Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1882-07-14
Borrowing Tools.

The needs of modern farming demand
o great variety of tools; indeed the
greatest difference between the farming
of to-day and of twenty years ago is to
be found in the great Improvement in
all kinds of tools, and the great saving
of labor that their use accomplishes.
Many of these tools are expensive and
require considerable skill in their use
and care to keep them in good repair,
so that the small farmer who has only
occasional use for them, and can ill
afford to own them, is placed in the di-
lemma of not being able to do without
them nor to buy them either; in his strait
he is fain to borrow.
Now, if he will but be careful to OBJ
serve two or three rules in borrowing,
lie will have little trouble in any good
Christian neighborhood, in getting any
tools he needs at any time the owners
are not using them; but by neglect of
them he will become an annoyance to
the neighborhood, and unable to supply
his needs without buying.
First of all no tool should ever be bor-
rowed without the knowledge and con-
sent of the owner, nor without an un-
derstanding as to when it is to be re-
turned. Second, any borrowed tool
should be returned Immediately when
it is no longer wanted, or when the
owner requests, and in case of any dam
age the owner should be informed and
satisfaction given. Simple as these
rules are, and strange as it may seem
that any one should neglect them, there
is probably no one source of trouble
between neighbors so fruitful as care
lessness or wilful neglect of duty and
common decency in these matters. 1t
is extremely annoying, when in need of
tool to be unable to find it, and espe-
cially so when one does not know which
of two or three careless neighbors to
blame for the annoyance.
know man who makes great pro-
fessions of religious faith, and whose
sincerity do not pretend to judge, who
has had in constant use, for u year at a
time, tools which belonged to a neigh
bor, and which said neighbor had to re-
place, not knowing where they were
lost; but when he found out at last who
was at fault, it made a great deal of
hard feeling, which was good deal
worse than the loss of the tools.
1t is good plan to brand all tools
with the owners name, which will
| serve TO remind honest persons Where
they belong and will often prevent their
being neglected. 1t is also a good plan
to keep slate and pencil in the tool
house on which a memorandum should
be made when a tool is borrowed. and
erased when it is returned--this will
serve to remind the owner where to
look for missing tools. With such pre-
cautions, and among decent neighbors.
the farmer who owns good tools need
not fear to follow the teaching from
him that would borrow of thee, turn
thou not away" There are, however,
neighbors and neighbors, and any one
who wishes to keep his tools where he
can find them when needed, will have
to discriminate between the careless,
unprincipled borrower, who never re-
turns borrowed tool till it is sent for,
and the careful, conscientious man who
always returns whatever he borrows,
promptly and in good order.
1t is often difficult, where several
men are employed on the farm. to pre-
vent their borrowing and lending tool'
with out the knowledge of their employ
ers; this is one of the most fruitful
sources of trouble, and needs careful
attention. No hired man should Dor
row or lend any tool without knowl
edge of his employer-and of the owner
of the tool in question.-W ID. Phil
brick, IN NeW-England Farmer.