Stephens City star. (Stephens City, Va.) 1881-1883, 1882-04-22
Machinery.

were expensive luxuries. Each of the
tiny screws had to be turned, and every
cog in every little wheel measured off
and cut by itself, and every part care
fully adjusted to fit every other part,
while the slightest defect in the COM
plicated workmanship might utterly de-
stroy the value of the article. Clocks
and watches have now ceased to be the
luxuries of the rich.
It used to be said that it took seven
teen men to make a pin and the head
which was made by twisting a Ans
wire round the head of the pin-this al.
ways liable to drop off. Since then a
much better article has been produced
without the touch OF human hand-the
cutting, Matchmaking, pointing, polish
ing, even sticking of the pins into paper,
and folding up into packages, being
done by machinery.
Once every stitch in every garment,
and in everything else made of cloth or
leather, was taken by human fingers,
and "The song of the shirt" was a
weary one to sing. To-day the sewing
machine, which is found in every civil
lied land on the globe, has revolution.
lied the whole business of the tailor
and dressmaker and saddler, while it's
rattle is heard in many private dwell
ing.
Formerly all the departments of farm
ing work required the most assiduous
toll of hand. and arm, and foot, the
husbandman reaped his field as they
did in the days of Ruth and Boaz; and
threshed the sheaf and winnowed the
grain as they did when John the Baptist
preached. Now the lawn mower and
the patent reaper, and the steam-thrash-
er and winnower, have wonderfully
lightened the labor Of man. And all
the paper we had was made by hand,
and now it flows out of the mill like a
river
These are few very familiar examples
of change that is going on in almost
every department of life. There are,
indeed, few things which continue to
be done much after the fashion of our
fathers. Thus far there has been no in
vention which, to any great extent, has
superseded the time-honored way of
setting and distributing type; because,
no matter how ingenious the machinery
for doing this may be, there must be in
the nature and necessity of things a
special action OF the mind in handling
every Individual type-which SO far as
we know, cannot be said of many other
sorts of manual labor. The same prin-
ciple, to be sure, applies to writing,
and it requires great deal of practice
to handle the keys OF q writing machine
with the same facility that we guide the
pen. After all the machine really
prints and does not write; and we hard
ly ever saw page that issued from it
which did not contain one or more errors.
The cutting and hammering of stone
is generally done by hand, great part
of the work demanding an exercise of
judgment which cannot be infused into
piece of machinery. What is known
as "housework"-sweeping, dusting,
firemaking, bedmaking, scrubbing,
cleaning, cooking, and SO on, is still
done with little aid from mechanical
appliances; the "carpet sweeper" having
been found to be poor substitute for
the broom, and many of the contrivances
for tightening the labor of the kitchen
failing to do what was promised. The
barber continues to discharge the deli
cate duties of his profession in the old
fashioned way, and the steam engine
has not yet seriously interfered with
the ornamental vocation of the boot
black.
The highest order of work cannot be
done by machinery. The photograph
and the chrome merely reproduce some
thing that already exists, but they can
produce nothing new. The statue and
the picture that win the admiration of
the ages must first be conceived by the
brain of the artist, and then brought
into being by the careful touch of his
chisel or his brush-it is creation, and
machines create nothing. Even the
photograph, which is the work of the
sun, who is great artist in his way
lighting up the sunset clouds with gold
and vermilion, and giving its color to
the rose-even his work needs to be
touched by the hand of man.
In almost every department there is
a certain amount of machine work that
is indispensable. The world could
never go on without routine, and a
horse in a mill is as true to his destiny
as any neighing steed that tosses his
head so high, and outruns the strongest