Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1858-12-24
From the n. Y. Independent.
OUR FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH a
SEWING. MACHINE.
By REV. II. W. BEEcHER

Among the things when we ulu not, Dub
now do believe IN, is the Sewing Machine.
One thing after another had been invented
one machine after another had superseded
manual labor, until human hands seemed
about to 60 out of use, for any other nechan-
ical purposes than that of lovers pressures,
orators gestures, and for beaux and bellies
gloves. But we always consoled ourefves
that one or two things there were yet, which
no machinery could perform. We could i'm
agine children put through whippingma-
chine, and we had long been accustomed to
see them taught by automatic machines
There was the time-honored business handed
down to us, without break from the Gar
den of Eden, of courtlng-and kissing as one
of its ordnances-no machinery could ever
perform that Machine poetry and machine
sermons, we were familiar with. Babbage
can make machines for ciphering, for com
putting logarithms, for casting up interest,
but can hetinvent machine for soring interest
and capital too, for that matter And oh !
can there ever be machine for answering
letters We would pay any price for ma
chine into which letters being put, and
crank turned, there should drop out ut the
other side answers as good as the letters,
folded, directed, and stamped
But machines have steadily gained ground.
and the iron muscle has relieved the flesh
hand for boring, saving, cutting, planning,
for making bread, Il wish there was one for
eating some of it) for pumping water. for
making cattle draw their own drink. But,
notwithstanding, we firmly believed that
some things would never be done by any
fingers except human, and eminent among
these impossible things was Sewing Nothing
we were sure could ever perform that, except
the latest and best invention of Paradise
Woman
When the rumors began to prevail, then,
respecting an invented sewing machine, we
lifted our eyebrows gently, and went on our
way with quiet consciousness that we could
not be taken in by any such story. We re-
garded it as of piece with new-found
morality in old politicians, with the thou
sand an iual rumors Of some heaven-dawned
virtue in Washington City-a mere device to
catch the credulous.
But day by day the clatter grew. Indeed
we surprised ourselves with a coat, sewed in
important respects by machine. We saw
linen pyramids of sheetng made for hotels
and steamboats, by sewing machines.
The case was growing serious, indeed and +,
at last, it came to a head, when the head of
the family informed us that q woman was to
come in few days, with her Wheeler nd
w llspll, anu uU up tlle ldulIy seWlnR. VI
course, we submitted without word. And
the three capable persons of this household
began to prepare matter for the machine, to
an extent which showed how perfectly they
had been fooled by the story of its executive
ability. Piles of large stuff lay in each cor
ner little stuff covered the table and mis-
cellaneous stuff lay everywhere. We ran
against cotton heaps, were in danger of get
ing tangled in webs of linen and sbeeting at
every turn, and such ripping, and tearing,
and cutting, and basting. as went on, would
lead one to imagine that an army was to he
clothed.
The day dawned The woman came, and
the iron Wheeler and Wilson came with her
only the lady had to act as beau, and offer
her aid to wait on W. and W. After a lit
tie, there arose hum from our chamber,
not unlike the buzz of wheat mill, such as
we have heard in summer, sitting under will
low trees on the edge of a stream, over
against a red mill. white-dusted.-Soon we
heard excited EXPLANATIONS. Everybody
seemed stirred up. The girls left off their work;
the children forsook their playthings, and
we followed the example.
There sat before the simple machine-stand
young woman, some sixteen years old,
whose foot, like that of old-fashioned flax
spnners, was working the treadle with the
nimblest motion. Then came the conviction,
for the first time, that sewing was conquered
and vanquished Long sheets, entering the
hemmed, in ridiculously short time. An
hours work was done up before your eyes in
one minute. A shirt was set in, of such d.
mansions, that 1--WE call Baron Munchausen
to witness y man could not get around it
by fair walking, in less thar, well, in some
time 1t streamed through the all punctur-
ing Wheeler Wilson about as soon as q
good-sized flag, being hoisted, would unroll
and flow out to the wind. A bundle Of linen
took its turn, and came forth collar, a
handkerchief, a cap. There goes in piece of
cloth there comes out a shirt We were
bewildered. Not much was done for some
hours in that house but gaze and wonder. We
mistake. A good deal more was done. and
done more effectually, than had ever been
done in ten times the time before What
heaps of towels-what piles of sheets-what
bedfuls of small trumpery-what bureaus
full of fine trash-what carpet-littering
stacks of unmentionable matters that make
up the clothinventory of household wealth
The dismayed woman of the house saw her
three days prepared work melting away be-
fore noon, as three days April snow dis
The voracious machine began to show its
teeth, and to demand more food-and now it
was fair race, whether two women could
prepare as much as one machine could per-
form : 1t did our very souls good At last we
hoped this was working fast enough Oh,
what early hours has our lamp been made to
illumine All, what breakfasts have we
eaten, and seen cleared away, long before the
sun touched even the cheek of day What
impetuous industry had glowed about the
house, forenoon, afternoon, night, midnight
never enough, never overmatched We
grew tired even to look at it At last, said
we, you We got your match. Now, then, we
will sit down and see this race, with a salts
faction that shall include years of revenge
for disturbed Incidence
For long time the match was doubtful
Sometimes it was the machine that had the
advantage and sometimes it was not The
contest was passing into the middle of the
afternoon. II was doubtful. Sometimes the
fast-driven needle evidently Igained then
again, in rounding up a sleeve-gathering,
the needle tagged, and then the hand worked
scissors gained But iron and steel are
more enduring, even than housewife cour-
age. And though for any single hour the
hand could prepare faster than the machine
execute, yet, taking the day through, Wheel
er and Wilson had the advantage, and came
out at dark decidedly ahead. That settled it,
There was revolution in this household
Our Miriam sounded her timbrel and triumph
ed over the cruel Pharaoh of the needle,
whose dynasty and despotism were ended.
The STATE HousE,-We see it stated, as on
good authority, that the citizens of Montpe-
lier are preparing to furnish the Superinten-
dent for rebuilding the State House with
funds to go on with the work, There can
be no objection to that course, in any quar-
ter, we presume. 1t seems to us to be very