in Gren-
oble and up in the snow-bound viii
lagos, fne-fingered and self satisfied
women felt quite sure that Dauphiny
had q cinch on the glove trade for
everI
| Grenoble did not dream-and the
villages know nothing Of 1t today
that. in the very handwork that was