American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1858-07-09
miscellaneous.
WHY I LEFT THE ANVIL.
by ELIHU BURRIT.

the hammer and taking the quill, as
a member Of your profession. l will
be honest now, and tell you the whole
story. l was transposed from the an
vii to the editors chair by the genius
OF machinery. Don't smile, friends,
1t is even so. l had stood and look
ed for hours on those thoughtless i
ron intellocts, those iron-fngered, So
Der, supple qutomatons, as they caught
up bale Of cotton and twirled it, in
the twinkling of an eye, into whirl.
wind of whizzing shreds, and laid it at
my feet in folds of snow white cloth,
ready for the use of the most voluptu-
GUS antipodes. They were wonderful
things, those looms and spindles, but
they could not spin thoug hits there
was no attribute of divinity in them,
and admired them nothing more
They were excessively curious, but
could estimate the whole compass of
their being and destiny in finger pow
er, so 1 went away and left them spin
ming cotton,
Ono day | was tuning my anvil be-
meath a hot iron, and busy with the
thought that there was as much intel
lectual philosophy in my hammer as
In any englnery agoing in modern times,
when most unearthly scream met my
ears; stepped to the door, and there
it was-the great iron horse. Yes,
he had come, looking for all the world
like the great dragon we read of in
the Scripture, harnessed to half q liv-
ing world, and just landed on the earth
where he stood braying with surprise
and Indignation at the base pse' to
which he had been turned. saw the
gigantic hexapod move with a power
that made the earth tremble for miles.
| saw the army of human beings GID.
ing with the velocity Of wind, over the
iron track, and droves of cattle travel
ling in their stables, st the rate of
twenty miles an hour toward the city
slaughter house. 1t was wonderful
The little bee-winged machinery of the
cotton factory dwinded into insignifi-
fCanee before it. Monstrous beast of
passage and burden! 1t devoured the
intervening distance, and welded tho
cities togethcr:l But for it's furnace
heat and iron sinews, it was nothing
but beast, an enormous aggregation
of horse power. And I went back to
the forge with unimpaired reverence
for the intellectual philosophy of my
hammer.
Passing along tho street one after
noon, | heard noise in an old build
ing, as of some one putting pair of
Ibellows. So, without much ado, I
stepped in, and then, in corner of o
room, [ saw the chef d ouvre of all ma /.
,chinery that has ever been invented
since the birth of Tubal Cain. In it's
construction it was simple as cheese
press. 1t went with a lever longer &
stronger then that with which Archim-
sedcs promised to shake the world.
1T is printing press" said boy
standing by the ink trough, with q tur-
ban of brown paper on his head. "A
printing press" L qucried musingly to
myself. ',''A printing press! what do
youprint ?" l asked. SPRINT" said the
boy, staring doubtfully; "why we print
thoughts" "Print thoughts!" / slow
i ly repeated after him; and we stood
looking at each other in mutual admi-
ration; no in the absence Of an idea,
and in the pursuit of one, But
looked at him the hardest, and he left
another ink spot on his forehead from
a pathetic motion of his left hand to
quicken his apprehension of his mean
ing. "Why, yes" he reiterated in a
tone OF forced confidence, as if passing
an idea, which, though having been
aaoat nearly hundred years, might
still be counterfeit for all he could show
on the spot eve print thoughts, to be
sure Gut" my boy" asked in
honest soberncss, "what are thoughts,
and how can you get hold Of them p
"Tho'ts are what come out of people s
minds" he replied. sect hold them,
indeed! Why minds are nothing you
can get hold of, nor thoughts either.
All tho minds that ever thought and
oil the thoughts that tminds ever made,
would not make a ball as big as your
fist. Minds, they say are just like air;
you cant see them; they don't make
any noise, nor have any color; they
don't weigh anything. Bill Deepcut,
the sexton, says that a man Weighs just
as much when his mind has gone out
of him as he did before. No, sir all
the minds that ever lived would not
weigh an ounce troy" u. -,
"Tben how do you print thoughts
Ii minds are thin as air, and thonghts
ere thinner still, and make no noise,