AGRICULTURAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 93 



as yet unfinished house, I found a middle-aged man 

 from Pennsylvania, by the name of Moyer, work- 

 ing at a bench by candle-light. The long, ribbony 

 shavings had, in the uncertain light, a wonderful 

 charm for me and I determined at once to learn 

 carpentering and asked my uncle if he would hire 

 me to work with Moyer the next summer. I had 

 previously worked for my uncle on the farm at 

 $1.25 per week. My uncle agreed that I was to 

 receive for six months $10 per month and board, 

 and it was stipulated that I was to leave the bench 

 and work in the harvest field at least two weeks of 

 the time as a " half-hand," that is, to bind one- 

 half what a cradler cut. When harvest came, 

 however, uncle put two other half -hands with me 

 to take up after two cradlers. We argued among 

 ourselves as to how three halves could be united 

 so as to make two whole ones; but fortunately 

 workmen had not then learned to strike and the 

 work went on. We had been taught the wise 

 saying of Solomon: "when the ax is dull, lay on 

 the harder." 



The money earned by carpentering enabled me 

 that fall to attend the Academy at Seneca Falls 

 and later, as I became more skilled, I earned the 

 money to go on again with my studies. The next 



