1869 .] 
383 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
WY® <k 
The Doctor’s Talks—How to Make 
a IFii-e. 
In looking at my last “Talk” after it was printed, it 
seemed to me that the Boys and Girls would not exactly 
understand how the Indians managed to get a fire by the 
rubbing of the sticks ; so I asked Mr. Roberts, to whom 
8. 9. 
Fig. 1.— AN INDIAN MAKING A TIRE, 
you are indebted for all the nice engravings, to make an 
illustration which should show the Indian at work; this 
he has done, and it is given in fig. 1. The method which 
this engraving illustrates, and which was described last 
month, is a slow and tedious way of converting motion 
into heat. The next step is the flint and steel. I sup¬ 
pose that all the boys and girls have seen a flint and 
steel; still as some of them may not I will describe 
them. Flint is a very hard stone, and when shap¬ 
ed for use is of the form 
shown in figure 2. The 
te& S gggfr gs'*' steel is variously shap- 
Fig. 2.—flint. ed, one of the common Fig. 8. 
forms being shown in figure 3. When the steel is struck 
forcibly against the edge of the flhit, small particles of 
the steel are knocked off, and so much motion is con¬ 
verted into heat that these particles become red-hot and 
actually bum. Yon may think it a strange thing for so 
hard a thing as steel to burn. 
Just go to a blacksmith’s or 
any other mechanic’s shop, 
Fig. 4. 
Fig. 6. 
where you can get the filings of steel or of iron even, of 
which steel is only a form, and see how easily they 
burn. Sprinkle some of these filings upon a candle flame 
or a gas flame, and see what brilliant sparks they will 
make, as in fig. 
4. Iron and steel 
filings are much 
, used to give bril¬ 
liancy in fire¬ 
works. Each 
blow of the steel 
against the flint 
knocks off small 
particles, and 
Fig. 7.—striking fire. here, as in the 
case of the sticks used by the savage in making a fire, 
we have the force used converted into heat. That 
heat is sufficient to burn the small particles knocked off 
from the steel. Now there must be some way of making 
this heat., these burning particles of steel, useful in get¬ 
ting a fire. In olden times—perhaps your fathers and 
mothers can recollect them—every family had a tinder 
box. Stfch a thing is not known in the household at the 
present time, but your grandmothers all had one. A 
shallow tin box, fig. 5, about 5 inches across and 2 or 3 
inches deep, had a cover with a socket upon it to hold a 
candle. When this was opened, it was found to contain 
a disk or round piece of tin, fig. 6, which fitted exactly 
to the inside of the box, and pressed down upon the 
tinder. Now we begin to get at the way of using the 
sparks made by the flint and steel. What boy or girl 
of our time ever saw Under? We doubt if any of them 
ever did; yet it used to be, before the 
introduction of the present style of 
matches, an important article in the 
household. It was made by burning 
rags, and when they were well charred 
extinguishing them. Thus a lot of rags 
would be burned in the 
tinder-box, and when they 
were well alight they would 
be extinguished by putting 
on the disk, fig. 6, which 
would put out the flame and 
leave a light charcoal ready 
to catch fire at the slightest 
spark. It was these charred 
rags, this tinder, that served 
our grandmothers. They 
opened the box, struck the 
steel against the flint, as 
shown in fig. 7, and soon a 
spark, a bit of burning steel, 
fell upon the tinder and that 
caught fire. What next? A 
spark in the tinder would not make a 
fire. Then there had to be brimstone 
matches at hand. Many a farmer’s boy 
has made these. He has split straight¬ 
grained pine into slivers, and made 
these matches by dipping their ends 
into melted sulphur or brimstone, 
which is the same thing. Somebody in¬ 
vented a plane which would turn out a curled shaving, and 
in the early days when brimstone matches used to be sold, 
made quite a revolution in the trade. Bunches of slivers 
with brimstone on their ends, like fig. 8, stood no chance 
in the market against the light curled shaving shown in 
fig. 9. Click-dick , went the flint and steel, the sparks 
caught in the tinder, then the tinder was blown to make 
sure of the fire, and then a brimstone match of one or 
the other kinds we have described was applied, and if all 
went well a fire was obtained. This is the way our 
grandparents used to get a fire. 
“Tl»e One that Watches the Sheep 
Will Win the Wool.” 
At a large manufactory of jewelry in New Jersey two 
young men were once working in the same room and 
earning equal wages. A foreman being required for 
that department one of the two received the appointment. 
Six months after, he rose to be foreman of the whole 
factory. While he was holding this position one of %c 
two members of the firm suddenly died, and the remain¬ 
ing partner, soon finding the cares of sole-proprietor¬ 
ship too heavy, called his young foreman to a partner¬ 
ship in the business. Only three mouths afterward his 
unexpected death left sole owner and manager the young 
man only eighteen months before a humble journeyman. 
His former work-fellow still toils at the same table, a 
journeyman still, envying his fortunate shop-mate, and 
cursing his own “miserable luck.” 
Yet, in fact, “luck” had nothing to do with it. The 
different fortunes of the two men arc fully accounted for 
by their characters. Both were strictly sober, skillful, 
and industrious. But one was watchful of the employers' 
interest , the other careless. One was in the habit of leav¬ 
ing work a day as often as he chose ; the other was ever 
at his post, no matter what picnics, parados, ball-matches, 
or target-shootings took place. One dropped his tools 
on the instant of the six o’clock whistle, the other 
stayed to finish his job. One refused to do overwork 
when orders were pressing, because “he wouldn’t be 
imposed upon;” the other was always willing to do what¬ 
ever he was called upon to do. He won his promotion 
by giving his whole heart to his trade. Devoting him¬ 
self to the business as thoroughly as though it were his 
own, he made it his own. 
His history reminds us of the saying of an old shepherd, 
to the boy who complained that his companion had left 
him to tend the sheep alone. “Never mind, my boy, if 
you watch the sheep, you’ll win the wool.” “Seest thou 
a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before 
kings, he shall not stand before mean men,” wrote the 
wise man of olden time. 
Boys, don’t be afraid of work, don’t talk too much of 
your rights, and think too little of your duties. Whether 
your place is on the farm or in the factory, behind the 
counter or the desk, faithfulness there will be a round in 
the ladder lifting you higher. 
One day last month Willie Brewster, of Irasburgh, Vt., 
a lad 16 years old, harrowed with a span of horses 11 
acres of ground, and after putting up Ida team went one 
mile through mud and water after the cows, drove them 
home and milked nine of them. A pretty good day’s 
work for a boy. 
Ways of Getting a Livimg;-§trcet 
ISeggsii’S. 
The stranger who visits New York will probably see 
in his walks a woman with a most pitiful expression sit¬ 
ting on some step. She has a young child sleeping in 
her arms and probably one or two more at her side; the 
poor things, apparently overcome with fatigue, have clung 
to their mother’s side and have fallen asleep too. This 
is a picture calculated to arouse sympathy, and the 
stranger p'uts his hands in his pocket to find some change 
for this suffering woman and her dependent children. 
Put your hand in your pocket—and keep it there while 
we tell you that this is all a sham, or, as the police say, 
“ a put up thing.” Go by the place to-morrow, and day 
after day for a week, pass by in the morning and evening, 
and there will be the woman and the children in the 
same attitude and asleep. The children are drugged to 
insensibility, and are used as a stock in trade by the 
woman. They are in all probability neither of them 
hers, but are hired by her. Did she sit there alone she 
would excite but little sympathy, but with the group 
of children she becomes a noticeable object, and those 
who do not know the trick naturally give alms. It 
is said by those who know about such matters that chil¬ 
dren are not only hired out for begging purposes, but— 
horrible to state—actually maimed and crippled for the 
purpose of exciting sympathy. The miseries of low life 
I 
■tsfiai 
mmrEtm 
illfl 
JIH streets 
in large cities have not half been told, and yet these same 
wretches, if offered transportation to the country and a 
home, would not accept it if they must work for a living. 
Tov lizzies to l>e Aiisrwei’esl. 
No. 339. Word Puzzle— What word is there of seven 
letters that means a woman particularly noted ; decreased 
by three letters leaves a man particularly noted; de¬ 
creased by one letter leaves a personal pronoun, feminine 
gender; decreased by one letter again leaves a personal 
pronoun of the masculine gender. 
No. 360. Mathematical Enigma.—My 1st is l-6lh of a 
guinea. My 2d is l-5th of an ounce. My 3d is Tilth of 
a barley-corn. My 4th is H of a rod. My 6th is hi of a 
bale. My 6th is l-9th of a solid yard. 
No. 361. Charade. My first takes reason from her throne, 
And leaves frenzied fancy to reign alone; 
My second’s a certain kind of grain, 
Often joined with an aboriginal name ; 
My third what girls were called in other days 
' And the sign of 4 qts., the Arithmetic says; 
If you join these syllables parted again, 
My whole will make a vocal strain. 
No. 362. lUush'dtcd lUSus .—Something to be hc'cded. 
