Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-06-20
GQorrester Daily Spp.
OUR FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH A SEWING
MACHINE.
BY REV. HENRY WARD BEEcHER.


BY REV. HENRY WARD BEEcHER
Among the things which we did not Init
now do, believe in, is the sewing machine
one thlng after another had been invented :;
one thing after another had superseded mammal
labor, until human hands seemed to Oh ont Of
use, for any other mechanical purposes tI,an
that OF lovers pressures, orators gestures. and
Tor beauX and bellies gloves. But we always
consoled ourselves that one or two things there
were yet, which no machinery could perform
We could imagine children put throuoh
whipping machine and we had long been ac-
customed to see them taught by automatic ma.
chlnes. There was time-honored business
handed down to us, without break, from the
Garden of Eden, of courting-and kissing as
one OF Its ordlnances-no machinery could eyer
perform that. Machine poetry, and machine
sermons, we were familiar with. Babbage can
make machines for cyphering, for computing
loganthms, Tor casting up interest, but can he
invent machine for SdUing interest and cant
tai, too, for that matter And oh can there
ever be machine for answering letters We
would pay any price for a machine into which.
letters being put, and crank turned, there
should drop out at the other side answers. as
good as the letters, folded, directed, and stamp
ed!
But machines have steadily gained ground.
and the iron muscle has relieved the flesh
hand machines for boring saving, cutting,
pianlng for making bread Il wish there was
one Tor 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 i'm
possible things was sewing Nothing. we
We're sure, could ever perform that, except the
latest and best invention of Paradise-woman
When the rumors began to prevail, then, re-
speeding an invented sewing machine, we lift
ed our eye brows gently, and went on our
way with consciousness that we could not
be taken in by any such story. We regarded
1t as OF piece with new-fond morality in
Old politicians, with the thousand annual ru-
mors of some heaven-dawned virtue in Wash
lngton Clty--a mere device to catch the cred
ulous.
But day by day, the clatter grew. Indeed.
we surprised ourselves with coat sewed in
important respects, by machine. We saw
linen pyramids Of sheeting made for hotels
and steamboats, by sewing machines.
The case was growing serious, indeed
and, at last il came to 4 head, when the head
of the family informed us that woman was
TO come in few days, with her Wheeler and
Wilson, and do up the family sewing OF
course, we submitted, without a word And
the three capable persons Of this household he.
extent which showed perfectly they had been
fooled by its executive ability. Piles of large
stuff lay in each corner little stuff covered
the table; and the miscellaneous stuff Law eve
rywFere. We ran against cotton heaps, were
IN danger Of getting tangled in Inen and sheet
lngs at every turn, and such ripping and tear
ing, and cutting, and basting, as went on,
would lead one to imagine that an army was
to be clothed
'ln Iutf n No
the iron Wheeler and Wilson came with her.
only the lady had to act as beau, and offer her
aid to Messrs. w. and w. After a little. there
arose a hum from our chamber, not unlike the
buzz of a wheat mill, such as we have heard
In summer, sitting under the willow trees on
the edge of stream, over against a red mill
white busted. Soon we heard excited excIa-
nations Everybody seemed stirred up. The
girls left their work the children forsook
their playthings, and we followed the exam
pie.
There sat before the simple machine-stand
a fair young woman, some sixteen years old,
Whose foot, like that of oldfashioned flax
spinners, was working the treadle with the
nimblest motion. Then came the conviction,
for the first time, that sewing was conquered
and yanquished Long sheets entered the fatal
press, streamed through, and came out hem
med, in a ridiculously short time An hours
work was done up before your eyes i'll one
minute. A skirt was set in of such dimen-
sions that 1--WE call Baron Munchausen to wit
ness y man could not well get round it by fast
walking in less than-wel in some time! 1t
streamed through the allpuncturing Wheeler
& Wilson about as soon as Il good-SiZcd flag,
being hoisted, would unroll and flow out to the
wind. A bundle of linen took its turn, and
came forth a collar, a handkerchief 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 efiectualy,
than had ever been done in ten times the time
before What heaps of towels-what piles of
sheets-what bedtuls of small trumpery-
what bureaus full of fine trash-what carpet
littering stacks of unment enable matters that
make up the coth-inyentory of household
wealth
The dismayed woman of the house saw her
three days prepared work melting away before
noon as a three days April snow disappears
in few hours
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
perform 1t did our souls good. AT last we
hoped this was working fast enough. Oh, what
early hours has our lamp been made to IL
n
en-, and seen cleared away, long before the sun
touched even the check of day What I'M
petuous 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'ye
got your match. Now, then, we will sit down
and see this race, with satisfaction that shall
include years of revenge for disturbed lndo
lence
For long time the match was doubtful.
Sometimes it was the machine that had the
advantage, and sometimes it was not. Inc
contest was passing into the middle OF the al
ternoon was doubtful Sometimes the fast
driven needle evidently gained then again, in
rounding up sleeve gathering, the needle
tagged and then the hard worked scissors
gained But iron and steel are more endur-
ing, even, than housewives courage And
though for any single hour the hand could pre-
pare faster than the machine could execute,
vet, taking the day through, Wheeler and
Wilson had the advantage, and came out al
dark decidedly ahead. That settled it. Thert
was a revolution in this household. Our Mlr
lam sounded her timbrel and triumphed over
the cruel Pharaoh of the needle, whose dynas
ty and despotism were ended
Now, sewing is the family amusement Ou
Wheeler and Wilson is played on great dea
more than our Steinway plano-and is u
cause, too, of more real music than is ever go
out of that instrument; for two canary prus
perched on either side of the bookcase, unuer
stood the first click of the sewing-machlne U
be challe age, and while the machine sing
sTAccATo, they MARBLE AID LIBITUM, ana DC
fNun. tl,a,a nfi