DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 293 



to make it. In such a case you say that it is folly to make it 

 in a family. Are you sure of that ? Time is money. If you 

 have not the half dollar in coin, it may be better for you to pay 

 a dollar in time which you have on your hands, rather than go 

 without the article. A woman may advantageously spend a 

 dollar's worth of time in knitting a pair of stockings, when she 

 could buy as good a pair at the store for half a dollar. In the 

 same way a farming utensil can be advantageously manufac- 

 tured in the family, even though it cost double in time that it 

 would in money, if the maker has the time but not the money. 



Moreover, there are certain articles of family consumption 

 that cannot be manufactured by machinery, but must be made 

 by hand. This class of articles, where there are skill and leisure, 

 can always be profital^ly manufactured in families. Those fam- 

 ilies that, in the odds and ends of time, manufacture various 

 articles of consumption, are observed to thrive more than those 

 who buy every thing because they can buy cheap. 



This question can be viewed, secondly, in its relations to 

 health and enjoyment. Many articles manufactured require 

 active exercise of body and of mind, and are thus favorable to 

 health and happiness. A lady in the city of New York, distin- 

 guished for mental cultivation, the wife of a gentleman of great 

 wealth, being out of health, was recommended by a physician 

 to try the effects of spinning wool at the great wheel. Accord- 

 ingly she had a room fitted up, and kept at the right tempera- 

 ture in the winter time, where she every day exercised in this 

 way, mucli to her advantage. The feelings are pleasantly 

 employed upon a valuable object, and are in this way kept from 

 preying on the mind, or from being bestowed on trifles. 



This question can be viewed, thirdly, in its relations to mental 

 improvement. When a man makes an article for use, he must 

 judge whether it is adapted to the end for which it is made. In 

 this way his judgment is improved. When a woman, for in- 

 stance, manufactures butter, her faculty of observation is called 

 into requisition, and is thus improved. When a young girl 

 pieces a bed-quilt, her invention is taxed, and is thus improved. 

 When a young lady makes fancy work, her imagination and 

 taste are employed and improved. 



Thus, in changing the form of the raw material for some 



