Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-01-01
An Essay on WhittIing.


The average Yankee is silent and in
ventive. He paints his house white, and
finds way 10 get on in the world. The
average Southern man is gsrrulous and
not given to discovery. If be il q Mary
lander, he paints his blOek-house with a
coat of white wash; but he is never who'll
ly prosperous. The one is not afraid 10
take the Constitution to pieces, for he
knows that he can either put it together
again or else make something better t.
take its place. The other goes about his
work Of " Reconstruction" with groans
and eursing. And why all this difference?
We answer: The Yankee whittles; the
Southerner doesn't.
Why the young Puritan should have
gone to whiting, while the young Cava-
her went about something else, Is more
than we can tell. There are many things
that we cannot explain. We cannot, for
example, explain how it happens that
man Is developed from an embryo, which,
at one stage of its growth, has no appreci-
able difference from an embryo that be-
comes chimpanzee. However, our per
suasiOn is that God gave the young Puri-
tan better jack knife than he did the
young Cavalier. And now the Carolinl-
ans laugh at US tor whiting; and We
smile at our own selves on account Of the
same thing, then look up another piece of
soft pine, and go back TO our litter and
meditation.
But leaving our cause behind Us, the
fact remains that our Yankee begins 10
whittle st a very early age. This fact is
notable, and it deserves 70 be pOndered as
carefully as We study the tooth Of q mas
tOdOn.
Ii any Yankee, reading this, should
take time to review the employments of
his youth, he would, we venture TO say, be
surprised 10 see how considerable and how
important in all its consequences wss that
period Of his life which he spent in whit
ting. If he looks about him, he will see
that mis- neighbors' boys are this very day
educating themselves by q constant use Of
their Jack knives. He will see the wind
mills on the barns, their water-wheels in
the bitches, and their whiD-stoeks every
where. Every boy IS an architect
wheel-wrighI, q mill-right, bridge build
er, . ship carpenter, = sculptor, whose
only tool is pocket-knifa- Later in life
the BOY goes to work with the men who
whittle iron, oak, sandstone, granite and
marble. He then finds 1t expedient to
adopt some one Of these titles which be
earned in boyhood.
There is traiy class of boys who never
seem to get into the higher departments of
whiting. They never put away their
knives and bits of pine, but Whittle on,
growing apparently more purposely every
year, and producing nothing but shavings
But let Us think well of them. These are
themen who nurse their thoughts. Hiram
=, the village money-lender, whites
in the country store, and considers his in
vestments. Doctor - gets out mis- knife
and billet Of pine, and whites while he
prepares TO deliver an opinion and make q
prescription In these cases whiting has
become q sort Of tonic sedatiVo, cheaper
than tobacco, more haudy than tea, and
more innocent than rum. In this way,
restless natures reduce their activity to the
smallest degree possible, and thereby come
as near to repose and inspiration as they
ever do.
I, too, whitfield when boy, and had the
good Of it. Ny maternal grandfather,
who was an old whittier, predicted that
would be mechanic; Just what that was
could not tell, but had visions Of some
thing inetable and glorious. even
thought of being cooper, notion that
did not abandon until imagined that
nay wind was not strong enough to enable
me to Prove the tightness Of my work BY
blowing into the Tent-hole of a barrel.
The inventor Of the 0neidA Community
if I may be allowed to say that institution
was ever invented-4ffirms that he laid
the foundation of his education By whit
tling.
Its efficiency in training our youth may
be seen at once. It teaches he boy the
use OF tools; it instruct him in the prop
critics Of all kinds of timber; it teaches /
him caution, for does not his mentor wor-
~ him with the cid maxim, "Whittle !
from you, and You wot cut We :" 1t schools |
him TO the endurance Of pain; no small |
lesson, as may be seen BY counting the /
scars on Yankees Ieft fore. inger. In
deed, If we were in q foreign land, and
wished to prove the veracity Of stranger
who professed 10 be q New Englander, we
lhOald not begin to talk to him about cat
lie, IN order TO see how be would pro-
10unce the word eOl0 !; we should examine
his forefnger. To go back to our whit
ling: 1t gives q boy knowledge of me-
,hanics, and, IN the end, lures him on to
he invention of machinery.
These are grave considerations, and have
practical application The men of sci
,nce and the patrons of the ancient classes,
re already cisputing about the the mode
f education best adapted to the growing
mind. The former tells US that children
ught to be made familiar with things,
lot words. Our children, they say, are
hieAy anxious to become acquainted with
he nature and relation Of the objects
round them. We doubt this. Children !
re not so Intellectual and feminine as all {
hat; they are active, parctical, mascu-
inc; they desire TO do things and make
hiags. They want to white and they 3
aust whitte. For this reason the educa-
DTS of Oneida ought to consider the elm I
Of having professor Of Whit
ling in their Primary Schools, and of :
their children with jack knives 2
nd shingles. ."-The Cirelsla-. l