Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1875 — Tricks of Paris Cobblers. [ARTICLE]

Tricks of Paris Cobblers.

There is. a very considerable trade here in old boots and shoes. Indeed, I am informed that cast-off shoes and top-boots are not to be had in sufficient quantity for the “translators” and second-hand dealers. Of all wares for poor people the clothing for the feet is most easily prepared to cheat the eyes of the inexperienced. It is an easy matter to fill up the worn-out crevices or to blacken the defects. Even

when the boots or shoes are so worn out that no one will put a pair of them on liis feet they are still useful. The insoles are ripped out, the soles, or what is* left of them, are shaped into insoles for children’s shoes, and these are sold in bundles of two dozen or so at a time. The word “translation” is a slang expression which speaks for itself. It is to take a worn old pair of shoes or boots and, by repairing them, make them appear asjf left off'with hardly any wear, except/that they are slightly soiled. There are in the trade numerous other slang expressions which may properly be called sub-trade marks. “There are, for instance, “horses’ heads,” N ow, a horse’s head is the foot of a boot with sole and heel and part of a front, the back and remainder having been used for refooting. Then there are “ stand-bot-toms” and “lick-ups.” A “stand-bottom” is where the shoe appears to he only soiled, and a “ lick-up” is a boot or shoe relasted to take the wrinkles out, the edges of the soles having been rasped and squared, and then blackened up to hide blemishes, and the bottom covered with a “ smother.” There is another article called a “ flyer;” that is a shoe soled without having been welted, “ Stand-bottoms” are gotten up in a very villainous way. “ You have” —said the workman with whom I was conversing—“you have seen a broken upper leather. Well, we place a piece of leather Underneath the- broken part, on which we set a few stitches through and through. When dry’ we take what is called a ‘ soft heel-ball’ and ‘smother’ it over so that it would sometimes almost deceive a tanner, it appears so like the upper leather.” With regard to the bottoms, the worn part of the soles is opened from the edge, a piece of leather is made to fit exactly into the hole or worn part. It is then nailed and filed until level; paste is applied; a “ smother” put on the part, and thus the dust of the road imitated. This ” smother” plays a very important part in tlie “ translation” of old stogies. Tlie “ smother” is obtained from tlie dust of the room. It is placed in a-stocking, tied at both ends, aud then shaken through, just as a lady applies a powder-puff. The profit at this business is very good. The proprietor of the place makes a good profit after paying his journeymen fair wages. Very singularly, the master “ translator” compels all his workmen to lodge in the shop. Unless the shoemaker consents to lodge there he will not be employed. The “boss” charges him a good price for his bed; but a man can sleep elsewhere, provided he pays his lodging to the master all tlie same. These lodging-places are said to be very disgusting—sometimes in such a filthy’ and revolting state as to demand the attention of the police. The room is never cleaned out, the furniture never repaired, the linen on the beds seldom changed. “In many houses,” said my informant, “there is"a system of sub-letting among the journeymen. In one room lodged a man and liis wife (a laundress lodged there), four children and two single young men. The rats scamper over the beds, which lie huddled together, in the nighttime. "-L-Paris Cor. _V. Y. Times.