The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-06-17

o'"ih"I geherai DOdLy organization, be
cause each requires bone and muscle
strength and energy, hardness and health
IN short, the power to generate vitality
by converting food into nourishment, thu
giving muscular force and constitutions
vigor to perform the necessary labor. Bu
the mental differences required for a 6rst,
class blacksmith, miller, or farmer nigh
cause failure in one or all if their voca
tlOns were exchanged
BLACKsMITHIYG.
We regard the blacksmith as the prime,
of mechanics. He is at once an artist anC
a mecbanist. He who can mold statue
having in bis mind the image. while the clay
Is yet but rude mass, and knows bow &c
remove the excrescent parts, ard mold the
mass into the requisite forms, has the same
talent which the blacksmith requires, who
wlthdraws from the forge the flaming bar
Of metal, and is required to mold it with bis
hammer into the desired shape. This shape
must exist in his mind as the statue does in
the mind Of the sculptor, and though the
fact Of repeated heavy blows seems a rude
way of working out bis artistical thought.
1.s.s.s Il y cid iHHa6 ia nIaAl... l-11s -9e -@1
smith could be also an artist in clav and
marble. But the blacksmith, 10 order to
reduce the firm metal t. the form required,
must have muscle, strength, executiyeness,
resolution, thoroughness, power, and, if We
might say it, the elements Of fineness join.
ed with the elements of cOarseness; tie
elements Of taste with the elements OF
strength.
A irst-class blacksmith requires to be a
6rst-class man; aud though his face be black.
ened and bis hands hard, be will generally
be found with fine, strong brain.
We are speaking, it will be remembered,
Of the tirst-class blacksmith We have
visited large factories where edgetOols
we're manufactured, and in the examination
of hundred or two Of the forgers We have
found them TO be very superior men, cIpa-
Die Of taking and maintaining a good rank
in any field Of industry or education. In
such places the best wOrkmen are required.
Ample compensation attracts the best class.
Competition weeds out the poorer, and pre-
sents as a result class Of men who are ar
honor to any age or country.
The faculties which the blacksmith mus
have to be tirSt-class are, large Form, tC
give the idea Of shape. and enable him 1
realize the form required in the articl,
which is Kissing on his anvil. He does not
like the carpenter, map out the article b.
chooses to make, and hew off all the un
necessary parts, but molds the whole mas
into the thing desned, or so much of it al
is required, wasting nothing. lie mus
have the organ Of Size, which measure
proportions and magntudes, and 50 nicely
is this faculty exercised, that rivets, nails
and other small articles that are made with
out measurement, will be found almost ex-
actly alike in size and weight. We ma,
say that the wood-turner also requires th
organs Of Size and Forms IN an equal degre
Of development and culture, but he does no
require so much Imagination or creativ,
talent as the blacksmith.
The blacksmith requires Constructive
ness, to give him an idea Of mechanical
adaptation, and also facility in the use Q
tools He must understand the mechanic
al laws which are involved in the construc
ton of the thing in hand, and the mechan
ical forces required to produce the desire
result. lie needs Ideality, to give appre
citation Of style, beauty, and harmony, an
to aid in creating the thing in his mind
eye, before the iron begins to take form
short, clear conception Of what is to b
done before it is commenced. If be
making edge-tOols, and has to temper them
be needs the faculty Of Color, to appreciat
the reqdisite shade or color or the steel wher
by the action of b at, the temper has com
to the right point.
The faculty Of Imitation, also, enables
man to initiate bis own processes until b
whole body, as it we're, becomes habitnate
to the doing Of particular thing. We b
lieve that an experienced blacksmith, if
would work month in making horse-n nail
or nife-blades, or any other small affail
h5 could make an article with bis eve
shut, guided by the sense Of feeling, com
municated to him by the handle of bis han
mer, and by bis sense of hearing-Imitatio
aiding if not lying at the bottom of this stat
of facts. In other words, the process b.
comes automatic, just as does the using
the knife and fork, walking, dressing one
self, and the like,
These, then, are the talents required b
this most useful of mechanics. We sa
d o.. useful, because be not only makes b
sn tools, but the tools Of every other nj
cbanic, or the tools BY means Of which ever
mechanics implements are constructed
, But the blacksmith requires, in addition
these talents, tho disposition, as well as ii
bodily conditions, to qualify him for b
, work. These talents might be pOSsesst
! by the Matchmaker, and, in the main, Ougl
to be. But the blacksmith must nave Il