Part 3

It was a mighty work which the restless energy of _Alibert_ had brought into execution in a land so difficult of access. On the summit of the mountain of Batougol, which now in the Russian maps of the country is designated by the name of “_Alibertsberg_” in honorable remembrance of the discoverer of the blacklead mine, _Alibert_ assembled all his working force and a little colony soon sprung up, which addressed itself zealously to the new mining operations.

The miners brought the blacklead to the surface in large blocks and the material thus obtained proclaimed at once, by its external purity and a beautiful silvery lustre, its excellent value and composition. The transport was attended with immense difficulties. The blocks of blacklead, carefully packed in wooden cases, had to traverse enormous tracts of country, across which not the least vestige of a road is to be found, upon the backs of reindeer to reach the nearest seaport, whence they were shipped to Europe, while other consignments of the blacklead were forwarded to the manufactory exclusively by land.

It may be conceived that _Alibert_ by this discovery drew even the attention of the Russian Government upon himself and was gratified by the kindest encouragement both on part of the Czar and the Governor of the province of Irkutsk, Count _Murawiew Amursky_. In the report concerning explorations in Siberia issued by the imperial Academy of Sciences the discoverer is mentioned particularly (page 33) and at the same time _Faber’s_ manufactory, the capital of which has facilitated and advanced this enterprise, is honorably spoken of.

The manufactory, thus in possession of so extensive a store of blacklead, the excellence of which both theory and practice place on a level with the Borrowdale lead, has produced pencils made with the Siberian lead ever since the year 1856. It was now no longer a question of attaining to the standard of the Cumberland pencils but rather of surpassing it.

The new material was worked partly in a natural state so as to enable connoisseurs to convince themselves of its excellent quality and partly artificially manufactured, which yielded as a result such a degree of evenness, purity and unchanging hardness as had never before been obtained, not even in the best Cumberland pencils. After the exertions of six years the manufactory is just now intending to enter the World’s market with its new productions.

* * * * *

Before we conclude our sketch we must stop to contemplate a bright spot in the internal history of the factory and remember the day on which it celebrated the completion of the hundredth year of its existence with a festival, to which the joyful feelings of a happy and contented population and the not less hearty than general participation therein from far and near, lent a peculiar solemnity.

The festival was celebrated by the proprietor of the manufactory =Johann Lothar Faber= and his brother =Johann Faber= together with their families and in the midst of the assembled factory hands male and female, as also of all masterworkmen employed for the manufactory and a large number of invited guests.

The 16^{th} September 1861 was the day fixed for the occasion, chiefly with the view of rendering the festival all the more impressive by a special celebration of divine service in the new church of the village, which had only been consecrated a fortnight before. Preparations of the most varied character occupied both the masters of the factory and their families for some time previously, in order to render this auspicious and happy event a thoroughly joyous festival for their workpeople and all that participated therein, and the remembrance of it no less pleasing than indelible.

Similar feelings however also actuated the workpeople, who exerted themselves with all their power to add to the splendor of the festival, and manifest their good feelings and gratitude in a touching and unexpected manner.

On the eve of the festive day the workmen in a body brought their master a torchlight procession, which, after passing through the whole of the gaily decorated premises, came to halt in the courtyard of Mr. _Faber’s_ house, whereupon the workmen’s singing club performed three partsongs composed expressly for the occasion.

A deputation of workmen consisting of men who had been longest in the factory then handed the master, together with an appropriate address made by their senior member, a handsome and tasteful album as a festive present from them, and a parchment roll on which were printed a dedication composed in verse, then the speech which a workman made in the most spirited manner previous to the presentation of the album, further the songs performed and a list of the names of all the workmen and women. This was certainly one of the most affecting moments and even those men, who had become grey in the service of the factory were unable to restrain their tears of emotion and gratitude.

_Lothar Faber_ in his reply dwelt particularly upon how he valued the proofs of love, attachment, gratitude and faithfulness shown to him as being not merely intended for himself alone but likewise for his whole house and more especially for his two brothers standing so faithfully by his side, and how he wished that these sentiments of the workpeople might ever spread among them and be manifested to him and his family for all time.

On the morning of the sixteenth of September all the workmen and women assembled at the house of _L. Faber_ in order to receive the festive present appointed for each person as also a commemoration medal coined expressly for this festival, having on the one side the arms of the family with the legend: “Founder: _Kaspar Faber_ † 1784; Successors: _A. W. Faber_ † 1819; _G. L. Faber_ † 1839; _J. L. Faber_”; and upon the Obverse the legend: “In remembrance of the Century Jubilee of the Leadpencil Manufactory of _A. W. Faber_ at Stein near Nürnberg.”

* * * * *

The festive clang of bells now summoned all present to the special divine service, which was destined to form a worthy commencement to the festival and all the factory hands arranged themselves in a stately procession, which, headed by the members of the _Faber_ family, moved towards the church in order there to give vent to the feelings of gratitude in a pious and christian manner. A sermon was preached, the text being taken from the 90^{th} Psalm, verses 16. 17 and at the conclusion of the service all the workpeople male and female assembled at eleven o’clock at the workmen’s dwellinghouses in the village of Stein built by _L. Faber_, from whence they started in a procession, headed by the band of the fourteenth regiment of infantry stationed at Nürnberg, for the park of _L. Faber_, one portion of which nearest the dwellinghouse had been specially arranged for the festival partly for the entertainment of the numerous guests and partly for various amusements of play and dance, and which, by its elegant decorations and appropriate mottoes, bearing upon the past and present of the Factory, made the most agreeable impression upon every one. Arrived upon the festive grounds the entire body of workpeople about four hundred in number partook of the dinner provided for them, the regimental band performing agreeable music the while. The repast concluded, _L. Faber_ mounted a tribune especially erected for this occasion and ornamented with lifesize busts of the departed ancestors, and in a short speech set before them the chief features of the history of the manufactory, impressing upon them, on the commencement of the second century of its existence, the value of that order and carefulness which are so indispensably necessary for the prosperous career of a large establishment in the requirements of our age, and concluding with a cheer for the existence and welfare of the Factory in which all joined vociferously.

* * * * *

The two youngest boys of the family, _Wilhelm_ the son of _L. Faber_ ten years and _Ernst_ the son of his brother _Johann_, seven years of age hereupon ascended the steps and while the former greeted his father with a poem in the name of the four surviving brothers and sisters of _L. Faber_, the latter presented him with a silver goblet also in their name as a souvenir of the festival.

* * * * *

By three o’clock the number of the guests had increased to nearly six hundred. They amused themselves with all sorts of games, to which the drawing of prizes lent an especial charm, and with dancing round the lofty maypole erected on the grass plot, or with wandering through the park, which was entirely thrown open, while the band charmed the ear with its performances. In the midst of this lively scene of rejoicing, which partook of the appearance of a national gathering, the Master of the Factory _L. Faber_, together with all others present were surprised in the most agreeable manner by the arrival of a gracious autographic missive from _His Majesty_ the King, which read as follows:

“On the 16^{th} inst. you celebrate, as I am given to understand the completion of the first Century of the existence of the manufactory founded by your ancestors and whose well earnt fame both at home and abroad redounds to the honor of Bavarian industry. It has likewise given me special pleasure to observe the care, with which you watch over the moral and temporal affairs of your workpeople. The festival which you are about to keep, affords me an opportunity of offering my best congratulations to you and the establishment conducted by you with so much success and at the same time of expressing the hope that the manufactory will be blest with continued prosperity.

With the sincerest good wishes

Hohenschwangau 14. September 1861.

Your affectionate King =Max.=

To Mr. _Johann Lothar Faber_ Manufacturer.”

With joyous emotion _L. Faber_ communicated this gracious mark of honour to all assembled, by reading it aloud from the tribune, concluding with a triple cheer for His Majesty King _Max_ in which every one joined with the greatest spirit.

He then gave the health of his two brothers, who so faithfully and energetically seconded his exertions, which was received with joyous acclamations echoing again and again from the vast assembly; then his fellowworkers for the manufactory outside its pale, as also all his business friends and especially the artists, who, by patronising his manufactures and appreciating their value for art had so materially contributed to the extension of his fame. _L. Faber_ thereupon recited a poem the fundamental idea of which was the motto of the manufactory:

“Truth, Respectability, Industry.”

This recital served as an introduction to the unveiling of an allegorical tableau executed by _Maar_ of Nürnberg representing partly the activity of the Factory, and mercantile enterprise, and partly an appropriate allusion to the Jubilee festival. Then a short address followed by the presentation of a congratulatory testimonial to _L. Faber_ on part of the authorities of the council of trade of Nürnberg was made, which elicited a cheer for the same. Then _Maar_ the artist made a speech upon the history of the lead pencil and its application to Art, thanking _L. Faber_ in the name of his colleagues for the cheer given them and concluding with a toast for the establishment.

A small brochure setting forth the contents of the Festival Album before mentioned and containing a capital piece of poetry composed by a relation of the _Faber_ family was then distributed among the guests.

A number of speeches and toasts were now made and given by the workmen themselves, who were fairly carried away by excitement, which one and all breathed a spirit of attachment and gratitude, and of which not a few, spite of their simple character, caused feelings of emotion. Performances of their singing clubs alternated with those of the band until as darkness drew near the illumination of the festive grounds and an extensive portion of the park presented a fresh tableau. Bengal lights illumined several of the more lovely points and a pyrotechnic display brought the festival to a conclusion at nine o’clock, when all the participators departed in the gayest spirits and with hearty wishes for the continued prosperity of the Manufactory.

The foregoing description of the Jubilee festival of _A. W. Faber’s_ Pencil manufactory may be appropriately closed with the mention off a transaction which was no less a gratification than an honor to the proprietor of the same:

On the morning of the eighth of October a deputation of the magistracy and representatives of the Commune of Nürnberg, consisting of the two Burgomasters, _von Wächter_ and _Seiler_ and the President of the College of the Commune, Dr. _Lindner_, proceeded to Stein in order to present _Johann Lothar Faber_ with the diploma of honorary citizenship of the City of Nürnberg, which reads as follows:

“The Magistrate and representatives of the Commune of the Royal Bavarian city of Nürnberg have conferred upon Mr. _Johann Lothar Faber_, proprietor of the Pencil manufactory at Stein in the Royal Jurisdiction of Nürnberg, in appreciation of the many and important services, which he has rendered to industry in general and the trade of Nürnberg in particular, by an unanimous resolution the honorary citizenship of the city of Nürnberg, and, after obtaining the most gracious consent of His Majesty the King, caused this deed to be drawn up for him. Given under the great seal of the city and the signatures of the two Burgomasters as also that of the President of the College of the Commune.

Nürnberg the 16^{th} September 1861.

_von Wächter_, I. Burgomaster. _Seiler_, II. Burgomaster. _Lindner_, President of the Presentatives of the Commune.”

The celebration of the hundreth anniversary of the existence of the Factory afforded the proprietor of the same a welcome opportunity of dedicating this memoir to all his honoured business friends and patrons as a token of his gratitude and esteem and at the same time of giving them a pretty perfect sketch of his Factory and a view of its internal arrangement. With this latter object he had the nine views, attached to the end hereof, taken, which represent a faithful sketch of the chief points of the establishment and by means of which it is possible to form a tolerably accurate idea of the Lead pencil Manufacture.

The _first plate_ represents the sluicing process. On the left hand side of the picture the blacklead is seen in its original casks, on the right hand side the clay. These two raw materials are here washed and then passed on in pans to be dried.

The _second plate_ shows the grinding which goes on day and night, the composition of blacklead, clay &c. being ground fine while in a wet state, and then dried in ovens especially adapted for that purpose.

The _third plate_ depicts the preparation of the lead. The workmen to the left in the background are forming a plastic mass of the composition by wetting it with water, which while still wet is passed into the cylinder of the press where it is forced through a copper plate, at the bottom of the cylinder, in the centre of which there is an opening of a peculiar shape. As is seen in the representation the lead thus pressed through the cylinder assumes the shape of a ring and is then carried by the workmen on the right upon boards and lying in a straight position, to a moderately warm place to dry. Before however the lead is completely dry, it is cut into sticks of the proper length for filling the pencils. After the drying comes the annealing in peculiarly constructed ovens. This process takes place in hermetically closed vessels of clay or iron in which the sticks of lead are placed in a horizontal position.

In the _fourth plate_ the method of cutting, sawing and planing the wood is seen. In the foreground to the right lies a balk of Florida Cedar wood. These balks are from 10 to 15 feet in length and 8 to 24 inches in thickness. They are first cut across with an upright saw in pieces of the length of a pencil, which pieces are then cut into sticks by small circular saws as shown on the right hand side of the view, the sticks being thereupon planed smooth by the machine in front. Behind the planing machine the grooving machines are situated by means of which the smoothly planed sticks are cut with fine circular saws into top and bottom pieces, the latter of which are furnished with grooves.

The _fifth plate_ represents the process of glueing the sticks of lead into the wood. At each glueing table there are three workmen, one of whom smears the two pieces of wood with glue, while the second places the lead in the groove and the third, after the two pieces are fixed together, trims the pencils, which are then placed in a press and firmly pressed together by means of screws. The round bundles seen in this view are partly finished pencils and partly tops and bottoms.

At this stage of the manufacture the pencils are all square and are now passed on to the planing shop represented in the _sixth plate_. There they are cut to the exact length by means of fine circular saws and then planed round or square, oval or even hexagonal or trigonal by the planing machines, which they reach in a square form.

The seventh and eighth plates show those operations which are carried on by females.

In the _seventh plate_ to the right the workwomen are seen engaged in polishing the pencils with colours, and to the left those who by means of a lever press stamp the name of the firm upon them.

At last the polished and stamped pencils arrive at the room, where they are made up into packets as represented in the _eighth_ plate. Here they are fastened up in dozens, covered with tickets and packed either by the dozen or the gross.

The _ninth plate_ represents the dwelling houses and manufacturing Premises. The residence on an elevation to the left is that of the proprietor of the Manufactory, below which is seen that of his brother. The two houses in the middle were dwellinghouses in former times and have been used for years as Countinghouse, Warehouse and Sample-show-room. The workshops lower down on the right stand close to the river Rednitz and the machinery therein is set in motion by waterpower, whereas in the other premises higher up steam is the agent employed.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Punctuation has been normalized. Variations in hyphenation have been retained as they were in the original publication. The author’s original choice of spelling and variations therein have been maintained with the exception of the following:

too —> two great improvements {page 13} loftly —> dancing round the lofty maypole {page 26} second —> seconded his exertions {page 27}

The following attribution line, which appeared in the illustration captions in the original publication, has not been included in the captions in this ebook:

Lor. Ritter del. Druckerei von C. Kruthoffer, Frankfurt a. M.

The original version of this book used spaced text, most frequently for proper and place names. The spaced text has been represented using _underscores_ in the plain text version of the book.

Bolded phrases are presented by surrounding the text with =equal signs= herein.

The caret symbol ^ precedes characters that were raised as a superscript in the original book. In the case where more than one character was raised, those characters were encased in brackets, as in this example: 2^{nd}