DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1367#0065
6o
RECOLLECTIONS OF
where they haye assembled a variety of handicrafts, which
are mostly unknown to the public, although their -results are
in common use.
-There we find the Bayeux lace-makers, who seem to
play with bobbins over a velvet cushion, on which is placed
their work, whilst they keep marking out the pattern by
means of pins; artificial flower-makers, stamping, gum-
ming, and mounting their gauzy materials ; fan-makers, paint-
ing their leaves, and joining them to the sticks ; comb-makers
baking the shell until it has required the necessary softness
to be brought into shape ; pipe-makers carving the meerschaum
and fixing it on the amber mouth-piece ; leaden sculptors who
beat out the metal, and finish the ornaments with wooden
chisels ; diamond-cutters who grind and polish the precious
bauble ; and copper-engravers who, bent on their plate with
a magnifying glass in their eye, seem to bestow much pains
on producing an impression, which in another part of the
gallery is accomplished in an instant, by means of electricity.
The most attractive stall, however, is that of Mr. Haas, a
hatter of Aix, which is constantly beset by a crowd of curious
spectators.
There is a story told of a Yorkshire manufactuier, who,
having some friends on a visit, showed them at breakfast time
a sheep quietly grazing in a paddock, and offered them on
the same evening at dinner a leg of the animal, whilst he
wore a coat made of its wool, which had been shorn, washed,
carded, spun, dyed, woven, and made into a garment within
a few hours.
Mr. Haas does rather more. You give him a rabbit, and
an hour after he returns you a felt hat. Had he completed
RECOLLECTIONS OF
where they haye assembled a variety of handicrafts, which
are mostly unknown to the public, although their -results are
in common use.
-There we find the Bayeux lace-makers, who seem to
play with bobbins over a velvet cushion, on which is placed
their work, whilst they keep marking out the pattern by
means of pins; artificial flower-makers, stamping, gum-
ming, and mounting their gauzy materials ; fan-makers, paint-
ing their leaves, and joining them to the sticks ; comb-makers
baking the shell until it has required the necessary softness
to be brought into shape ; pipe-makers carving the meerschaum
and fixing it on the amber mouth-piece ; leaden sculptors who
beat out the metal, and finish the ornaments with wooden
chisels ; diamond-cutters who grind and polish the precious
bauble ; and copper-engravers who, bent on their plate with
a magnifying glass in their eye, seem to bestow much pains
on producing an impression, which in another part of the
gallery is accomplished in an instant, by means of electricity.
The most attractive stall, however, is that of Mr. Haas, a
hatter of Aix, which is constantly beset by a crowd of curious
spectators.
There is a story told of a Yorkshire manufactuier, who,
having some friends on a visit, showed them at breakfast time
a sheep quietly grazing in a paddock, and offered them on
the same evening at dinner a leg of the animal, whilst he
wore a coat made of its wool, which had been shorn, washed,
carded, spun, dyed, woven, and made into a garment within
a few hours.
Mr. Haas does rather more. You give him a rabbit, and
an hour after he returns you a felt hat. Had he completed