AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 531 



grindstone! You have all heard of that figure of speach, grind- 

 ing the face of the poor. It ought to be made a reality upon 

 every poor devil who keeps such a grindstone as I have described, 

 upon his premises. I would grind him until his wits were 

 sharpened sufficient to make him get a better grindstone. There 

 is another old saw — holding his nose to the grindstone. I can 

 almost feel the scab on mine now, from the early and cruel hold- 

 ing of it, when I was a boy, over one of those hard-hearted 

 grindstones that are only owned by hard-hearted men, because 

 they will stand an immense amount of turning without wearing 

 away. It is no matter that they wear away the soul of the boy 

 at the crank, he is a hired boy and what business has a hired boy 

 to have a soul? And if he has, it was hired to wear away, 

 while the grindstone costs money. So does the time that is 

 wasted, but the old fogy that owns the grindstone has not soul 

 enough to appreciate that, and so year after year he wears away 

 the precious jewel upon his miserable old hard-hearted grindstone. 

 Will men ever learn what an abuse this is of a good thing 1 

 Will farmers allow me to press upon them to think that tliey 

 never had, never can have upon the farm, a piece of machinery 

 of so much importance, one that pays so great a percentage upon 

 Its cost, as a first rate grindstone. A grindstone, did I say ? I 

 might say a dozen, for there are many farms where it would be 

 the height of economy to own a dozen, of various shapes and 

 sizes, of various qualities, adapted to various purposes; some 

 stationary, and some portable; some driven by steam, water, 

 horse or dog power; some turned by hand, and some rigged with 

 a treadle so as to be turned by the foot; but no one, great or 

 small, should ever be hung upon a wooden shaft, or even give a 

 squeak when turned. In fact, the grindstone should be kept as 

 w^ell tuned as the piano; and no piece of machinery should be 

 made to run smoother, and none ever did- run smoother than a 

 stone well hung upon well oiled friction rollers, just such a one 

 as every good farmer has already, or will have, as soon as he reads 

 this discussion upon the uses and abuses of the grindstone. 



Mr. Meigs highly valued the observations of Mr. Robinson on 

 the grindstone. He had always found that his own spades and 



