Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1871 — To Prepare Lambskins for Ladies’ Overcoats. [ARTICLE]

To Prepare Lambskins for Ladies’ Overcoats.

A correspondent of the New York Tribune gives the following process for preparing lambskins for clothing materials: “ Make a strong suds with hot water; let it get cold, and wash the skins, squeezing them carefully to get out all the dirt from the wool; wash the soap out with clean, cold water, and cover them with water for twelve hours; then hang them over a pole to drain; when partially dry, stretch them carefully on a board, and when a little damp, sprinkle on .them an ounce each of pulverized saltpetre and alum; lay the flesh sides together, and hang in the shade for two or three days, turning them over every day to bring the under skin uppermost, till they are perfectly drv; then scrape the flesh sides. till 41 scraps of flesh are removed ; rub it with pumice or rotten stone, and with the hands; then lay the cloak pattern down on the flesh side of the skin, trace it round with a pencil, and cut it out with a sharp knife; overcast the edges together on the wrong side, and line with quilted silk. . No collar, fur, or trimming is w<sm with an astrachan or lambskin cloak.” Cotswold, Leicester, and other long-wool pelts, prepared in this way, and lined and trimmed with some bright material, will be found comfortable, and quite useful in almost every household. I ’ A correspondent of the Abingdon, DI., Democrat, writing from Knoxville, relates the peculiar death of a miser residing in the latter place who was reputed worth $20,000. “He had a nephew,” says the correspondent, “a very worthy young man, who was going out West to seek his fortune. A few days before he was ready to leave, he went to his old uncle to sell him some notes of hand which he held. The old miser would not 1 touch them, but said, ‘ You have always been a good boy,, only a little- too extravagant; I will make you a little present before you leave.’ He drew a check on the bank for five dollars, as he supposed, but, owing to his bad eyesight and worse penmanship, it proved to be five hundred dollars. This unaccountable act of benevolence soon became noised about town, and, of course, soon came to the ears of the miser. He rushed to the bank, and, under much excitement, asked one of the bank officials w hat the amount Of the check he had given his nephew was. ‘Five hundred dollars,’ said the clerk. ‘What?’ said the miser. ‘Five hundred dollars,’ said the clerk, producing the check. After reading, and trembling in every muscle, he gave one long-drawn sigh, and exclaimed, ‘My God! I am a ruined-man,’ then sank down and died.”