292 



Caiuiilidii I'orcstrx Jam mil. .hiiu\ l''2(). 



S(>rt than ini imu-|i that i> laus^lit in 

 the schools. Tlu' mere ahility to 

 make and iiu'iid i^ j)r(>l'ital)Ii- thn>iiL,'li 

 life, he asserts. Writes .Mr. ((M.k: 



"As far hack ;is I can reiiiciiilKT I 

 was always a wliitller. .\t hiur \-ear^ 

 of ai^^e, three years before I went to 

 school, I had a pocket-knife all my 

 own. and well do 1 remember my jcjy 

 in whittling' thini^s from j)ine blocks 

 and dyeing- them in the bri.^'ht colors 

 of the dye m\' mother used for car- 

 pet rai^s. To my yonnp^ mind it was 

 a wonder that anything' could be 

 made so exquisitely beautilul. .\ year 

 before thi> 1 secured a table-knife and 

 in cutting with it slashed my left 

 forefini^er dreadfully. This ^\■as 

 seventy years ago, but it seems al- 

 most as yesterday that my dear 

 niother bound it \\\) and relieved the 

 pain with kisses, as only a mother 

 can. 1 carry the scar to this day. 



"As time went on T whittled out 

 better thinj2:s. a multitude of them, 

 indeed i often whittled until my knife 

 made my hand so sore T was com- 

 pelled to sto|). and then 1 wept be- 

 cause T could not whittle more. 1 

 wdiittled things curious, ornamental 

 and useful. T made and sold many 

 kites at the fabulous price of two 

 cents each, and for some of the larg- 

 er and finer ones I was actually paid 

 three cents each. T saved the money 

 too, spending very little for gew- 

 gaws and never a cent for tol)acco 

 or intoxicants, a practise that has 

 continued through my life and been 

 a source of constant satisfaction and 

 jov to me. 



"Tt would take i>ages to tell all I 

 whittled when ;i boy. There were 

 water-wheel- and wonderful whid 

 mills that showed men churning. 

 <awing wood, etc., as well as ])Uzzle 

 blocks, joker mills, secret self-lockmg 

 boxes, fancy fans and captive balls. 

 One of my early hobbies was self- 

 setting mouse-traps. I designed a 

 half-dozen or more original patterns. 

 Each mouse on entering set the trap 

 for the next one. To my unbounded 

 delight most of the traps fulfilled the 

 puriwse for which they were made. 



"1'hen followed the chain shown in 



the illustration. It is c.f butterniU- 

 wood, about six feet in length and 

 i-on1;iins ninet \-ti\ c links, indnding 

 ring liook an<i swud. | ti,ii,.,| the 

 making and it took jusi siMy-three 

 hours, most of the work being done 

 in tlu' exi'ning while m\- gi n kI f.ither 

 read for tlu' family. 



"About this time I found there was 

 a demand among my neighi)ors and 

 friends for some of m\^ ])rf)ducts, and 

 I was onJy too glad to sell them, for 

 money was a ])retty scarce arti(de in 

 those days. Picture-frames, knife- 



boxes, nail-boxes, booi-jacks, axe- 

 handles, rat tra])s. mouse traps, 

 clothes horses, and the like, brought 

 me much needed money and the en- 

 couragement to make larger things. T 

 made and sold a great number of 

 writing desks, bureaus, washstands. 

 office tables, secretary bookcases and 

 type cabinets — things that counted, 

 for some of them sold for as much as 

 sixty dollars, a big sum at that time. 

 .\ sixty-dollar sale, however, brought 

 me no more joy than the sale of a 

 two tent kite in the early days. 



"But Avith the wdiittling I was al- 

 waA's just crazy over gardening, and 

 somehow I got to growing and selling 

 garden seeds, and the ever-increasing 

 demand for these was perfectly aston- 

 ishinsr, so much so as to occupy all 

 my time. For forty years T did but 

 little Avhittling. . . . 



".^^omewhat recently I thought I 

 would se(i if in the forty^ years' inter- 

 rui)tion I had forgotten how to whit- 

 tle, so I cut out the six interlocked 

 rings shown in the illustration here- 

 wilh. These rings, cut from a solid 

 chunk of wot 1(1. are. T think, the most 

 com])lex and difficult i)iece of work I 

 have ever doie. Each ring g<^es 

 through all the rest. If any think 

 them easy to make, let them try it. 

 Tt was a queer piece of wood just 

 before the rings were separated. . . . 



"My experience proves that wdiit- 

 tling is useful, profitable, and of far 

 more value through life than much 

 that is taught in the schools. The 

 ability to make and mend things is 

 most desirable and saves time, vex- 

 ation and money. Encourage children 



