108 OLD WEST SURREY 



its natural fracture, and a blunt edge for the striking 

 part. 



The steel was made of a good piece of metal, generally an 

 old file. It was held over the finders of the left hand, and 

 struck with the flint held in the right. After a few strokes 

 a spark would fall on to the tinder in the box; this was 



<~$ 



Iron Tinder-Boxes 



gently blown, and the tip of the match applied, when, if good 

 luck were on the side of the housewife, she might get a 

 light, or, on the other hand, she might have to try many 

 times. The matches were thin slips of dry wood about three 



inches long and pointed at the ends. 

 These ends were dipped in melted 

 brimstone. A sluggish spark on the 

 tinder was sometimes urged into 

 activity by a tiny pinch of gun- 

 powder. 



Men in the fields would pick up 

 a bit of flint and strike it on the 

 backs of their knives ; they had a 

 piece of touch-paper in their pockets, and so got a light. 



The tinder was made of cotton or linen rags — ' Blue 

 rags is the best,' one old friend tells me, but another said 

 they used to favour the feet of old cotton stockings. ' You 

 takes your bit of rag in the tongs and holds it to the tire ; 



Sulphur Matches 



