Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1870-04-02
Air. Aneterson's Column.
Lathing.

" the head Of tic hammer Is greasy. II re-.
quires no sort 0f Bklll 10 hit ones thumb
hail. The skill that Is needed Is not In that,
but in a safe selection of the rapidly spoken
words that naturally supplement such an act.
All this comes to my mind as recall the
events that transpired during an attempt
have made u help on affairs by putting lath
on room that Is TO be plastered for my bene.
fit. Now retrospcction of the day calls TO
my mind some reflections which may be as
valuable to others as TO me.
1t is good thing for one 1T tile cibse of the
day to call up its incidents, with view to
practical observations upon them. The ui6st
trivial occurrence has a moral, if one viii but
see 1t. There is no such thing as n 6agdtelb to
the mind. Whatever dents is of aCC0Gnt.-
Would you not notice a thing that would chip
a piece out of q beautiful statue that you priz-
edy Would you look in Indifference at what
might mar valued paintings Then shall you
see with greater Indifference what may do
harm-or in any way aiTect-the infinitely
more valuable mndP
For these reasons love to call up the events
of the day, (oiten regretfully) and extort from
them lessons in life. So tonight am at my
lathing. II shall probably dream am at it
still The first thought is of the pain, and the
second is of the pleasure.
l. or the pain.
This is represented by aching thumb nails,
(Which will probably be discolored to- morrow, }
and by very lame rght-wrist, that makes my
pen Tess thing Of pleasure than usual
l know of nothing more painful, in the way
of physical pain,- unless, indeed, 1t be the
having of tooth prlled out by main strength -
than the receiving of heavily directed blow
from hammer on ones thumb nail, especially
If the thumb takes 1t edge-wisc. 1t seems as
If all the tissues were crushed into the bone,
which is itself shivered and ruined
Ones breath stops, the lips part, the face
grows distorted with that moment of horror -
stars dance before the eyes shooting pains
rush up and down the very arm, as though all
the nerves were in battle together 1t is hor-
riblel IA bullet wound Is more merciiul. In
that II seems as though n saw had been rasped
over ones flesh, or like the singing o: a hun
dred needles at once, and afterwards numbness
comes with a sinking, sickening sensation,
to be sure,-but the intense pain is over for
| time.
But not so with the hammer blow You stand
on one foot and shut one eye, while you
squeeze the hurt tlumb. Then you put it in
your mouth, utterly regardless of its soiled
condition from the lath. You snap it you
| press it between your knees and glare upon
it,-all to no purpose 1t hurts most villain
ously!
Some kind fIlend says,-ooking at you with
| an attempt at sympathy, while you see wicked
laughter in his eyes,
"Bore hole in the nail and let out the set.
ling blood"
You look on that person as your bitterest
enemy, and shut your teeth hard, that some of
the words that are behind them, may not get
out. You value your reputation too well to al
low their escape
This is u fearful ordeal. You cln only vent
your spleen on the hammer. That you hur
into corner, and you follow it with looks of
genuine hatred. If 1t was anything but II ham
mer it would be annhilated by your furious
glances.
Bnt with this comes a lame wrist. For a
student and particularly one who must wirld
a pen almost constantly, this is really more
serious. The pounded thumb must necessar-
| ly he on the left hand-unless one is a Dena-
mite, as l am not But the afflicted wrist is
the right (wrong) one, since it comes from
swinging the hammer
| 1t gives bhe sense Of humiliation that
physical ability is not up to ones will Now
my companion in la,hng, a man Of perhaps
not more physical strength than | have for Il
sudden work; piled the hammer all day, Il on
ly half day. and seemed to experience no Ill
effects. / was forced to use every available
pre- text for an intermission in my work that
might get rest for my athtu9 wrist: One quite
long respite got when hit my nail, but that
did not seem to help the wrist.
Now, as sit in my study am conscious of
the sympathy which exists between my men,
bcrs, as the thr0hs of pain seem to alternate
between the left thumb, Qhere doesn't seem to
be much left) and the right wrist There seems
.be current of sympathetic pain from the
one to the other
New, for the thoughts that come of all these,
have not room for enlightenment, and can
only name them.
| l. As to the sensitive nerves, how good they
are, since they will save me (as now feen
from pounding my nails (or any nails) again.
2, As TO the staunch principle that made a
fence of the teeth for the Keeping in of equiv
ocal words that pressed for utterance
| 3. AS To the relation between pain and pride,
which led me to see twinkle of fun in my
friends eye, in view of my accident
| 4. or the Legitimate calling, which has led
TO sueli neglect OF certain muscles, that they
enter protest of pain against such labor
AS contemplate this pain, it has led me to
the conclusion that shall not lath any more
| III. Of the pleasure.
There is an immense satisfaction in seeing
ones work tell. Now, lath is narrow, and
the space between laths is narrower still, but
the two combined add up fast in the closing
up of the open studdings, Then, too, we had
long strips of lath and l took places to work
where could use nearly the full length. BY
putting up one and securing it with one nail,
you seein 10 have gained So much on the side
Of room. dozen or so can go up in that
way, and then you naif the ends and places
between at your leisure, enjoying the satisfac-
| tim Of xVnrk hnu