Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1860-11-17
M A G II I N E r Y
BY G. B, FoRNEY.

A dcputaion Of Indians to Washington,
few years since, were conducted through
the city to see such objects as would inter-
est them,a and among the places visited was
the Navy Yard, where after an inspect on
of the paraphernalia Of war, they were ta-
ken to a room in which steam engine was
u: work. Though they had been examin-
ing many things that to them were Won
dertul, there was none Of them impressed
them 50 deeply as the engine and after
invited observation Of it for some moments
they remarked to their interpreter, that
they were now convinced that the pale IA
c's We're next in power to the Great Spirit
who, to them, seemed embodied in the in
grn,ou, piece Of mechanism before them
Ii the untutorcd sons OF the forest are ca
pablo Of discriminating works bearing the
impress Of mind, from mere baublcs and
display, those who have been brought up
in the light OF civilization, should certainly
take an interest in the labors Of the mech
anist, and study the amazing powers with
which he invests inanirnate matter, and the
Atupenaous results which flow from his
devices. Though it has been common to
disparage and underrate the degree of in.
tcllect necessary to the production Of the
useful, and in many instances, wonderful
l,inofinn. tlnt ~, t,l h., a.,
mind Of the inventor, and fashioned into
material forms by his hands, such works
nevertheless, emanuatc from mental re-
sources as vigorous ana imaginative, as
glowing as those that waited Oh the pencils
OF Rapheal and Angelo, and on the muse
Of Shakespeare and Milton From whence
but such an oasis flowed the grand and
imposing ideas, of which We behold the
embodiments in the Ocean Steamer, swift
ly pursuing its course over the waves of
the mighty deep in defiance of the mount
ain pillows an angry tempcsts, that stalk
about it the locomotive, belching fire and
smoke from its nostrils, as it rushes on
ward with lightning speed, with long trains
like huge serpents sweeping after it; the
amazing machine to calculate astronomi.
cal and navigation tables, as well as logar-
ithmic and tables of the powers and pro,
duct of numbers, creation repletc with
the richest imagery, culled from the pro-
life field that yields inventors, whether
delineatod on canvass in poem, or en-
braced in q machine the lathe for copy
ing statuary, with which the works of the
sculptor, costing the labor of months and
years, and be duplicated in the durable
materials of marble and metals and ma
ny other equally ingenious and astounding
mechanisms. On what productions of a
purely ideal noture has intellect lavished
more grandeur, than on those enumerated,
On none that come within the widest range
of reading and observation; and why ther
give currency to the erroneous impressions
Of some few conscrvators of musty lore, tina
mind can gather but few and meagre tro'
phies in mechanical pursuits? To young
men, especially, we would say emphatical
ly, heed not such an opinion, for it has al
In 1869 Richard Arkwright obtained hi
patent for the spinning .Jr4me, by which
great number of threads of any degree o
fneness and anrdness can be spun, requir
ing no other attendance than feeding Will
cotton; and Baines, in his work on cottol
manufacture, estimated the number of op
eratiyes, as early as 1888, in the spinning
mills of England, at 100000, who wit
the .nscnlou. machinery, originated b.