ON THE MANUFACTURE OF MATCHES IN NEW YORK. 163 



may, upon the other, rub rapidly up and down. Faster and harder, keep 

 rubbing ; the exertion takes away your breath and tries your arm. Never 

 mind ; rub away, faster and harder yet ; stop not a moment or your labour 

 is in vain. Rub on. Ah ! at last the success of your labour is indicated 

 by your olfactories. You smell fire. A thin, vapory smoke begins to show 

 itself ; rub harder yet ; the smoke increases, and, at last, a little flame 

 bursts forth and fire is created. You have stirred up the mysterious genius 

 which we call fire, and which book-wise people call " Caloric." But be 

 careful, for fire gotten in this way is coquettish and hard to keep ; deal 

 gently with it, or you will lose it, and have your labour for your pains. 

 Apply your splinters and dry leaves gently and with a careful hand ; nurse 

 it tenderly into strength, and then you may warm yourself at will, and 

 cook your venison and boil your coffee, all of which you might have done 

 long ago, and without any trouble, had you only been provided with that 

 " unconsidered trifle" — a match. 



It is hard to tell when matches were first invented ; but the great 

 improvements which have been made in them, have all been made within 

 about twenty-five years. 



The old-fashioned curled-shaving matches, tipped with brimstone, were 

 poor things at the best ; they were used with the time-honoured tinder-box 

 and flint and steel, so much in vogue among our grandsires, and which are 

 yet to be found among some of the old Dutch settlers, in New Jersey, who 

 look upon friction-matches as a Satanic invention. How many knuckles 

 have suffered from the edges of the sharp flint which missed the steel, and 

 cut the flesh, and many curses loud and deep have been vented over damp 

 tinder. 



Just imagine one of our modern " fast " young men, returned from 

 having a jolly good time with a lot of jolly good fellows. Very shaky on 

 his pins, he staggers up the stairs, and feels around for the tinder-box and 

 matches. After making the circuit of his " genteel apartment " half-a-dozen 

 times, he puts his hand upon the desired articles and hiccoughs, " Haz-all- 

 right." He takes off the lid, and seizes the flint and steel, and endeavours 

 to strike them together. Alas ! vain attempt ; he only succeeds in destroy- 

 ing his equilibrium, which it takes any quantity of " see-sawing " about to 

 recover, and after many fruitless attempts, manages to knock the skin off 

 his knuckles, and upset the tinder-box. With the patience and perseve- 

 rance which nobody but one " half-seas-over " can possibly command, he 

 recaptures the ] ost " arrangement," and after many like disasters succeeds in 

 throwing a spark upon the tinder, the smoke from which gets into his 

 eyes and blinds him. He essays to light the match, the fumes of the 

 burning brimstone suffocate him. He wheezes and sneezes, swears and 

 curses, and at last ends his troubles by getting a light, which he might 

 have had long ago, if he had only possessed that modern invention, " a 

 friction match," which by a slight rub on the sand-paper, would have 

 " lighted him the dusky road " to bed. 



The first improvement that was made upon the old tinder-boxes, we 



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