d of that of a young goat. Our best real kidskin comes from a
certain part of France, where the climate seems to be just suited to
the young kids, there is plenty of the food that they like, and, what
is fully as important, they receive the best of care. It is said that
to produce the very finest kidskin, the kids are fed on nothing but
milk, are treated with the utmost gentleness, and are kept in coops or
pens carefully made so that there shall be nothing to scratch their
tender skins.

Glovemakers are always on the lookout for new kinds of material, and
when, not many years ago, there came from Arabia with a shipment of
Mocha coffee two bales of an unknown sort of skin, they were eager to
try it. It tanned well and made a glove that has been a favorite from
the first. The skin was found to come from a sheep living in Arabia,
Abyssinia, and near the headwaters of the river Nile. It was named
Mocha from the coffee with which it came, and Mocha it has been ever
since. The Suede glove has a surface much like that of the Mocha. Its
name came from "Swede," because the Swedes were the first to use the
skin with the outside in.

Most of our thinner "kid" gloves are made of lambskin; but dressing
the skins is now done so skillfully in this country that "homemade"
gloves are in many respects fully as good as the imported; indeed,
some judges declare that in shape and stitching certain grades are
better. When sheepskins and lambskins come to market from a distance,
they are salted. They have to be soaked in water, all bits of flesh
scraped off, and the hair removed, generally by the use of lime. After
another washing, they are put into alum and salt for a few minutes;
and after washing this off, they are dried, stretched, and then are
ready for the softening. Nothing has been found that will soften the
skins so perfectly as a mixture of flour, salt, and the yolk of
eggs--"custard," as the workmen call it. The custard and the skins
are tumbled together into a great iron drum which revolves till the
custard has been absorbed and the skins are soft and yielding. Now
they are stretched one way and another, and wet so thoroughly that
they lose all the alum and salt that may be left and also much of
the custard.

Now comes dyeing. The skin is laid upon a table, smooth side up, and
brushed over several times with the coloring matter; very lightly,
however, for if the coloring goes through the leather, the hands of
the customers may