Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-02-25
Miscellany.
The Use of Both Hands.

Don't use that hand" and use your
right hand" are iniunctions that the
child hears from the very first; and
before he is old enough to understand
the spoken words, the outstretched left
hand Is put back and the coveted toy
given only to the right.
"Why?" he asks as soon as he Is old
enough to demand a reason for the
slight put upon the unoffending mem
ber.
Because" replies mamma, sagely,
1T is awkward" or, sit isn't polite"
Why 1t should be awkward or impo-
lite to use the left hand, mamma never
thinks to enquire That the exigences
of military discipline in some fighting
age of forgotten barbarism made it
necessary that all men should give pre-
ference to the same hand, or some other
equally wise and potent reason estab-
lished the custom at time when one
skillful hand was enough for one per-
son. mamma neither knows nor cares !;
nor does it occur to her that times
change, and that a good rule for one
generation may be a bad one for another.
Grant that social convenience is favored
by the uniform use of the right hand
for certain purposes, that is no sufficient
reason for subordinating the left hand
hand in all things, especially when the
conditions of our lives and occupations
make it very frequently imperative that
the unframed left hand shall learn TO
DO the work of the disabled right hand.
From the nursery the boy goes to
school, and here the same unreasonable
prejudice awaits him. Through instinct.
accident, or caprice, he grasps his pen
or pencil with his left hand, and his
kuuckles are sharply raped for it.
Why should he not be taught to write
and draw with both hands? 1t would
take but little if any more time and if
it did. it would only keep him busy
during moments which he would other
wise devote to idleness or mischief.
The acquisition would never be worth
less, and ii might be of immense con-
venience to him. He might never have
occasion to use his double capacity
after the fashion of the popular scientist
snd teacher whose two-handed black
board sketches are such delight TO his
auditors, ana who is said to pursue his
microscopic studies with pen at one
side and pencil at the other, drawing
with one hand and writing with the
other as the development of his subject
may require; nevertheless his two-fold
skill would ever be a possible source of
satisfaction and advantage to him. He
would be free at any moment to rest a
hand exhausted by protracted use with
out any interruption of his work; he
4 l. ILL % l,n lSGal1aI hx-
trifing hurts; and, in case one hand
were stiffened by heavy labor, the other
might be kept in readiness for delicate
manipulations, for writing. drafting and
the like.
We have seen more than one ambl-
dextrous artizan whose ability to handle
tools with either hand, as occasion de-
manded, gave him constant advantages
over his one handed mates, not only IN
the avoidance of fatigue, but IN the
performance of nice work and the over
coming of difficulties, hard TO come at
by those restricted to the use of a single
hand. The right handed man who can
use hammer or a knife readily with
his left hand, or can tie or unite a knot
when his right hand is otherwise en-
gagged, will find frequent use for his
skill. Indeed the advantages. We miss
through the non-cultivation OF the neg
lected member are infinite in number
and of incessant recurrence. They are
among the taxes we pay to custom.
It would ne useless 10 recommend
the nature 20 undertake the culture of
their left hands. They have been '1eft"
unused and unframed too long; and
the proper time for such work is in
childhood and youth, when the muscles
are tractable and time abundant. But
need it be useless to urge parents to
encourage such training on the part of
their children, or, at least, not to dis
courage it?