“Tawing” is the name applied to the process by which the skins of lambs and kids are converted into soft leather by the action of alum. Of this kind of leather gloves are usually made. The _jet_ and _plungers_ used for immersing the hides in the tan, the _tongs_ and _hook_ for removing them, and the other implements, are easily understood as applied to the various processes here mentioned. [Illustration] THE SHOEMAKER. [Illustration: WORKSHOP.] The trade of the Shoemaker naturally follows that of the tanner, since leather is the material principally employed in making coverings for the feet; the tough hides of animals being used for the same purpose in countries where the art of tanning is either unknown or not practised. Scarcely any handicraft employment engages the attention of so many persons in this country as boot and shoe making. From the fashionable bootmaker to the poor cobbler, who crouches in a stall under a house in some narrow street, is a wide interval, and this interval is filled up by numerous grades. At Northampton boots and shoes are made on a very large scale for the London markets; they include chiefly the cheap varieties, but at some of the recent exhibitions of manufactures the Northampton bootmakers have exhibited specimens of workmanship which are considered to be quite equal to those of London or Paris. At Edenbridge, in Kent, and at other places, the strong coarse “hob-nailed” shoes are made, which are so much worn by waggoners and others. The London makers import from Paris very large quantities of boot fronts, which, when combined with other parts of English manufacture, constitute many of the “French boots” which now glisten in the windows. Notwithstanding the large number of persons employed in these avocations in England, and the abundant supply of leather, there is still a considerable import of boots and shoes from abroad, chiefly France. In the old statutes a Shoemaker is called a cordwainer, apparently a corruption of the French _cordonnier_, which means a worker of Cordova leather. The companies of Shoemakers in our ancient towns were incorporated under this name; and where some of these companies now exist, they are known by the same name. As a legal term, cordwainer is still used. The trade, as now followed in London and other principal places, is subdivided into about twenty branches. The following may be set down as the chief: the shoeman, or maker of the sole part of the shoe; the bootman, or maker of the sole part of the boot; and the boot closer, or joiner together of the leg, vamp, &c. The labour of these is especially directed to what is called the men’s line; whilst others make the ladies’ shoes or boots. There are many women, too, who get a livelihood by closing the shoe, while others again follow the various sorts of binding.