﻿A CHAPTER FOil THE CHILDREN ABOUT NEKDLES. < 1 J 



position against a stone or plate, raid dips their ends in a liquid 

 Detween him and the grindstone. jEach wire sends out its own 

 stream of sparks, which ascends diagonally in a direction opposite 

 to that at which the workman is placed. So rapid are his move- 

 ments, that he will point seventy or a hundred needles, forming one 

 hand-grasp, in half a minute; thus getting through ten thousand in 

 an hour ! 



The circumstance which renders this operation so very destructive 

 to health is, that the particles of steel, separated from the body of the 

 wire by the friction of the stone, float in the air for a time, and are 

 then inhaled by the workmen. The entire atmosphere of the room 

 is filled \vith these particles. 



After the pointing, the needles are taken to the " stamping shop," 

 The little gutter, which guides the thread in threading the needle. 



is made by the stamping machine, which is a heavy block of stono 

 on a bed of iron. Upon this is a die, or stamp, where the needles 



