The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1877-10-04
A HANDY MAN.

a HANDY MAN.
1t is singular what q fascination
there is for some men in a piece of
work they cannot do. We do not re-
fer to the industrious gentlemen who
perch on an empty store box. on the
shady side of the street, and watch the
busy masons build brick house five
stories high, and never move from
their post of observation, save at meal
time and bed time. We mean the
"handy" men, who never hire a car
penter, or bricklayer or painter, but
do all the little odd jobs about the
house themselves.
A handy man is a mixed blessing.
His ability is never equal to his ambi-
tion. II he could accomplish half he
undertakes, he would set the river on
fire in a week, and have the world
turned upside down before anybody
could stop him. He keeps tool chest.
made by his own cunning hands.
Every time he opens it the lid breaks
off. and when the treasures of that
tool chest are thus exposed to view,
the astonished spectators gaze down
upon what locke like q miniature edi-
ton of chaos, stirred with a stick.
For the handy man, ,being,as he will
modesuy tell you, just bit of an
amateur in everything, has some tools
of every trade. He has tools, slots,
shelves for every particular tool in the
chest, but the tool is never in it's place.
When the handy man wants anything
ont of that assortment HIS usual meth
cd ia to upset the chest and pour all
the things out on the ground. Then
he paws over the amazing heaps of old
clock wheels, door hinges, broken
latches. tack hammers, screws of all
sizes except the size he may want, brad
avis, tangled skeins of black thread,
knots Of fishing lines, loose tacks, a
shoe makers hammer, screw drivers,a
wrench or two, Jumps of beeswax, q
key hole saw, a spring bal
ance, dog chain, pointless gimlets, a
wooden faucet, billiard ball, two or
three epiral bits, and broken brace
mended with twine, handful of cur
tain fixtures. book binders lettering
tool, cork screw, portions of lamp
adze, some suspender buck.
les. trunk lock, three or four ham,
mers, u pench plane, a leather knife,
three. cornered file, pair of dental
forceps, husking peg, timers
shears, drawing knife. inch augnr,
dozen or more pistol cartridges,a a two
foot rule, try square, carpenters
gauge, a stone cutters chisel, lancet,
and somewhat less than hundred
things that no living man knows the
names of. The entire stock is the ac-
OF ars.some OF the weap-
ons he had when he was boy at
school. The others had been added to
the assortment year by year, and he
has no idea how much there is Of it,
nor how varied 1t is.
1t is q remarkable fact, too, that if
the handy man wants to nail q picket
on a front fence. he has to use every
last, lingerin, solitary tool in that
box of to0ls.
Mr.. ThrOckmorton, out Oh Bound
ary street, is handy man. He has all
the credentials and full regalia of the
order. lie has probably taken the
and is no doubt know wn
in the fraternity of handy men as the
Keeper of the Full Box of Full Boxes.
Mrs. Thr0ckmOrtOn's neighbOrs all
envy her, and goad their men to mad
ness by pointing with pride to the
shelves and brackets, and things which
adOrn Mrs. rs. kitchen aud sitting
room, and make her home q model of
convenience, all the work of MIR.
handy hands. But the
gOaded men have seen ThrockmOrtOn
at work, and they laugh their wives to
scOrn. If aud only such a simple
thing is wanted as nail in the kitch.
en- wall to hang a tin pan on, they
send for the carpenter, unless the ex.
aspersted wife drives the nail herself,
and lays her thumb, u mangled sacri-
flee, upon the alter of domestic econo.
my and handiness.
Tuesday morning, Mr.. Throckmor.
ton was about starting for the office
when his wife timidly asked him If he
wouldn't have the timer come up and
mend q small hole in the bottom of the
wash boiler. Mr.. Throckmortor
paused.
"In mend it tmyself," he said, throw
ing off his coat.
Mrs. ThrockmortOn sighed. Shs
would have much rather had the tin
ner do it. But Mr.. Throckmorton
like all handy men, never missed q,
opportunity Of being handy. lie go
out the boiler and found the hole, ,
| tiny orifice no larger than pin head
He found shady place on the side o
| the porch at which to work. Then h'
went out to the woodshed and opened
| his tool chest, and presently returned