There was willow calf--a fine, soft, chrome-tanned leather which,
the foreman told him, was put into the best quality of men's and women's
shoes; box calf--a high grade, storm-proof leather, chrome tanned and
dull finished; chrome calf--finished in tan color, and with a fine,
smooth grain; boarded calf--tanned either in chrome or quebracho; wax
calf--finished by polishing the flesh side until it took a hard, waxy
surface; mat calf that was dull in finish; storm calf, oiled for winter
wear; and French calf, which, like wax calf, was finished on the flesh
side.

"How in the world could any one think of so many different things to do
to the skin of a calf?" ejaculated Peter.

His head fairly ached with the information poured into it by the
zealous foreman who, by the way, was an Englishman named Stuart.

"In time you'll sort out all I have told you," Stuart answered
encouragingly, observing Peter's despair. "It is simple enough when you
once understand the different finishing processes. First the leather is
rolled by machinery until it is pliable enough for the finishers to work
on. Then it goes through a 'putting out' process; by that I mean that it
is laid out on benches where it is stretched and flattened by being
smoothed with a piece of hard rubber; next the edges are trimmed off and
the odd bits sold; some of these go to hardware dealers who use them for
washers or for the thousand and one purposes that leather is needed for
in making tools."

"More economy!" put in Peter.

"Yes, I guess you have learned already that we do not waste much here,"
grinned Stuart.

Peter nodded.

"Afterward," Stuart continued, "follow the many methods for getting
certain varieties of finish on the leather. Here, for instance, you will
see men graining tan stock by working it by hand into tiny wrinkles;
they use heavy pieces of cork with which they knead the material until
the leather is checked in minute squares. It looks like an easy thing
to do, but it isn't. It requires skilled workmen in order to get
satisfactory results. Over here," and he beckoned to Peter, "men are
making 'boarded calf' by beating and pounding it as you see, that they
may get fine, soft stock. Here still others are glassing the leather and
giving it a smooth surface by rubbing it with a heavy piece of glass."

"And what are those fellows over by the wall doing?" inquired Peter,
pointing to a group of workmen who, with right leg naked, were standing
in a