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LIVES FOR LEAVES. 235
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.
Pabt Ii. Having Adverted To Cases Of Suf...
"Well , here they are—forty of tliem . Theroorn is large enough to admit of their sitting" convenientlybut , being * seatedit is not so
, , convenient to rise and move hither and thither . Such an _ajDartment is close enough at any time of the year , and under any
circumstances , with such a number of breathing beings as occupants . But what if we tell that through the long summer day the
windows may never be opened ? This precaution is necessary to prevent the fluff ( powder ) from being blown into the eyes : the
faintest breath would raise a cloud , and should the powder be actually blown into the eye , inflammation and , _j _> _erhaps , blindness
might result . Some have used preservers , but the fluff , accumulating on the glassdimmed the vision ; and these were not found
, to answer . I do not say that this rule is never infringed— -on some closesultry daywhen the breeze seems too faint to lift even
a particle of , dust , a sash , may , perhaps , be raised without risk , but I say that the contrary is the rule .
But must not the workers themselves breathe on the powder at times ? soine may inquire . The thought occurs naturally , but
I have not finished my picture . Unlike the flower-maker , whose task is temporary , the leaf-maker
is compelled to use great precaution . The head is enveloped in towels . One of these is drawn from behind and brought over the
forehead , so as to protect the eyebrows and eyelashes , ( one effect of the powder being * to cause the hair to fall off . ) This towel is
pinned behind the neck , the other part falling on the back , shielding the upper part of the clothing . A second towel is folded
and twisted in a peculiar manner , so as to lie closely below the eyes— -a sort of knot pressing on either side of the nose to prevent
any accumulation . This cloth is passed behind , and pinned like the former . A third is plaited in two or three folds in the middle , where it
Is pinned to the second above the nose . It is then carried behind and fastened like the other . This last towel falls in the front ; and
thus the head , face , neck , and shoulders are protected . Some have their arms and hands also bandagedbut the dust lodges
, about the nails , which sometimes become loose and fall off . And now it will be perceived that the worker does not breathe upon
the fluff . But it may be asked in amazement , "Is it possible people really
sit muffled in all these cloths in an apartment with closed windows , and that in the warm weather ? can it be endured ? " — -It is endured .
Nor is this all . Before each of these forty women is a burner with eight or nine jets of _g-as . These are required to keep the
wax-pot , in which the leaves are dipped before sprinkling , constantly simmering" .
Under such circumstances , then , we find the leaf-hand at work , and we have only to imagine the room to be " all of a smoke" with
arsenical There is powder a constant , to gain demand a tolerabl for water y correct : the burden ea of the of scene the general . s 2
Lives For Leaves. 235
LIVES FOR LEAVES . 235
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1862, page 235, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061862/page/19/
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