Dyer

“ While philosophers assert that they have succeeded in producing white light by the combination of lights of the [162] various colors, for which combination, however, they give no formula, no dyer with the greatest patience and with the most subtile proportioning of dyestuffs, giving pure reproductions of the primary colors as seen in the spectrum or image of the broken sunbeam, can ever be able to produce anything of a color approaching white. But every dyer knows how to produce white by bleaching, that is, by the destruction of all color. ”

“ His tone was low, penetrating, agreeable. Let us describe Mr. Dyer. It is the countenance that indicates the man. Chin, mouth, nostrils, eyes, forehead,—on these each one writes his character, though he tries never so hard to play the hypocrite. The lineaments of the face never lie. ”

“ There are, therefore, in regard to vegetables in particular, some things, the nature and properties of which it is absolutely necessary that the dyer should understand: for want of a knowledge of one of them, it is a fact that losses are very often sustained to a serious amount. It may seem surprising, but the author has not seen in any writer on dyeing or chemistry, a proper method of working the pastil or woad vat ”

“ Hence, however, it is very necessary that the dyer should have a competent knowledge of chemistry and drugs, that he may be able to judge of the goodness of the articles which he uses, and of the numerous and extraordinary combinations into which they enter. To chemistry, in particular, every able and scientific dyer must be largely indebted ”

“ If he leave no son, we abide lacking one, and if he leave two sons, we teach one of them the craft, and if he die, we teach his brother. This our craft is strictly ordered, and we know how to dye but blue and no other tint whatsoever.” Then said Abu Kir, “Know that I too am a dyer and wot how to dye all colours; and I would have thee take me into thy service on hire, and I will teach thee everything of my art, so thou mayst glory therein over all the company of dyers.” But the dyer answered, “We never admit a stranger into our craft.” ”

“ The art of dyeing is very imperfectly understood by those who profess it. A dyer possesses merely an imperfect art when he ought to command a perfect science. I know few, if any, trades so completely scientific, and so abounding with pleasing investigation. But there is not only the absence of this pleasure but absolute loss of money to the dyer in the composition of various dyes. ”

“ When he himself was upon his death-bed he greeted his old friend Colonel Dyer—he of the absent overcoat and over-shoes—with:
"Dyer, I'm almost gone. I am in the shadow of death. I am standing upon the very brink. I cannot see clearly, I cannot speak coherently, the film of death obstructs my sight. I know what this means. It is the end, but all is well with me. I have no fear. I have said and done things that would have been better left unsaid and undone, but I have never willfully wronged a man in my life. I have no concern for myself. I am concerned only for those I leave behind. ”

“ B. W. Procter (Barry Cornwall) happened to call soon after{105} and “met Miss Lamb in the passage, in a state of great alarm—she was whimpering, and could only utter, ‘Poor Mr. Dyer! poor Mr. Dyer!’ in tremulous tones. I went upstairs aghast, and found that the involuntary diver had been placed in bed, and that Miss Lamb had administered brandy and water as a well-established preventive against cold. Dyer, unaccustomed to anything stronger than the ‘crystal spring,’ was sitting upright in bed, perfectly delirious. ”

“ Nothing but practice will qualify you for this and all pattern dyeing: the way, and the only good way to obtain practice, is to work with all possible regularity. In the dyeing of fancy cloths in the clothing districts of Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, and other fine cloth manufactories, the manufacturers who dye their own cloths, as well as dyers of the greatest eminence, always number, measure, weigh, and time all the component parts of their various processes of dyeing. ”

“ The process of selecting the different grades or qualities follow, and it is necessary for the person performing this work to be familiar with the application of dyestuffs to feathers, to insure the dyer less trouble; as the different qualities all put in the bath together, and going through exactly the same process will come out different shades of color, will cause the dyer a great deal of trouble and labor getting them all an even color. When a batch of feathers are intended for white it will not be necessary to dry them first ”

“ Also there were innumerable insects and creeping things, notably centipedes up to a foot in length, whose bite would certainly result in several hours of excruciating agony which might even terminate in death, and small black ants which insinuated themselves between a man’s clothing and his skin and tormented him to the verge of madness. But these things troubled the men very little, for under Dyer’s tuition they soon learned how to protect themselves against the plagues ”

“ He will die, and I cannot help him,' moaned forth the poor Wren in accents of despair.
'My sweet one,' he murmured, 'do not grieve [18] so bitterly. Death were better far than life if separated from you; but, before I close my eyes for ever upon this world which the good God who loveth us hath created so beautiful, bring me just one spray of those little blue flowers.'
'I know them!' she eagerly cried; 'a cluster grew beneath our nest.'
'Yes,' he continued; 'and when I used to return home I could see them afar off, and would think, "Jenny is there, and their blue eyes are looking upon her." ”

“ But as his inclinations were always dishonest, he could not long confine himself to honesty and labour, but in a short space meeting with a young man in the neighbourhood, who was very uneasy in his circumstances, and on ill terms with ms friends, and very much disordered in his mind on account of the misfortunes under which he laboured, Dyer began immediately to cast eyes upon him as one who would make him a fit companion. ”

“ For some shades sulphate of copper is used; for others verdigris, saltpetre, and alum.
To dye to the pattern the preparations should be always of one given strength, and all solutions of mordants the same. The time of working the goods in the dye must be regulated by the fulness or lightness of the pattern; and the quantities of the various drugs, &c. used much or little accordingly, reserving patterns of processes, with the particulars of such processes noted down. In proportion to the number of these upon record, and with strict attention to the subject, a good pattern dyer is formed. ”

“ There are, it is admitted, exceptions to this, men of general information and knowledge being occasionally found in the various branches of dyeing, but they are so few, that it may be questioned, when compared with the great body employed in the art, whether they amount to one in a thousand. ”

“ In order more correctly to understand the theory and practice of dyeing, it is essential that the pupil should become acquainted with the nature of the substances upon which and with which he must necessarily operate. We shall not enter into the theories of light and of colours, as propounded by Sir Isaac Newton, as well as many illustrious chemists, who have already done so much for the art of dyeing, but shall simply refer to such writers as Ure, Bancroft, Berthollet, Brande, &c. ”

“ What should he do? He paused for a bit upon a slanting roof just to look around. Oh, the smuts, how they settled upon his feathers! he was obliged to preen himself, he felt so dirty; if his coat was a dingy brown, there was no occasion for its being dirty also! All at once, as he paused during the process of preening, he saw the very window right in front of him,—he recognised it by its cleanliness, such a contrast to the squalor around. Yes, there it was, the polished panes of glass glinting in the gleams of light that came now and then through the [75] murky atmosphere ”

“ They have it thereby in their power to effect a more gradual transition from one color or shade to the other. As the color becomes deeper, the longer the feather is immersed in the bath, it is plain that the dyer can easily produce upon one feather a complete graduated scale of shades. Each time, after a shade has been dyed to the required depth, the feathers are rinsed in cold water and some more dyestuff solution added to the bath. ”

“ Indeed, no pen can express the terror that filled the hearts of these brave and hardy men at the thought of being thus entombed in a living grave; they quailed not when meeting death face to face, but shrank in dread at the slowly advancing foe. ”

“ Pierrot and Jef stood waiting, the impulse to flee not having come to them. Men scrambled past them, but they stood dazed and terrified. Then a big brute of a fellow, his face distorted with the battle madness which sometimes turns a man into a fiend, came grunting and cursing up the bank, and finding the dogs in his path, thrust his bayonet wantonly through poor Jef’s heart. ”

“ For dyeing delicate colours, the water, which ought to be chosen for such purpose the purest and best, should {43} be heated with bran in a bag, when much of the contents of the water inimical to dyeing will rise to the top in the form of a scum, and should be taken off just before the water boils. Instead of bran, a little alum will answer the same purpose when it is not inimical to the colour intended to be dyed. ”

“ All greys, from the darkest to the lightest, are composed of black in varying proportions. They are of great use in dyeing, not only for their own colours, but {97} also when applied to other colours, which operation is called saddening or darkening. ”

“ At the same time he thinks it right to state, that he has not only consulted all the works mentioned above, but also Hellot, Macquer, &c. adopting all that appeared essential in these, and giving such additions as accord with the present improved state of chemistry and dyeing ”

“ By having the drugs made into decoctions before-hand, greys either in woollen, silk, or cotton, may be dyed at a heat not much above what the hand will bear; and in {149} a rotation of shades from light to dark, and varied, blue, red, yellow, brown, &c. with ease and with pleasure; so may, likewise, many stone-drabs, and other light brown drabs, as the mixture of yellow, fawn, and black, produces nut-browns, &c.
On dyeing silk of a PRUSSIAN-BLUE COLOUR.
The application of colours derived from the mineral kingdom to dyeing is one of the most striking modern improvements in our art. Mr. ”

“ Across her level, lush meadows the harsh-shod hosts of war have marched. Beside her peaceful waters the sons of God have spilled each other’s blood. Beneath her noble trees have raged the fires of human hate. ”

“ The whole body is made up of just such little cells as you see in Figure 4, and each cell is alive and has a certain work to perform. It is very important that we keep these cells from dying and that they perform the work for which they are intended, for if these cells die or fail to act, the body becomes sick or dies. ”

“ Th' o'erflowing wave—Enough—the plaint disdain.
⁠Seest thou yon fane? ev'n now incessant time
Sweeps her low mould'ring marbles to the dust; ⁠400
And Phœbus' temple, nodding with its woods,
Threatens huge ruin o'er the small rotund.
'Twas there, beneath a fig-tree's umbrage broad,
Th' astonish'd swains with rev'rend awe beheld
Thee, O Quirinus! and thy brother twin, ⁠405
Pressing the teat within a monster's grasp
Sportive, while oft the gaunt and rugged wolf
Turn'd her stretch'd neck, and form'd your tender limbs:
So taught of Jove, ev'n the fell savage fed
Your sacred infancies ”

“ They all gazed upon the sharp pinched features, now gradually settling into the calm repose of death. What in life was almost painful to look upon, with the touch of immortality became lovely; for the dead child's face bore the impress of an angel's smile, as though he had caught a glimpse of heaven's happiness whilst passing through the dark valley of the shadow of death.
Little Pollie clung to her mother, sobbing convulsively and hiding her face in her dress.
"Hush, my darling," soothed the widow; "poor Jimmy is now with God, free from all sorrow or pain. Think what his joy must be!" ”

“ With arms and trophies gleamed the field of Mars :
There to their daily sports the noble youth
Rushed emulous; to fling the pointed lance;
To vault the steed; or with the kindling wheel
In dusty whirlwinds sweep the trembling goal ”

“ The poor widowed bird caught the flowers as they were floating away on the breast of his lost love, and carried them to his now desolate home; but one little blossom, in tender pity for sweet Jenny Wren, detached itself from the others to linger still with the poor dead bird; and when the stream had carefully borne its precious burden to a shady nook, where she could rest, for ever freed from sorrow and pain, the flower was carried with her, and, taking root above the spot where she lay buried, put forth its blue blossoms in loving remembrance of that fond, faithful heart. ”

“ The sky was clear and blue, a light breeze tempered the warmth of the brilliant sunshine, and it was a joy just to be alive and out in the open. The boys had their hands full, for Romulus and Remus had never before enjoyed so much liberty, and they did not always answer promptly the recalling whistle. The world, this great, new world, seemed to hold so many sights and sounds and scents to interest a dog that their impulse was to keep going and searching and never turn back. ”

“ Prepare a handwarm bath with a little tartaric acid or acetic acid, to which some solution of eosine, rhodamine, azoeosine, safranine, coccine or ponceau 6 R. B. or ponceau R. R. Be particularly cautious in adding the dyestuff solutions gradually in small quantities, even by drops, to avoid over-dyeing, as by partly stripping of a too dark shade, a fine color can never be obtained, and the nature of the material demands that all unnecessary handling be avoided. After dyeing, rinse lightly, pass through starch and dry. The dyes with the ponceaus are faster than those with eosine or safranine. ”