Vol. LV. No. 2444. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 28, 1896. 
SI .00 PER YEAR. 
LEARN TO USE GOOD TOOLS. 
THE HANDY PART OF AN EDUCATION. 
Turn Time Into Money. 
A young man just starting for himself in farming, 
gardening or fruit growing, should he so educated 
that no matter what variety of work in the many de¬ 
partments of labor arises, he may say to himself, “ A 
dollar saved is a dollar earned,” and at once pull off 
his coat and go at it. There are so many ways of 
making money by saving it, that he will find that 
almost every day of the year his many-sided knowl¬ 
edge saves him more or less money. In the first place, 
he should strive for, at least, a good common school 
education ; and the more he adds to this, the better 
able will he be to “box 
with the world, bare¬ 
handed ”. 
One thing a boy should 
understand and that is the 
fact that a knowledge of 
the use of tools on the farm 
is not to be surpassed as a 
money saver by any other 
single branch of his educa¬ 
tion. There is not a single 
boy, I dare say, who has 
not, ever since he was a 
little “codger” in knee 
pants and copper-toed 
boots, now and then looked 
with longing eyes at the 
bright, carpenters’ tools 
arranged in the window of 
some hardware store, or 
perhaps (but seldom is it 
the case), in his father’s 
tool chest at home. Sup¬ 
posing the latter to be the 
case, and our boy wanted a 
tool or tools to make some 
little contrivance that his 
boyish mind had conceived, 
a toy gun, a sled, a saw¬ 
mill or a “ young boot- 
jack ” to pull off those little 
boots, and his father denies 
him their use, is not that 
father depriving his little 
one of a source of educa¬ 
tion that would go to make 
up the ideal farmer boy in 
a few years? It is more 
than likely that the same 
father would give this same 
little fellow a sound whip¬ 
ping if he refused to go to 
school. Isn’t there some¬ 
thing that reminds you of 
inconsistency in this kind 
of paternal solicitude 0 
What if he were to dull a 
hatchet or unintentionally “saw into a nail”? the 
father should be thankful that his boy has developed 
a disposition to manufacture his own little contriv¬ 
ances, and grind the hatchet, and file the saw, with a 
“grin and a whistle ”, and bid the little man try it 
again, only to be as careful as he can hereafter. There 
would be just as much kindness in withholding from 
him his slate and arithmetic if he had accidentally torn 
one of its leaves, as to forbid the use of tools as the 
result of an occasional nick, providing he is old enough 
to use them with any degree of effectiveness. 
A man who cannot use even the most common tools 
to advantage, is certainly a burden to himself, espe¬ 
cially if he is not financially able to hire a carpenter 
at any time. How about having to procure help when 
the farm sled has to be shod ? How about engaging 
help to cut an opening in an outbuilding large enough 
for a half-sash window ? How about a man walking 
one-half mile to a blacksmith shop, carrying with 
him a piece of board which he wished squared and 
sawed off at one end ? This man had no saw, he said. 
These are actual occurrences, and well illustrate the 
disadvantage under which a man may labor when the 
mechanical “ lobe ” of his education, as a farmer, is 
undeveloped. 
On the other hand, I know a thrifty farmer, whose 
fine home I pass every time I go to the city, who has 
really built from the “ ground up ”, himself. His 
large barn, cattlehouse, sheephouse, wagon and car¬ 
riage houses, springhouse, etc., are all the work of his 
IT NEVER RAINS BUT HE PORES OVER THE R. N.-Y. Fig. 253. 
own hands. Is he too stingy to hire a carpenter ? do 
you ask ? No indeed ! That is far from the true 
cause. It is because he educated himself for a thorough 
farmer ; and by being able to do just as good work as 
any carpenter, he saved enough to purchase all that 
modern farm machinery which may be seen safely 
housed in these same buildings. He did his building 
at odd times when he could do little else. His farm, 
in every department, shows the result of careful train¬ 
ing and practical common sense ; and as a result, he 
has a model country home. 
Another instance, on a smaller scale, of the ad¬ 
vantage of being able to use tools on the farm, is one 
in which I have experienced the direct benefits my¬ 
self. Having married and starte d out for myself seven 
years ago, when I was only 20 years old, I had to build 
from the “ground up”, also. I hired the services of 
two carpenters to build our dwelling, but before they 
were done, they left my work and went to another 
place to build a house they had promised to have done 
by a certain time. This left our house unfinished, 
and they did not know when they could be back. I 
at once bought the necessary tools and made my de¬ 
but by finishing the job myself, which consisted of 
almost the entire inside woodwork. I have not had a 
carpenter on the place since then. I built a poultry- 
house, woodshed, berry-packing house, springhouse 
and workshop combined, and also a barn and fruit 
cellar combined. I planned to have the last as handy 
as I could make it. Neighbors pronounce it the most 
complete little barn in the 
neighborhood. The cellar 
is entered by a small but 
efficient elevator which 
makes the storing away of 
barrels or crates of apples 
and potatoes, etc., almost 
as good as play. In ex¬ 
cavating for the cellar, I 
struck a good vein of pure, 
soft water. By sinking a 
large, 18-inch sewer tile 
down until the top was 
level with the tile drain of 
the cellar, I have a fine 
spring in one corner of the 
cellar. The water is car¬ 
ried directly to the feed- 
room above by a pump, 
making one more valuable 
convenience than I had ex¬ 
pected to have. 
Besides the work done on 
our dwelling, I saved in 
four years, by a careful and 
sufficiently low estimate, 
the neat little sum of 
$91.50; this is exclusive of 
the thousand and one little 
odd jobs that are always to 
be found to do if one looks 
for them. Boys, it does 
pay ! And the desire for 
tools and the making of 
little contrivances when 
you are young, “just for 
fun ”, only fits you for more 
prosperous men when you 
grow up. I cannot remem¬ 
ber when I learned to use 
tools, as my father kindly 
allowed me the use of all 
that he had, whenever I 
wanted them. It is to him 
I feel that I should give 
all the credit. 
Ohio. F. H. BALLOU. 
R. N.-Y.—There is no question about the value of a 
little shop on the farm. The ability to use saw, ham¬ 
mer and plane to advantage, is like putting a sixth 
finger on a boy’s hand. And don’t forget that books 
are also tools ! So are papers and magazines—that 
is, those that aim at high standards. The man shown 
in the picture on this page is in his mental shop. It 
is a rainy day but, with his books and papers around 
him, he is forming plans and oiling up the “ think 
works,” so that the hour spent in the shop will be 
more useful than ever. A “ reading habit” is a most 
useful thing for a boy if he be only directed so that 
he will select useful reading. Reading bad books or 
papers is far worse than nicking a hatchet or “saw¬ 
ing into a nail.” 
