﻿A CHAPTER FOR THE CHILDREN ABOUT NEEDLES. t t 



than ail the rest put together. The surprising manipulation by 

 which the needles are applied to the grindstone ; the rapidity with 

 which the grinding is effected ; the large earnings of the men ; the 

 ruined health and early death which the occupation brings upon 

 them ; the efforts which have been made to diminish the hurtfulness 

 of the process ; and the resistance with which these efforts hav 

 been met --all merit and have received a large measure of attention. 

 Let us first notice the process itself, and then the peculiar circum- 

 stances attending it. 



Some of the needle-pointers work at their own homes, while some 

 work at the factories ; but the process is the same in either case. 

 The pointing-room, generally situated as far away as practicable from 

 the other rooms, contains small grindstones, from about eight inches 

 to twenty inches in diameter, according to the size of the needles to be 

 pointed. They rotate vertically, at a height of about two feet from 

 the ground, and with a velocity frequently amounting to two thou- 

 sand revolutions per minute. The stone is a particular kind of grit 

 adapted for the purpose : but sometimes it flies in pieces, from the 

 centrifugal force engendered by the rapid rotation ; and in such cases 

 the results are often fearful. The workman sits on a stool, or 

 " horse," a few inches distant from the stone, and bends over it dur- 

 ing his work. Over his mouth he wraps a large handkerchief; and 

 as he can perform his work nearly as well in the dark as in the 

 light, he is sometimes only to be seen by the vivid cone of sparks 

 emanating from the steel while grinding. The vivid light reflected 

 on his pale face, coupled with the consciousness that we are looking 

 at one who will be an old man at thirty, and who is being literally 

 " killed by inches" while at work, renders the processes conducted in 

 this room such as will not soon be forgotten. 



The needle-pointer takes fifty or a hundred needles, or rathei 

 needle wires, in his hand at once, and holds them in a peculiar man- 

 ner. He places the fingers and palm of one hand diagonally over 

 those of the other, and grasps the needles between them, all the 

 needles being parallel. The thumb of the left hand comes over the 

 back of the fingers of the right ; and the different knuckles and 

 joints are so arranged that every needle can be made to rotate on 

 its own axis, by a slight movement of the hand, without any one 



