Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1885 — The Art of Oiling Shoes. [ARTICLE]

The Art of Oiling Shoes.

A one-armed bootblack having taken the contract to oil the shoes of a reporter, after the preliminary brushing began rubbing the leather with a wet cloth. When asked what it was for, he explained: “When I began this business,” said the operator, pausing a moment to cast an admiring glance at the high, aristocratic arch of the newsgatherer’s instep, “I used to keep on rubbing the oil into the leather until a man told me to stop. I thought they’d know when they had enough, and I wanted to give satisfaction. Some of my customers complained that the oil soaked through their boots and saturated their socks. I thought perhaps I had been putting on too much oil, but the same fault was found in several cases where I had been more careful. Finally an old shoemaker whom I knew came along, and I asked him what I ought to do to save my trade. He told me never to oil a shoe until I had wet it first. The reason was that the water would penetrate the leather, and, remaining there, keep the oil from soaking through. Besides the water would soften the leather and open it so that the oil would do the leather more good. My trade has prospered ever since. “I was oiling a man up one day and he asked me the same question yo;u did. When I explained the reason, he said that was on the same principle as that of painting kerosene oil barrels. T told him I thought they were painted blue just to look nice. He said it was to prevent the barrels from leaking. During a long voyage or a long journey bv rail, sometimes half a barrel of oil would leak through the pores of the wood and evaporate. So some sharp fellow began to study some way of preventing such loss. He first painted the barrel blue on the outside and then filled it with water and allowed it to stand until it soaked up all it would. Then the oil was put in. The water kept the oil from soaking in the wood, and the paint on the outside kept the water from coming out. He got a patent on his discovery; and now he sits in his office and draws his royalty of one cent on every barrel made to hold kerosene oil for shipment. He’s got a mighty soft thing on oil barrels.”— New York Mail. ,>• M > •’ •■■4. ./ : i * He-yas informed that a lady called tospe*hinrin his absence. “A latlji” he mused aloud'; *a lady.” Upon*an jftgfeuyafe , defigrjptjpn .lie -suddenly Uh, dot vas no lady; dot vas myvife.*