MODERN BLACKSMITHING i8i 



shoeing will suffer no inconvenience. The horse« 

 shoer's temper, as well as muscles, will be spared and 

 a good feeling all around prevails. 

 Horse-raisers, remember this. 



ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN 



In every profession and trade it is a common thing 

 to hear beginners say: I know, I know. No matter 

 what you tell them, they will always answer, I know. 

 Such an answer is never given by an old, learned or 

 experienced man, because, as we grow older and wiser 

 we know that there is no such thing as knowing it all. 

 Besides this we know that there might be a better way 

 than the way we have learned of doing the work. It 

 is only in few cases that we can say that this is the 

 best way, therefore we should never say, I know : first, 

 because no young man ever had an experience wide 

 enough to cover the whole thing; second, it is neither 

 sensible nor polite. Better not say anything, but 

 simply do what you have been told to do. 



Every young man thinks, of course, that he has 

 learned from the best men. This is selfish and foolish. 

 You may have learned from the biggest botch in the 

 country. Besides this, no matter how clever your 

 master was, there ^will be things that somebody else 

 has a better way of doing. I have heard an old good 

 blacksmith say, that he had never had a helper but 

 what he learned some good points from him. 



Don't think it is a shame, or anything against you, 

 to learn. We will all learn as long as we live, unless 



