Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1894 — Sews On Buttons for a Living. [ARTICLE]

Sews On Buttons for a Living.

“Speaking about odd ways of making a living,” sild a lawyer, “lean tell you a new one, and it is followed by a man who says he does fairly well. He goes from office to office all over the city and does nothing but sew on buttons for men of all kinds, bachelors and boys and married men, too. It’s a nickel a button, and he generally furnishes the button, though in most cases he says the men have the buttons with them. As he enters an office his usual salutation is, ‘Buttons, buttons, any buttons off,’ and on either coat, vest or trousers every man is pretty sure to find a button off or nearly ready to come off. The genius carries his pockets full of buttons of every kind and class, and he seldom fails to match. His waxed threads, needles and scissors are ready at hand, and a man need not miss five minutes from his duties to be nicely repaired as far as buttons are concerned. The shrewd button sewer is not very communicative, but it’s a bad day when he fails to sew on twenty buttons. In one office, at least, where six or eight are employed, I saw him gather 40 cents in a half hour. And a girl paid him 10 cents of that amount if he would stitch two loose buttons on her jacket and hnake them firm.’ ” Cincinnati Tribune.