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3. Plaster-cast Making is another of the Italian trades carried on
in Finsbury. A couple of actual cases may serve as illustrations of
the way in which this industry is carried on. Sig. L., 8, B. Street,
employs eleven men, four of whom live in the house, and seven
hawk the casts. The latter go for a week or so to towns round
London (Brighton, &c.). When away they lodge with other Italians.
They look out for persons of their own nationality selling ice-cream,
etc., then start an acquaintanceship, and ultimately lodge with them.
If there are no Italians to be found in the town to which they go, then
they reside in a common lodging-house or similar institution. If
trade is good and they get rid of their articles, they send to Sig. L.,
or, as they term it " the house," for two or three more boxes of
assorted casts. After some weeks absence these wandering pedlars
return to B. Street, and assist in the manufacture, or start on
another round of visits to neighbouring towns. When in London
they reside always in B. Street, and live in a co-operative or communal
manner. These men are mostly young, but no boys under
eighteen are employed, the usual age being from about twenty to
twenty-five. Almost all of them come from Lucca in Tuscany, or
within twenty miles of Lucca. The families of the older men
remain in Italy, and the younger men are unmarried. They have
been in England perhaps sixteen or eighteen months. Residence
here is uncertain. They go elsewhere, or commence other work if
at any time the plaster-casting trade falls off, or fails to bring in an
adequate return. If their relatives in Italy are out of work, they
write to Finsbury, and come over for a time to try their fortunes here.
"If trouble in my family to-day," said one of them recently, "I go
home to-night"; and that represents the general idea in the minds
of Italians in Finsbury. They come and go almost without thought.
Or they may go on to America, making and selling their casts.
They are wanderers on the face of the earth.
The plaster-cast process practised by the Italians is briefly as
follows :—Porcelain or cement figures are purchased. Such are
placed in large rough moulds which allow a clear space of, say, a
quarter of an inch all round the figure. Into this mould gelatine is
now poured, and allowed to stand all night to cool and set. The
solidified gelatine is then cut into two sections in a vertical line, and