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Show PAPERMAKIN IN SIA 2 me that it was impossible for her to remain quiet,she ha beaten bark all of herlife, had neverhad her picture take before, and she simply did not know how to be still an composed, even for an instant Mrs. Niltongkum could give but little informatio regarding the origin of the mill and its dim unrecorde history; it was apparent that this particular phase of th business had seldom, if ever, entered her mind, and sh was most surprised that I was interested. She did believe however, that paper had been fabricated on those sam premises for above two hundred years and that the origi nal mill had been established there by one of her forefathers. She told of the large quantities of paper that ha been made in her early life and complained of the lac of demand for her product in recent times; she was mos critical of the Chinese merchants, who, she said, did no pay her regularly and were even given to cheating. Bu regardless of the vicissitudes and trials encountered sh was emphatic in stating that as long as she could hol bark-beating mallets between her bony fingersand wad knee-deep into the stream to form sheets of paper, sh would continue her beloved craft; it was herlifeand wor and nothing could induce her to give way to a changin world. Yet evenin remote Siam Occidental papermakin machinery has lately been installed and it will be only few years until the old-time hand mills are of the past Al rights reserved |