﻿A CHAPTER FOR THE CHILDREN, ABOUT NEEDLES. 73 



JJear mother! at a future day, 

 May we your ceaseless love repay ,- 

 Each hour may we recall in thought 

 The virtuous lessons you have taught, 

 And if enticed to go astray, 

 Oh ! may we to our tempters say, 

 " The way we tread shall be no other 

 Than that first shown us by our mother." 



A Chapter for the Children, about Needles. 



LITTLE Bessey is learning to sew. She means to make pretty 

 stitches, and no wonder then that she should have some choice in 

 needles. " Give me a good needle, '' says Bessy, " and I will do the 

 best I can." No little girl can do more. Beautiful things are these 

 bright needles. A very good gentleman, who is well known among 

 us, says that 



" They have a patent right to bless, 

 Which Yankee wit can ne'er make less ;" 



and this is very true. Nothing has ever yet been found to take the 

 place of the one-eyed, bright little needle. What if we should talk 

 a while about its native place - - how it is made, and where ? 



Have the children ever heard of the British Needle Mills, at Red- 

 ditch ? It is a beautiful village, situated in a secluded part of the 

 county of Worcester; and, strange to tell, its inhabitants all live, 

 directly or indirectly, by making needles. Nobody knows why 

 nearly all these bright bits of steel, which find their way to every 

 part of England, and even come over the broad Atlantic to us, 

 nobody f/t ztends to know why they are made at Redditch. Even 

 the needle-makers themselves cannot tell who was the first manufac- 

 turer, or how long Redditch has been the centre of the manufacture. 

 It has been said, however, that needles were not sold in Cheapside 

 (London) until the reign of Queen Mary. We can imagine pot- 

 teries in connection with a clay district like North Staffordshire. 

 Of these no doubt the children have heard. Joseph's brethren went 

 to Dothan with their flocks because there was herbage there. Men 



