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LIVES FOR LEAVES. 165
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Tiiiske Are, Perhaps, Few Subjects Conce...
we have grapes of black and crimson , so have we improvements in the shape of green flowers , and numerous other devices . Though
generally considered very beautiful , this color is unfortunately rather inexpensive ; and as green devices are likely to become fashionable
once more , it seems very desirable that its injurious effects upon the health of the worker , and sometimes upon that of the wearershould
, be properly understood . Previous to the irruption of French and Italian enterprisers who
, on establishing preparation houses , monopolised the leaf-making , flower-makers generally manufactured their own leaves . The latter
has now for some time been learned as a distinct branch of the trade , so that the artificial florist has little else to do than make up—a
task to which the leaf-hand , in her turn , is inadequate . If this arrangement has its advantages , it has also been attended
with some deplorable results . The making of green leaves , a deadly task , was formerly divided among a much larger number of persons .,
and long-continued operation on the dreaded material was thus rendered unnecessary . Indeed , it was formerly considered
impossible to continue on green more than a fortnight ; an idea which has been disproved by leaf-workers in some of these French houses ,
owing chiefly , no doubt , to the extraordinary precautions which are used .
Still , health and life have been sacrificed—this we know , though none can gauge the true amount of suffering * and sorrow thus
occasioned , "but Ho " in whose hand our breath is , and whose axe all our ways . "
The question has arisen—" What is emerald green ¥ ' and in answer to this inquiry , I shall quote the testimony of a medical
gentleman , on the occasion of an inquest on the body of a female who had " died from the deadly effects of poison imbibed into the
system , during her engagement in the manufacture of artificial flower leaves . " *'
* Death or an _Artificial Fx . orist from Poison . —Yesterday an inquiry
was de touching r held ived b the y lif Mr e death b . Brent th of e deadl , Matilda at the Silver fects Scheurer of Cup , i , ni o C neteen romer imbibed S y treet ears into , the G f age s ' s stem , I who nn dur Hoad was in _, py y yg
her engagement in the manufacture of artificial flower leaves . Mrs . Louisa . Sclieurer the death , a of wi her dow , daug mot hter her o on f the Wednesday deceased , morning deposed - last that . sh On e was the present previous at
Thursday and intense her thirst daug . hter She "was was taken seized ill , with and vomiting complained , and of a pain refuse in the of side the following stomach was morning of a , who greenish told her color she . Witness was again took suffering her to from a doctor the eff on ects the of
t poison he stomach . She and had sickness been ill for several the last times year before and a , an hal d f . She plained was engaged of pains as in , Brunswick an artificial Square florist and in the to warehouse the time of of her M death . Bergerond she had , of been Judd { Street loyed ,
in leaf-making . The , leaves up were made of wax , and , while wet , emp emerald green powder was sprinkled upon them . She was in the greatest pain until
she became insensible , when death put an end to her sufferings . Witness
Lives For Leaves. 165
LIVES FOR LEAVES . 165
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1862, page 165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051862/page/21/
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