chanic who is able to work it. We would invite them to reflect upon some facts that may seem incredible to them at first v

civilized society, where iron is abundant, and it will buy iron, and is an equivalent for the work of the smith; but it is only because men have agreed to make it so. Whereas iron has a value in itself c

g

to needles, $3,285 made into penknife blades, $29,480 in shirt buttons, and $250,000, in balance springs of watches. Boys may, from this, see what labor is worth, a

himself. The showers of sparks you see pouring out of a blacksmith's chimney, at times, of an evening when he is pressed with work, and forgets th

ie, and his wife plied her cards, to make this digression. At length the mother laid her cards into the b

put your[Pg 20] hand to), that I am willing to undergo almost anything to bring it about. There are three articles that will always sell at the s

ake this cloth for, an

lothes of for you and the boys, some that I wove for a

dren's if I never have any tools: the butter, I suppose, you have laid

ron, we shall have the house as full of b

et along withou

e fire when we go to bed, and you can get up at twelve o'clock and put on wood. The children can get along with their old clothes, and I with mine; there's nobody to look at us here. We h

e of poor material who could be d

y, 'Think you can do a th

had no leisure to meddle with iron; he, however, at odd moments, when the cattl

mp where the soil was not frozen, and obtained earth to fill it. By cutting through the frozen ground at the bank of the river, he obtained clay for mortar, and with stones built up a little abutment at one end of the forge, to lay his coal and build the fire against. There was no chimney, a hole being left in the roof for the escape of the gas and smoke. He then put a trough at the end of the forge, in which to cool his iron. The floor cost no labor, as it was supplied by mother earth. There was no window, but light came in at the smoke-hole in the roof between the logs and through the chinks of the door, made of joist hewed from small trees, treenailed together and hung on wooden hinges. All this was done little by little, as opportunity offered, and his wife and the children made charcoal by charring wood in the ove

did not wish to attract attention till he could obtain tools, and had made some progress. But a matter of such general interest could not long b

l in their habits, much attached to one another, and ready to make sacrifices for the common good. David Montague was especially beloved by his neighbors, being a man of good abilit

wife, and bringing a chain in his hand, that he flung[Pg 24] down at the door. After gr

have turned blacksmith, a

s going to be a great thing for the p

d to myself, 'I could do that work, or I could learn to do it, if I only had his tools and fire, just as well as I can make a pair of wheels, or an axletree, or frame a building, or make a cider-press.' I used to do that kind of work sometimes before I came here. I thought it over going home, and the next time I broke a chain,

de out[Pg 25] firstrate. Husband, sh

barn and brought in t

n mend my chain as well as that, I'll never carry another one to Drew, and I'll pa

ls, and begin in a small way, at first, it would give him work in stormy weather, and times when he couldn't

s settling, people moving in, and taking up land, stumps rotting, and ground getti

I can; but I have to work in such a roundabout way, t

the snow, and I

one of the links, put the

g

shorten the chain; and it's barely long e

any links l

of a chain, piece of a horse or ox shoe, old spike, and every scrap of iron, is worked up.

is t

e than a year ago, and found the iron. Ther

ontrive any way to cut it,

u find that you can't do anything with the bar, why, cut a link and m

leave, and in the course of an hour And

's turn to be d

s almost as thick as my press-board, and you haven't one single tool to

g

of it, if it takes from now till' next spring: that is, if you'll help me. Montague hate

nything in the world, to g

ong," said Clem, a boy of twelve, af

, still younger, would have doubtless volunteered, but they were abed

ue, and the prospect of abundance of work, if he could do it, had effectually roused all his energies. His wife, by no means ignorant of h

With axe, saw, and auger, by the light of the kitchen fire, he soon made a beetle, that, during the time it lasted,-for he had no iron to hoop it with,-would enable him to strike a harder blow than even a blacksmith's sledge, for it was much heavier, indeed, too heavy for constant use; but a very strong man

f coal, and put in the bar, while Clem and Rob plied the kitchen bellow

heat is required

ichardson, "ca

returnin

he girls must come in

elt, compromised the matter by bringing the cradle, with the baby sound asleep in[Pg 29] it, and setting

wife, after every blow, drew the axe to a new place. The old axe, of excellent temper, and thick edge, that would neither turn nor break, being dipped in water when it became heated, answered the purpose of a chisel admirably, and the beetle was superb. Indeed, they would have nearly finished that heat, but the baby waked, screaming, and would not b

k to heat the iron hot enough to weld, because the hand-bellows were single, and only operated[Pg 30] by short puffs, the iron cooling in the i

was lengthened, and now sufficient for all purposes, paid Richardson liberally, and bro

e first money earned by the hammer. You were just right when you said that mending that staple was th