Class _Tj![Li^^^ Book.^AA:£^ CopghtK?.. COFimiGHT DEPOSIT. » / ^ / ^ ■2-. ^ SOMETHING ABOUT LEATHER Something about Leather Being a Collection of entertaining Facts not commonly known concerning \'arious Skins also what is made of them with a very brief Sketch of the History o;f tanning By Lee^llyne ■•£-■1! 3 ^ /f o. New York: Printed for the Gorham Company Silversmiths and their Friends under the direction of H Ingalls Kimball in the Autumn M DCCC XC VII fS Copyrighted by the Gorham Manufacturing Company M DCCC XC VII AS TO THE TANNING OF LEATHER AS TO THE TANNING OF LEATHER Somehow people associate certain ideas of mental capacity with certain trades, not because there is any adequate reason for it, to be sure, but from long usage. Whv it should be considered eminently respectable to be a brewer, but quite out of the ques- tion to be an hotel keeper, is rather beyond the understanding of the ordinary intelli- gence, or even, ,so for as I have been able to find out, of the extraordinary intelli- gence. Among the trades which have had the misfortune to fall especially under the ban of society at all times, are those of the soap maker and the tanner. Now, in my mind, the making of soap is one of the noblest of all occupations. How much more keen must be the artistic sensibilities of a man devoting his life to the making of some- thing which purifies and cleanses, and 9 Something About Leather which gives to his fellow-men that which is next to godliness than of him who caters to a thirst for beer. Indeed, when one thinks of it, godliness would amount to very little indeed without soap, but one could get along pretty well, so far as relig- ion is concerned, without beer. Perhaps it is because my ideas on these subjects were not altogether settled, and be- cause I was prepared for something a bit better than the clumsy and inartistic, when I went first to a tannery, that I was not al- together surprised to find a keen, artistic, and altogether appreciative man at the head of it. He seemed so intensely inter- ested in his work, indeed, so interested in every process, that the business took on quite a diiFerent aspect from what I had expected. 1 found him with his sleeves rolled up and his apron on, figuring out in chemical symbols the exact effect that cer- tain elements would have on certain skins. Perhaps it was because he was a French- lo Something About Leather man more than because he was a tanner that he was so exceedingly courteous and polite. He smiled when I told him that I knew something of the theory of tanning, but wanted to see it in practice, and re- marked that the theory was entertaining enough, but the practice was really absorb- ing. I asked him if he meant that for a pun, whereupon he informed me that a Frenchman rarely allowed himself to make, or even recognize, puns. This was encour- aging, not to say gratifying. He readily laid aside his work when I made my errand known, and we went to- gether down a narrow flight of stairs and out through the yard into a little house. On the floor there were piles and piles of skins. Most of them seemed to be alli- gator skins. I picked one up, and at the very first glance learned something that I had never known before, and that was the fact that, for commercial purposes, only the skin from the belly and sides of the alligator are II Something About Leather used. I had seen the tanned skins on ex- hibition in shops and had always imagined from their shape that they were absolutely complete. I had taken it for granted that the middle of the skin, as I saw it, was that which had covered the middle of the back, and that the long piece covering the snout was from the back of the head. The skin I held in my hand was soft and a bit spongy, and felt wet from the salt in which it had been packed immediately after it was taken from the animal. The sides were a grayish-black in color, but the middle of it was a dirty white. This was, of course, from the belly. The Frenchman laughed when I told him what I had found out, and said almost everyone had the same idea. He told me that, however, in the case of lizards, where the skin was thinner and softer, the hide from the back was used as I had supposed the alligator's was. He showed me a lizard skin, a big one from Java, almost four 12 Something About Leather feet long, which looked exactly like an alligator skin, except that it had been dried before salting, which had made it stiff and harsh. Other than in color these skins had exactly the same appearance as thev have after they are tanned. We went out of the little house again, through the bright sunlight, and down into a deep cellar, where my guide warned me to be careful of mv steps or I might fall into one of the vats. Great deep tubs they were, sunk into the ground, and we walked above them on a narrow plank. These large, sunken tanks, he explained to me, was where the skins were washed. They were thrown into cold, pure water, and kept there for sometimes a week, some- times two weeks, according to their size. During this period the water was often changed so that the skins should be per- fectly cleansed of salt. We passed under a low arch, I groping my way, for it was uncomfortably dark, and through another 13 Something About Leather room like the first, only here the tubs were filled with a whitish liquid, much thicker than water, which he told me was a solution of slack slime. This preparation thoroughly cleanses the skins, and after they are taken from it they are thrown over a round, slanting wooden post that is just high enough for a man to lean over, and in that posture the workmen carefully scrape the skins with a dull knife on the flesh side. This thorough scraping takes ofi^anv pieces of flesh that may have adhered to the skin, and rubs out a certain amount of the lime water. T handled one of the skins at this stage of the process and found it was clammy and thick and soft. As we turned to go into the next room my foot slipped on something, and after I got over my fright, for thick lime and water, among a lot of well-soaked alligator skins, would not prove an altogether en- joyable bath, I picked up the thing that I had slipped on. It was a transparent shell, H ^•-i «--'-."'•■' figured exactly like the skin of an alligator, and about as thick as isinglass. I could see where it had fitted the scales, and there was a ragged hole at one end of it where some stray bullet had plowed along the side and torn this outer shell of the reptile who had once worn it. Then 15 Something About Leather I was told that the lime loosens and softens these shells, and that they come off either in the vats or in the next room where the skins, after being scraped on the flesh side, are thrown into a large revolv- ing wheel half submerged in a trough of clear running water. I pulled one of the skins out of this trough, and J do not think I ever saw anything more beautiful than it was as it lay in my hand glistening under a ray of sunlight that filtered down somewhere through the beams and struck the pure, cream-white belly. The sides were a lighter gray than they had looked at first, and the markings around the legs, where the scales are small, were beautifully distinct. I had never seen white alligator skin before, and I asked the genial tanner why he did not let it stay that color ; it would certainly be very fine. He told me that the tanning liquor turned the skin yellow, and that while it could be tanned with a solution of alum to preserve its i6 Something About Leather whiteness, it would have no strength and no commercial value. Between our- selves I think I would almost rather have it weak if it could be kept that beautiful color. Maybe, some day, I will be a tanner myself and then we shall see. While we were in this little room I heard louder than ever, the heavy thumping of a great machine somewhere in the build- ing; a sound 1 had heard some distance away when I had first approached the tan- nery, and which acted as a sort of back- ground to the swashing of the leather in the vats, the paddling of the great wheels in their troughs, and the occasional word which passed between the men scraping away at the posts. Then we went on again and came to the great tanks filled with a solution of gambler, and with skins. He would not let me stop to look into them until we had seen the splitting process, which comes first in order. There were more large, round posts in the place where 17 Something About Leather the splitting is done, and more men work- ing with knives, but this time the knives were sharp and keen and curved, and great flakes and strips of white leather curled up and rolled away on the damp floor around the feet of the men as they pared down the skins to proper thickness for working. The constant soakings in many waters for almost three weeks had so thickened the skins that even after almost a quarter of an inch of pulpy leather has been pared away they were still as thick as they were when I saw them green and salted in the little house outside. After the skins were pared to the proper thickness, and that was no easy task, be- cause of the danger of cutting clean through them, they were thrown into the first tan- ning vat, where the thin and dirty red sol- ution of gambler was comparatively weak. There the acid sunk into the fibers, com- bining with every particle of gelatine be- tween the minute threads which go to i8 Something About Leather make up the skin, and, binding these threads and the gelatine together in a homogeneous body, did its part towards strengthening, and incidentally coloring the skins, which were now rapidly becoming leather. J saw tour of these vats, and in each the solution of gambler was stronger than in the last, and thicker and redder, and in each vat the skins remained for two to four days before being thrown into the last solution of all, which is a weak bath of sumach and water. This bath of sumach and water acts as a mordant to hold the dye in which the skins are finally soaked. It bleaches them a bit, and then they are stained by immersing them in different pigments to the deep rich yellow, the solid black, or the brilliant changeable green which we see in the finished leather. Up another little flight of stairs we went, this time inside the building, and I caught a glimpse of those pounding machines on the way, and then into a broad, high loft, 19 Something About Leather flooded with sunlight, where the skins were hung to dry. The colors were flat and dull ; the skins were flexible and lighter in weight than at first, and they no longer seemed like living reptiles as they did in the various vats. And then we went down stairs to see the source of all the noise. I think the little Frenchman who showed me about took a certain delight in keeping me away from the things I wanted to see at first, for his eyes twinkled as we neared the machine. The thing was so simple that it was really a disappointment; only a great human-like arm holding a hammer, which it brought down rapidly and with tremendous force upon the flat beam below. A man stood behind the thing and leaned over the beam with a tremendous skin stretched across it. With his foot he moved a lever, which started the arm and the hammer at its noisy work. As the hammer came down it slid rapidly forward across the dull surface, and in its track 20 »\N^ there appeared a darker, brilliantly shining strip of polished alligator skin. I watched this machine work for a long time ; so long that my guide became weary and left me there, for it was impossible to talk on ac- count of the noise; and then after a while 21 Something About Leather I went up into his little office, where he smiled genially and rolled a cigarette for me and laid aside his figuring again to tell me something of how alligator skins began to be used and became a great commercial factor in the Southern States. I shall tell what he said as nearly as possible in his own words ; but I shall make no at- tempt to reproduce his accent. 22 AS TO ALLIGATORS AS TO ALLIGATORS ** You would have me tell you," he began, lighting a cigarette and leaning forward in his chair, ** about the begin- ning of alligator leather. Well, first, you must know that to me its commercial use is due. I first made it, having discovered or invented the method of treating it, in 1879.- **But," I interjected, mildly, ** Davis, in his * Manufacture of Leather,' speaking of alligator hides, states that they were tanned as far back as 1855." *' O," said the Frenchman, airily, ** he was speaking merely of experiments. I am talking of practical work." I was silenced, and he went on : ** You must bear in mind that although nearly everybody thinks there is no difference between the alligator and crocodile, nearly everybody is wrong. Not that the 25 Something About Leather difference," he added, after pausing to light his cigarette which he had suffered to go out, ** is one that would attract the attention of the lay mind." He leaned back and looked out of the window. I waited expectantly. Presently he re- sumed : **The difference consists chiefly in the arrangement of the teeth and the formation of the bones of the head. The hides are practically identical." ** You will find alligators widely dis- tributed," he said, after another pause. **A11 the large tropical rivers, such as the Ganges, the Nile, the Amazon, and the Mis- sissippi, — in fact almost all tropical streams, — abound with them. These reptiles have been worshiped and cursed alternately from the earliest period of history. Herod- otus speaks of the custom of worshiping the crocodile in Egypt ; but in some parts of the country it was not so popular. Everybody abhorred the creature and lost no opportunity of destroying old and 26 Something About Leather young. The people in those days were very expert in killing them too, and the Mexicans of the present day follow their method almost exactly." ** Which is — ? " I asked. **To dive under them and stab them in the belly with a short knife. It is very effective. According to Pliny and Strabo the Tantyrites exhibited live crocodiles at Rome, and about Thebes and Lake Moeris, in Egypt, the reptiles were often fed and tamed. But that is nothing re- markable; it has been done elsewhere. In Louisiana, for example, this custom has been followed for the last seventy- five years. But those that formed the pets of the aristocracy of Thebes were almost always beautifully decorated. Their scales were heavily gilded, the gold leaf being fastened on in a very ingenious way. Fabulous sums were often spent upon the adornment of a single crocodile. **In that country when one of these 27 Something About Leather pets died he was often embalmed and kept as holy, and little images of them were made for the children to worship. That was the age of simplicity of thought ; but you have had enough of ancient history. To come down to something nearer at hand : Alligator skins are brought into the market usually green salted. The salting is often done very carelessly, and if the skins are permitted to remain too long in the barrels in which they are packed they become heated and the grain sides are thereby so badly injured that the skins are fit only for second-class leather. ** All the skins show^ great uniformity, being a bluish black on the sides, and a bluish white on the belly. Each skin is checkered in oblong divisions, which, being wrinkled and separated by intersect- ing grooves, give the peculiar appearance that is characteristic of all alligator leather. The skins come in all sizes, but those about seven feet long are most desirable. 28 " In this country, gambler, from India, is chiefly used as the tannic agent. The skins are first thoroughly washed, as you have seen, and then put through the various processes that I have just shown to you." ** How many alligator skins are used in this country each year ? " I asked. *' I was coming to that," he replied. ** I should say that at the present time three 29 Something About Leather hundred thousand skins would be a con- servative estimate for the number that find their way to market every year in the United States alone; I cannot say as to Europe." ** How long before the supply will give out, if we keep on killing the creatures off at such a rate ? '* I inquired. '♦ It will be many, many years. They multiply with astonishing rapidity. The young are produced in litters of about sixty to one hundred at a time. First, Mamma Alligator piles up with her snout a very practical, if not beautiful, nest of mud and sticks. It is generally from eight to ten feet long and from six to eight feet high. Here she lays her eggs, which are then hatched out by the sun. The period of incubation varies greatly, but it is generally very brief. Indeed, sometimes the little ones are out of the shell, which is very soft, like a snake's egg, almost imme- diately. When she has her young with 30 Something About Leather her the mother is very savage, and will at- tack white men unprovoked. Here is a curious thing: except at this time no alli- gator will attack a white man unless driven to it, but they are always ready to go for a negro, and they are especially fond of darkey babies." "How about the birds that make friends with them and " "I am coming to that presently," in- terposed the Frenchman. ** The alligator is very fond of dogs, pigs, and insects as articles of diet. One of his favorite habits is to lie in the sun on a mud bank, with his huge mouth stretched open to its fullest extent. Here he will remain motionless for nearly an hour at a time. During this period the tongue and all the inside of the mouth become absolutely black with the innumerable flies and bugs which are at- tracted to it. Suddenly Mr. Alligator closes his trap, and after washing down his luncheon with a huge gulp of muddy water 31 Something About Leather the trap is set again. This is where xour bird comes in." ** In the trap ? " I ventured. ** Exactly. No doubt birds are occa- sionally attracted to the mouth of the crea- ture by the millions of flies and other in- sects; but as to the story which the school books tell us of the friendships between the birds and the alligators, I don't know. At all events the birds never come back to tell us about it, and it is to be supposed that the alligator's feelings are entirely friendly. ** The greatest enemy that the baby alli- gator has is its papa, who always is pos- sessed of a most shocking desire to make a meal of his own children. This inclina- tion is naturally resented by the mother, and frequently leads to bitter fights, in which, very properly, victory is generally with the lady." ** Do we make better leather in America than is made abroad ? " I asked. ** In some grades, yes; in others, no. 32 Something About Leather But after all, the French and the Swiss are the greatest tanners in the world," and he turned again to his figuring, as if he felt that he had talked long enough. I took the hint. ** How do you make that out?" I asked, rising. He looked at me with an odd little smile. ** Why, where else in the world but in France and Switzerland can one buy ladies' fine kid gloves made from the skin of the human body ? " ** Do you mean to say — " I began, but he stopped me with a deprecating wave of his hand. ** No," he said, ** I will not talk about it. If you are interested you can find out," and with that the interview ended. 33 AS TO A CURIOSITY IN LEATHER AS TO A CURIOSITY IN LEATHER The Frenchman's last remark excited my curiosity to such an extent that I de- termined to look up the question of leather made from human skin, and find out if possible whether or not any such barbarity existed. But I met with a stupendous difficulty at the outset; there was no litera- ture — or practically none — on the subject. After I had spent a considerable time in my researches, however, I found quite by accident something a great deal better from my standpoint than literature, for I stumbled across an Antiquarian. After we had been properly made ac- quainted with each other I put the question to him plumply: ** What do you know about human leather r " ** Everything," he replied, solemnly, settling himself as if for a long talk; ** what do you wish to know ? ' ' 37 Something About Leather •* Everything," I echoed, rather faintly, for 1 gathered from his manner that per- haps he knew things I would not like to hear. "After all, there isn't very much to tell," he said, reassuringly, and I felt bet- ter. ** Herodotus " but I interrupted him. ** One moment," said I. "Would you mind leaving Herodotus out of the question, please ? Everything about leather seems to date back to Herodotus. What did he know about human leather, any- how ? ' ' ** I was about to say," resumed the An- tiquarian, gravely, with a noble disre- gard of my interruption, " that Herod- otus nowhere mentions the practice of tanning the human skin. Indeed, as you probably know, from the very earliest times, the idea of putting any portion of the human body to prac- tical use after life has departed has always 38 been a revolting one. Notwithstanding this natural sentiment, how- ever, it is a fact that leather made from human skin has been in use, although to a very small extent, for many years. The first specimens appeared in England. On a number of old church doors in that country, underneath the or- namental iron work, have been found por- tions of human leather which are said to 39 Something About Leather have been originally the skins of Danes." I suppose I looked skeptical, for he went to his bookcase, took down a volume, and, after turning its pages a moment, said: ** Pepys, writing under the date of April lo, 1661 , makes this statement: . * to Rochester and there saw the cathedral — observing the great doors of the church, as they say covered with the skins of the Danes.' " Replacing his book with the air of one who has definitely disposed of an objection, the Antiquarian took from a drawer in his desk a few pages of manu- script, and resumed his seat. *'l have here," he said, **a few notes on the subject. Let me see ; yes, this is what 1 wanted," and he read: ** * The old Bohemian leader, Ziska, who died in 1424, left a will in which he directed that after his death his body should be flayed and the skin converted into the head of a drum.' ** On the 3d of December, 181 7, there 40 Something About Leather was hanged at Nevvcastle-on-Tyne, a murderer named Charles Smith, who had been guiltv^ of many atrocious crimes. After his death his skin was removed and tanned, and a piece of it was sold so recently as May, 1855. It would appear the skins of murderers were frequently tanned in England about two hundred vears ago. In a temporary museum got- ten up for charitable purposes at Preston, in that country, a gentleman named Howitt exhibited the tanned skin of a man's arm. It was the color of a new saddle, and bore a close resemblance to 'basil,' or split sheepskin, so much used in leather work. The library at Bury St. Edmunds has had on exhibition for many years a book bound in the tanned skin of a murderer named Corder. I have seen and handled the book. But human leather has been used frequently for bookbinding, and there is a publisher in New York to-day who has for sale a copy of Holbein's 41 Something About Leather * Dance of Death,' bound in human skin. ** I have seen a pair of shoes made from human skin, and, ghastly as it may seem, I am bound to confess that tbey possessed many excellent qualities. **If we could become accustomed to its use, human skin would be likely to form an important article of commerce, because it unquestionably makes a better wearing leather than many of those now commonly employed. In texture it is very soft and pliable, and in some respects resembles kid and dog-skin, though neither so porous as the dog-skin nor so close as the kid." ** Is it true," I asked, " that they make gloves from it ? " ** It is," replied the Antiquarian, **and it makes excellent gloves, too. It is as- serted upon what seems to be good author- ity that its use in the manufacture of ladies' gloves is at present extensively carried on in France and Switzerland." 42 Something About Leather ** So I was told bv a French tanner," I remarked, ** but I could scarcely believe it." ** Of course," continued my friend, ** such gloves are sold always as kid or dog-skin." The Antiquarian read these last words from his manuscript, then folded it up and looked at me inquiringly. ** That is extremely interesting," said I. ** I have learned so much about leather lately that I am curious to know more. Can you tell me anything about the early history of tanning; when leather was first used, and so on ? " ** No," he answered; ** but my friend, Mr. Schwarzwaelder, of East Houston street, knows more about the history of leather than any one in America. I have long urged him to undertake a work upon the subject, a task for which he is emi- nently qualified. I will give you a line to him." 43 Something About Leather A few moments later, as I was descend- ing the stairs, the Antiquarian called out to me. I stopped. **Yes?" I said, think- ing I had left something behind. **I forgot to tell you," he shouted down at me, **that the skin from the human back makes a fine grade of sole leather! " 44 AS TO THE HISTORY OF LEATHER AS TO THE HISTORY OF LEATHER I found Mr. Schwarzwaelder the sole occupant of a very small and dusky shoe- maker's shop, far over on the east side of the city. He greeted me pleasantly, and when he had read the Antiquarian's letter he became very cordial. *'I suppose that after what my friend has told you of me you are rather surprised to see me here working at the bench ? " he inquired. **I don't know," I answered vaguelv^. ** He did not tell me anything about your business." ** Well, I am a shoemaker, and I am proud of it," said Mr. Schwarzwaelder, resuming his seat and thereby giving me an opportunity to get what light there was in the shop directly on his face. He was very small and very old, but his little eyes 47 Something About Leather behind his gold-framed spectacles were as sharp as birds'. **The proper making of shoes has become almost one of the lost arts," the old man went on. '*It is the finest craft in the world — you understand I am not a cobbler. I wouldn't mend a shoe, for instance." ** The Antiquarian says that you will tell me all about the history of leather," I ventured, not caring particularly to hear about the trade of making shoes. **Oh,yes," said he cheerfully. ** Where shall we begin ? At the very beginning ? To do that we should have to go back to the ages hefore history began, because leather in certain forms was undoubtedly used by prehistoric man. Thongs cut from bulls' hide answered for his bow-strings, and the skins and hides of animals supplied him with shelter and apparel at almost as early a period as the flesh provided him with food. It is likely that the first use of leather in this way was in cold and moun- 48 Something About Leather tainous countries, where animal food was desirable and warm clothing necessary. You know it is said that necessity has always been the mother of invention, and if that is true it is reasonable to believe that mankind acquired at a very early period suffi- cient knowledge to enable them to slaughter wild animals for food and to use the hides for clothing and shelter. As soon as men began to live in homes, the raising of cattle, which, with agriculture, is the oldest busi- ness in the world, became their chief em- ployment. ** It was nearly two thousand years be- fore the Christian era, as you may read in Genesis, that Abraham and Lot went up out of Egypt into the south, both rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. After they reached Bethel, as you may remember, they separated because of the constant quarrels between their respective herds- men and because this land was not large enough to contain their vast herds. Lot 49 Something About Leather journeyed eastward, chose the rich and watered plains of Jordan, and pitched his tents near Sodom. No doubt the presence of the great number of cowboys in the employ of Lot added much to the wicked- ness of that historic place," and the old shoemaker peered at me over the tops of his spectacles. ** When did they first learn to remove the hair from the skins ? " I asked. ** No one knows; and no one knows when the art of manufacturing the hair and wool into fabrics was invented, but it is known that it was practiced in the val- leys of the Tigris and Euphrates before the date to which anv of our histories extend, and it is supposed also that the earliest fabrics were felted and not woven. Five years after Abraham parted from Lot, in 191 3, B. C, he refused to take anything from the King of Sodom, * from a thread even to a shoe latchet.' This is a pretty good indication that the loom and distaff 50 '^^^W^ fe were in use at that time; but it was p| probably several centuries before these \\ inventions of the plains reached the v^^j^ scattered tribes of the higher and colder countries. ** During all this time the skins of animals continued to form the clothing of the people. Herodotus says " I groaned aloud. ** What is it?" inquired the shoe- maker, anxiously. ^^ ** O, nothing," I answered, hastily. **Just a twinge; it's gone now." 51 A Something About Leather "Ah, yes, I understand," he said, thoughtfully rubbing his nose, and then speaking as if to himself: '* So long as the people will fool themselves by cramping their feet into ill-fitting ready-made shoes, what can we expect r" Then he sud- denly resumed his disquisition: ** Herod- otus says that the tribes of the Caspian Sea dressed themselves in sealskin, and Strabo speaks of the Massagetae wearmg fur clothing. In both Cssar and Lactan- tius frequent mention is made of the rein- deer clothing of the German tribes, and it was the custom of the classical authors to use the term * skin dressed,' as descrip- tive of the savage. ** We have no means of finding out any- thing about the preparation with which the skins were treated in order to secure their preservation ; but they must have been put through some process to prevent putrefac- tion. ** Among the North American Indians, 52 Something About Leather Greenlanders, and Icelanders, depila- tion -" ''What is that?" I interrupted. ''DepiJation? The removing of the hair. I was about to say that among those people depiktion by maceration in water is commonly practiced, and this was probably suggested to them originally by the natural process of the falling out of the hair of drowned animals." '' I have somewhere read that leather carpets are in use in the East," said I. '' Yes, leather carpets for tents are used to-day among the Arabs, and their use has been common in Eastern countries since the time of Moses. Colored leather was well known in the days when Biblical history was written, for Ezekiel speaks of fine red leather, which was probably similar to our modern red morocco. Ezekiel speaks also of the brilliant dresses and harness of the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, and all the Assyrians, and conveys an 53 Something About Leather excellent idea of the brilliant colors in use at the time he was prophesying the ruin of the two great kingdoms. Leather was also in use in the remotest ages by the Israelites as a material to write upon. Herodotus states " ** I beg your pardon ! " said I. ** — that the ancient lonians wrote their annals upon sheepskin," continued the old man without noticing my interruption, ** and Diodorus, of Sicily, mentions the same fact concerning the ancient Per- sians." ** What else did Herodotus state ? " I inquired, with the faintest suggestion of sarcasm. "Well, for example," answered the shoemaker, genially, ** he stated that the ancient Libyans dressed themselves in leather, and that the Ichthyophagists on the banks of the Araxes wore clothing made of sealskin, and that the wild inhab- itants of Geodrosia in the time of Alexan- 54 Something About Leather der covered their dwellings with leather and clothed themselves with the hides of animals. Also " '*Just a moment," said I, hastily. " Did Homer have anything to say about leather ? " *' Yes, he wrote in praise of the splen- did half boots of Agamemnon. Hesiod recommended the use of leather shoes, lined with fur. For centuries the Greeks, and especially the Phoenicians, used leather in the construction of their ships, as did also the ancient Germans and the original Britons." The old man paused and fell to rubbing his nose again. *' Now, I should like to know some- thing about tanning," I said, feeling that I had had enough of ancient history. '* A queer thing about that," said the shoemaker, *Ms that the processes of tan- ning in use to-day are very nearly the same as those employed centuries ago. Alum 55 Something About Leather tanning, oil tanning, and bark tanning were all familiar methods long before his- tory began. Sir Edwin Arnold found in a sarcophagus in India a pair of slippers which had evidently been tanned with alum, or some such astringent. The other articles that had been placed in the tomb with them had long since crumbled into dust, but the slippers were in a state of perfect preservation. Specimens of alum- tanned leather more than three thousand years old have been found in China in good preservation. Leather thongs which were originally shoe laces have been found in-the abodes of the old cliff dwellers of Arizona. In Genesis xxi, 14, we read that * Abraham gave unto Hagar a bottle of water.' The bottle there referred to was probably bark tanned, as only bark- tanned leather will hold water." ** Sealskin is a comparatively new leather, is it not ? " I inquired. ** In a way, yes. The ancients used 56 Something About Leather it, and in England it was sometimes used for shoes; but it was not employed in the manufacture of small articles until 1873 or 1874. Since that time it has been very popular. ** I think I have given you a fairly good idea of the early history of leather," con- tinued Mr. Schwarzwaelder, *^ but there are one or two curious anecdotes about the article itself which may interest you. Did you ever hear, for example, of the use of leather money ? ** In an extremely interesting papei, pub- lished bv the Rev. John Gunn, in 1849, entitled, * Proverbs, Adages, and Popular Superstitions, still preserved in the Parish of Irstead,' there are a number of interest- ing tales which were mostly taken down from the lips of a famous old washer- woman named Mrs. Lubbock. Among others is the following: * King John cleared the Crown of leather money. First he used it when there was not money 57 Something About Leather enough to carry on business with, and then he cried it down when he had got a supply of proper money. The people considered him rather silly, but he had sense enough to do that.' Mrs. Lubbock also said that she remembered when a child playing with King John's leather money. It was stamped like gingerbread and was cut out in the shape of gun- wadding. ** In Camden's Remainesy under an article on Money, is the following: * There also hath been stamped money of leather as appeareth by Seneca, who mentioned that there was in ancient time Corium forma publica percussum ; and also that Frederick the Second, when he besieged Millan, stamped leather for current, and there is a tradition that in the confused state of the Baron's Warre, the like was used in England, yet I never saw any of them.' ** In the Spanish army leather dollars 58 Something About Leather were used in the fifteenth century. These were usually silvered on each side to give them an appearance of value. It is sup- posed that the scarcity of silver made necessary the use of this curious money which the soldiers were forced to accept at a fictitious value." ** I have heard of paintings on leather," I remarked, ** do you know anything about that?" '* O, yes, certainly," he answered, and he went on: ** Among many of the curi- osties recently found in certain remote sec- tions of the British Islands is a small painting upon leather. The subject is * St. Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read.' The two figures are under a canopy which has been deeply embossed and richly gilt and sil- vered. The painting is not very good, but it is evidently of great antiquity. ** When the art of painting upon leather was first practiced history does not state, but it was undoubtedly common at a com- 59 Something About Leather paratively early period. The Sala de Justicia in the Alhambra is docorated with a number of elaborate paintings done upon heavy leather. In the drawing-room of a house called Crooke, near Chorley, in England, there was in the early part of the present century a curious set of painted leather hangings, which in appearance closely resembled tapestry. The subjects were from the history of Antony and Cleopatra, and the figures were almost as large as life. A well-meaning but ignor- ant caretaker unfortunately varnished the entire set, which caused the leather to curl up and split, and it was subsequently taken away." '*It is growing late and I must be going," I observed, as he concluded. ** Delighted to have seen you," said the old German. ** Drop in any time. I am sorry I cannot offer you any refreshment; but these shoe factories have taken all the profit out of my business." 60 Something About Leather Acting upon this hint I invited him around the corner, and we left his shop to- gether. 6i AS TO THE MAKING OF LEATHER THINGS AS TO THE MAKING OF LEATHER THINGS Of the hundreds of kinds of leather that have been made and tried during the last twenty-five or thirty years, comparatively few have been found which combine all the requirements necessary for their proper working into small leather articles. Some of the skins which have been tried have been found to wear badly and to become rough with use. Others lack the proper strength and crack where they are folded at the corners ; still others have so much oil in their original composition that no amount of skillful tanning and drying can get it out, but there is still a sufficient vari- ety of leathers, and all those which are now used by the best houses have stood the test of years. On the sixth floor of the Gorham Man- ufacturing Company's building, at the cor- 65 Something About Leather ner of Broadway and Nineteenth St., is their leather manufactory, and it is properly called a manufactory , because the work is all done by hand. One is surprised at the clever way in which pocketbooks and card-cases and bags are put together, and asks oneself involuntarily ** how else could it be done ? " The strange thing about it all is that machinery is so little used, and the stranger thing is the lack of division of labor. We have grown so accustomed to the trite phrase ** division of labor cheapens production," that we never imagine that a large concern like the Gorham Company allows any of its employees to do individ- ual work. The trend of the nineteenth century has, in fact, been toward division of labor. We have grown to believe that a man who makes one motion of his hand or foot, and repeats it perhaps many hun- dreds of times in a day, becomes so accus- tomed to it that mistake is impossible, and that his work is done better and more 66 Something About Leather rapidly than if he had to think of different processes. Even in the making of what we are pleased to term artistic furniture, many- men, sometimes many hundreds of men, have the handling of a piece before it is com- plete, each making one motion, carving one flower, varnishing or polishing, as is his trade. The Gorham Company have seen that progress does not always lie forward ; that, in a rapidly moving age, we have skipped over and left out some advantages for the gaining of others which seemed more valuable, and the one thing which has been gained, after all, is time. There- fore, it is a surprise to see many men working in a large, light room, each inter- ested in the finished product which he himself will turn out. All the responsibil- ity, from the cutting out to the final fitting of the silver or gold mountings, is upon the man who undertakes the production of a particular piece. He selects the skins, 67 Something About Leather places his pattern so that the leather will cut to the best advantage, and chooses the lining. He then takes the pieces to his own bench, where he uses his judgment as to the proper thinness to which they must be shaved. He works carefully and thoughtfully over the putting together of all the parts he has cut: the folding in of corners, the delicate tool-work around the edges, and the care- fill turning of a purse or pocketbook from the wrong side to the right. The only part of the work that is not done by hand is the stitching, and for this operation he hands the article to the woman in charge of the sewing machines, who matches the color with the proper silk, stitches them, and sends back the pieces ready for his finishing. This individuality of each workman gives him a pride in his work, and this is the reason that each piece made by the Gorham Company is as nearly perfect as possible. There is 68 Something About Leather nothing which could require more care or skill than the turning over and gluing of the edges of a delicate bit of leather. The least slip makes a stain which it would be impossible to remove. While the men are obliged to work slowly, and while the gross output is not nearly so large as it would be if the skins were cut by dies and machinery and handled by a number of men, the net value of the goods is much greater. 69 AS TO THE THINGS WHICH •ARE MADE '^'sc: \ Will ^^1. ,. AS TO THE THINGS WHICH ARE MADE It is quite marvelous to think how many- things can be made of a small piece of leather; how many things that one has never owned, never even seen, but which when known, seem absolutely essential. For instance, take the letter-book, made of elephant skin, rough and coarse and bark- like, but withal very beautiful in texture, trimmed with a corner of silvergilt orgold, sometimes absolutely plain, sometimes 73 Something About Leather with an Indian design which, strangely- enough, seems altogether appropriate to the skin itself. I say, strangely enough, because typical Indian designs are not in the least suggested by the markings of ele- phant skin. The same lines run through all East Indian decoration, and when put with the rough, deep brown skin they are in perfect harmony. But letter-books are not the only things that are made of ele- phant skin. There are card-cases for men, tiny little things with perhaps a plain gold corner, and lined with the thinnest brown calfskin, deep in color and in perfect harmony with the outside ; and there are card-cases for women, larger, of course, and sometimes with a bit of a watch, its little brown face and gold pointers peeping slyly out of the corner. Then, too, these same things are made of lizard skin, the small scaled, shining little chaps from Brazil; sometimes in the natural gray and white, beautifully mottled, sometimes 74 Something About Leather dyed to a deep purple, which just permits the mottling of the original skin to show forth under the color. These are usually mounted in simple silver, just as you would imagine the lizard himself would want to be mounted if he knew about it. The skin is thinner, very much thinner, than that of the elephant, even when that is cut down to the very outside, because, of course, elephant skin is so deeply marked that some parts of it must still be thick. Therefore pocketbooks and combination- books (a card-case and a pocketbook together) are made of lizard skin. Little stamp pads, with oil-paper leaves .to keep the stamps from sticking, are also made of the same material, because the bulk of the skin itself is almost nothing. All that is true of the Brazilian lizard is true of the Java lizard. The animal himself is gener- ally larger, sometimes being as much as three or four feet long, and the scales do not overlap, but are of a diamond shape 75 Something About Leather and very firm in texture. The skin is harder and wears well, and while it is used for all the things that the other leathers are, its greater strength makes it useful for chatelaine bags also. The color is a perfectly plain deep gray ; but it is dyed in beautiful greens and blacks as well. The mountings of the Java lizard pieces are generally silver, sometimes of the simplest and sometimes of complicated designs, but each mounting is chosen to harmonize exactly with the leather it is to adorn. To examine these things suggests looking at a well-dressed woman; one could never tell any of the details of her dress, but it is very certain that nothing is lacking. In the old days, before so much was known about the finishing of leather as is known to-day, pigskin was rough and harsh and made excellent saddles, but it was never used for anything else. It is still made into saddles, but leather workers 76 have learned how to treat it so that the exquisite grain comes out in all its softness in the new leather as it always did in saddles after they had been much used; and now belts also are made of pigskin, with a great, strong, bold buckle. They make belts of calfskin too, smooth and black or white and creamy; and then there are belts of morocco — another leather that used to be made into saddles before the Christian era, and which was stained then, as it is to-day, into the deepest reds and the most brilliant greens and blues that any leather has ever been stained. 11 Something About Leather Morocco has always been famous as a binding for books, and crushed morocco oi crushed levant, which is much the same thing, has been known for centuries. In binding a book in crushed levant, the leather is put on first and then every por- tion of the surface carefully rubbed with an iron weight until the grain has been crushed back and the surface is as smooth as glass; but now they have learned to crush levant before it is made up, and while the skin is still flat, crush it even more beautifully than it was ever crushed by hand. Nothing is smoother, nothing softer to the touch, than a card-case or a pocketbook made of this crushed leather, with its dull, deep, strong coloring ; and mounted with a dainty bit of engraved sil- ver, also perfectly flat and smooth, it is one of the most admired pieces which the work of the last few months has enabled the Gorham Company to show. In marked contrast to these dainty, shiny 78 Something About Leather bits are the pocketbooks and bags made of monkeyskin or of sealskin, both rather re- sembling morocco in grain, but more deep- ly marked. The sealskin is generally black or brown, and almost everything which can be made in any leather is beautiful in this one. There is something solid and substantial about it; something which gives it a wearing quality, not only physically, but artistically. It is altogether appro- priate, either as a covering for a jewel box or a cigar case. The monkeyskin is stained many different colors, but perhaps the most pleasing is the natural grayish brown of the tanning. To carry contrast in texture still further, one comes to the *'horn back" alligator, of which such beautiful and durable traveling bags are made. The ** horn back " skins, contrary to usual belief, are not taken from a differ- ent kind of animal — for indeed alligators and crocodiles are much the same the world over — but from a different part of the ani- 79 Something About Leather mal. Until recently the back, which is much the most beautiful part of the skin, was discarded as unworkable, but since leather workers have learned how to handle it, it has become very much sought after. Things made of it are more expensive than those made of belly leather, because of the difficulty in working, but they are quite worth the difference. One feels the qual- ity of it at a glance. Some of the traveling bags that are made of this skin and those made of sealskin, or plain alligator as well, are most magnificently fitted with toilet articles. And just here a word about the things that are used as fittings. Usually the bag is made first and the fittings picked from a stock of toilet articles, a brush and comb here, a flask or powder-box there, a shaving set from somewhere else. Every- thing that is generally put into a traveling bag adds greatly to its weight, and by the time it is complete it is altogether too heavy for comfort, and there is hardly 80 room for anything besides the fittings. This is the reason that fitted bags have never been very popular in this country, and even in England, where they have long been used, they are often too bulky and cumbersome for comfort. The Gorham Company goes about the fitting of its bags in quite a different way. Everything, from the scissors to the soap-box, is especially made with a view to lightness and com- 8i Something About Leather pactness, and is designed, not only to fit into the bag, but to so combine with the other articles as to leave plenty of free space for such linen and other things as one wishes to carry. In other words, the thing is considered as a whole; no part is complete in itself, and yet every piece is altogether simple and beautiful. Of course many bags are made without fittings, from the tiny crushed levant or morocco shopping bag, hardly more than a chatelaine, to the huge traveling case, capable of carrying all that a man could want on a long trip, but the quality of the wormanship is always the same. The shopping bag itself is a thing of beauty, altogether dainty, yet so made of one piece of soft leather that it seems never to be quite full. It is long and slender, and its jaws open very wide so that the inside, which is lined with heavy silk, can be got at with no difficulty, even when the bag itself is quite full. 82 There is an almost endless number of little things made of leather, the little things which, after all, go to make up the perfection of one's way of living. Calen- dars with leather mountings, engagement books covered with some quaint piece of old Italian gilded and decorated calfskin, writing-books of simple crinkled English morocco, or of heavily marked alligator skin with great silver corners altogether in keeping, and desk pads on which the 83 Something About Leather leather does not show, but which have daintily engraved corners to hold the blotters. Nowadays men come in for a good deal of attention. It is no longer necessary that a physician go looking about for a bit of paper on which to write his prescrip- tion, when a book ot blanks with a seal- skin cover and a silver pencil is to be had. There is a golf-score properly ruled and printed, which is covered with thin leather like the doctor's book, and there are flasks innumerable, some curved to fit the pocket, some bolder, shaped like a canteen and covered with sealskin or pigskin or ele- phant hide, and with a strap to throw over one's shoulder ; and not the least con- venient of the things for men is the shaving mirror made in two sections joined at the back, with a round plain glass in one and a magnifying glass in another, and the clasp that holds them together cunningly contrived to hang the open mirror from a 84 Something About Leather hook. As a companion to the shaving mirror there is a bit of a jewel case for men, a little box that has slides to hold collar buttons and a compartment for pins and studs, and other trifles for which a man can never find a place in his traveling bag. In these days of out-of-door sports the bicyclist and the horseman have not been forgotten by the leather workers, for a clock case to fit on a saddle or on the handle bars of a bicycle, with a small purse attached, adds greatly to the comfort of a rider on the road. It is not fitting that such things as this should be made of a delicate leather, and so they are of calfskin, strongly sewed, and are altogether ap- propriate to their purpose. There are cigarette cases and cigar cases innumerable, and tobacco pouches for those who ap- preciate the glories of an old brier. The church has its share too, and some of the most delightful pieces which the Gor- ham Company have made have been silver- 85 Something About Leather mounted prayer books and hymnals; some- times with a metallic frame, beautifully enameled, sometimes ''all that there is of the most simple .in the world." They have engraved the certificate of marriage and left places for interesting facts and autographs connected with the ceremony, and gathered the pages together in a white or scarlet leather portfolio, quite simple and severe, with a solid, heavy corner; and another book has been engraved as a record of the autographs of visitors at one's house. One of the most famous of all leathers, and one which has been used since the early part of this century in the making of the finest of small leather articles, is Rus- sian leather, so called from the fact that for many years the Russians were the only tanners who understood its manufacture. Although it is now made in many coun- tries, and very largely in the United States, the Russians are still the only ones who 86 are able to make the leather permanently retain that fragrance for which it is so famous. This is done by soaking the skin in oil of birch, and it is said that in some Russian tanneries the skins are buried for long periods that their absorp- tion of the odor may be absolute. The Gorham Company, while using all the leathers which experience and experi- ment during the last twenty-five years have shown to be the best, by no means discard this old standard of quality, but they use only that which is made by the best Russian tanneries. Out o{ this 87 Something About Leather leather are made pocket-books and letter- books and dainty covers for memorandum pads, in fact almost all small articles ; and, as all things which stand the test of time periodically come into favor again, so Russian leather is being used more just at present than it has been for many years. In a way allied to the making of leather things is the making of small articles from other fabrics. Dainty purses mounted in silver-gilt or gold and with the tiniest gold chains are made of heavy corded silk. Card-cases in striking colors especiallv made ot material furnished to correspond with some costume are very beautiful. Each piece is made bv one of the leather-workers who so well under- stand the way such things should be put together and fastened, and who know the capabilities of each material. Among the most attractive of the things made of other fabrics than leather are the shop- ping-bags with an extension top knitted Something About Leather from heavy silk, beautifully beaded and very strong. These bags are made en- tirely in one piece and the beading is put on as they are knitted ; they have all been made by one woman, and there are not a great many of them, but each piece is different from the others, and so the variety of patterns is considerable. Just a word about the pictures. Some are put where they might be expected — near the text which they illustrate — and some are not. But such pictures appeal to me as decoratio?is so much more deeply than as mere illustrations that I could not bring myself to throw them all together at the end of the book. It must not be supposed that in a sketch like this, one can do justice to all the work which the Gorham Company are doing in leather. It has been the idea of the writer merely to mention some of the more important pieces, and to outline briefly the history and progress of the 89 Something About Leather manufacture of leather in general ; suffice it to say that anything which can be made in leather can be made by the Gorham Company, and that whatever the leather or whatever the mounting, the workman- ship will be of the best. There are no ** second'].' 90 The printing of this little book was done at the Winthrop Press in New York, during September MDCCCXCVII, under the di- rection of H. Ingalls Kimball ^^ iti J^^<\^ W^' k ' .^r"N ^ ya- M lJ< M