in an infinitely more rapid manner by machine, and with resulting
seams that are more regular and strong than those made by the hand
sewer. The overseam sewers earn large wages, and their places are much
coveted. Overlapping seams are produced on the pique machine, which is
a most ingenious mechanism. The essential feature of this machine is a
long steel finger with a shuttle and bobbin working within, and the
finger of the glove is drawn upon this steel finger, permitting the
seam to be sewn through and through. The visitor to the factory can
see also the minor operations of embroidering, lining--in finished
gloves--sewing the facing, sewing the buttonholes, putting on the
buttons, and trimming with various kinds of thread. Before the gloves
are ready for the boxes one more operation remains. The gloves are
somewhat unsightly as they come from the sewers' hands, and must be
made trim and neat. To secure these desirable results the gloves are
taken to the "laying-off" room.

In this are long tables with a long row of brass hands projecting at
an acute angle. These are filled with steam and are too hot to touch.
These steam tables by ingenious devices are so arranged that it is
impossible to burn the glove or stiffen the leather by too much heat,
a common defect in ordinary methods. The operation of the "laying-off"
room is finished with surprising quickness. Before each table stands
an operator, who slips a glove over each frame, draws it down to
shape, and after a moment's exposure to the warmth removes it, smooth,
shapely, and ready for the box. The frames upon which the gloves are
drawn are long and narrow for fine gloves and short and stubby for
common ones. Then the glove is taken to the stock room, where there
are endless shelves and bins to testify to the chief drawback to glove
making, the necessity for innumerable patterns.--_The Mercer._