Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 February 1871 — Preservation of Boots and Shoes. [ARTICLE]

Preservation of Boots and Shoes.

Tub extreme heat in which most men and women expose boots and shoes during winter deprives leather of its vitality, rendering it liable to break and crack. When leather becomes so warm as to give oft the smell of leather, it is siiiged. Close rubber shoes also destroy the life of leather. All varnishes and all blacking containing the properties of varnish should be avoided. Shoe leather is greatly abused. Persons know nothing or care less about the kind of material used than about the - polish produced. Vitrol blacking is used until every particle of oil \n the leather is destroyed. To remedy this abuse the leather should ho washed once a month with warm water; and when about half dry, a coat of oil and tallow should be applied, and the boots set aside for a day or two. This will renew the elasticity and life of the leather, and when thus used the upper leather will seldom crack or break. —A cute Down-Easter thought he made a sharp bargain when he induced a j>oor Welshman, last summer, to pay Mm "the last $75 of his worldly wealth for five or sli acres of a worthless stouy hill in Munson, Maine. The bargain assumed an entirely different look a week or two ago, however, when Taffy opened tip a mag nifleent slate qiinrry and sold it for