“I should say so,” Peter answered. “Why, it almost seems as if they must have been track sprinters all their lives. They must be well paid.”
“What they earn depends on how fast they work,” Stuart said. “All this finishing is piece work. The more a man can do in an hour the higher he is paid. Almost all these fellows are skilled workmen who have been at just this task for a long time. They do it rapidly and well, and receive good wages.”
Stuart walked on and Peter followed.
“Here is a machine that makes gun-metal finished leather for the uppers of black shoes; the leather is, as you see, put through a series of rollers where it is blacked, oiled, and ironed, and comes out with that dull surface.”
“Are all these different kinds of leather really made from calfskins?” asked Peter at last.
“Practically so—yes,” replied Stuart. “Upper or dressed leather is made from large calfskins or else from kips. Kips, you know, are the skins of under-sized cows, oxen, horses, buffalo, walrus, and other such animals. These are tanned and sorted out in the beamhouse when wet. The thick ones are usually split thin by machinery and the two parts are finished separately. The part of the leather where the hair grew is the more valuable and is called the grain; the other part which was next to the animal is called the split. Remember those two terms—the grain and the split.”
“I’ll try my best,” said Peter with a doubtful shake of his head. “I am dreadfully afraid, though, that I shall forget some of the things you have told me to-day.”
“I don’t expect you to remember all I’ve told you, Strong,” laughed Stuart, good-naturedly. “Why, you would not be a human, breathing boy if you did. It has taken me a long time to learn the facts that I have been telling you. But do remember about the grain and the split; and while you are remembering that, try also to remember that a rough split is the cheapest leather made. Some heavy hides are split two, four, and even six times and are then sold. You can see this sort of leather up-stairs in the shipping-room of the other factory, and if I were you I would take the trouble to go up there some time and look at it. You may be interested, too, to know——”
But what the interesting item was Peter never found out.
A boy, breathless from running, came rushing into the room.