The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-10-21
The Hammer and it's Substitutes.

4
There exists curious lack of sympathy
between woman and the hammer, The ma
ture and functions of the hammer have never
been grasped by the sex. Occasionally a
woman is found who can make shift to
drive simple and easy tacks with common
tack-hammer; but such a woman IS even
rarer than man who knows what gusset
| Is, and can insert one into the neck of a
narrow shirt. The uniformity with which
the woman who uses hammer pounds her
fingers is not due, as superficial observers
imagine, to her inability to guide the ham,
mer by her eye. 1t would be strange, in
deed, if it were, for the eye of woman is so
constantly and thoroughly cultivated with
the help of the looking glass that it is far
more accurate than the masculine eye.
This can be demonstrated by simple and
pleasing experiment Let man try to
insert pin in his collar while looking in
a mirror, which of course reverses the ap-
parent position of both pin and hand. He
will find that the pin refuses to enter any
thing except his finger, and that he can not
place the point of it within half an inch of
the position in which he desires to place it.
j Now let woman seat herself before the
same mirror with a handful of hairpins.
She will place every one of them in her
back hair where they will do the most good
without an instant's hesitation. Nothing
could prove more clearly than does this ex-
pertinent the superior accuracy of the fem
mime eye. +.-
Woman pounds her fingers because Of
her entire lack of confidence in and SYM
pathy with the hammer. She is afraid to
strike a heavy blow that would force the
nail or tack firmly into its place, so she
strikes timorously and tentatively. The
result is that the nail requires to be held
upright between her thumb and finger, and
in that position is exposed to the greatest
danger. 1t is estimated that of every five
blows struck by women two fall on the
nail and three ON her fingers. From these
facts it has been ably argued by an eminent
philosopher and friend of woman that were
she to aim her blows directly at her fingers
the latter would be hit only twice out OF
five blows, and the nail would be hit three
times. There is much force in this argu'
ment but it is impossible to induce womer
to boldly aim at their fingers, and those to
whom the suggestion has been made have
invariably rejected it with scornful and
irrelevant reference to fddlesticks.
As there exists this want of mutual un
derstanding between woman and the ham
mer it is not strange that she should prefer
almost anything to the hammer as an in
strument for driving nails, Perhaps thu
most popular nail driver is the stovelid litter
1t is true that nothing could be more un
suited to the purpose. The stove-id llftel
is made of cast iron, a material painful.
brittle, and almost sure when broken tt
wound the nearest available female foo
with its fragments. Moreover its shape il
peculiar, and it is nearly always cuaved
This makes it an extremely difficult too
with which to hit anything. The woman
who tries to drive nail with stove-li'
litter sometimes hits her fingers, and more
frequently her wrists, but never hits tn
nail except by accident. There is no in
stance on record in which nail has beel
driven in with stove-lid litter; but, never
theless, it is the favorite substitute anon!
women for the hammer, and there Is scarce
ly household in which some woman doe
not pound her fingers with it at least twic
in every three months.
There prevails curious female delusiol
to the effect that nails can be driven will
hair-brush. IF a tack is to be driven int
the wall of bedroom, or hook is to b
nailed to the wall of closet a woman Wi
invariably try to do the work with hero
preferably her husband 's-hair-brush. |
must be confessed that the hair-brush whe
thus used is safe tool. 1t seldom if eve
bruises the fingers; but it is utterly ineffi
cient. Either it breaks at the third blow
or it fattens the nail sideways into tn
. plaster. In either case the work is a fail
ure, and the woman finds no refuge fror
disappointment, marred walls, and broke
brushes except in tears.
There have been women who have trie'
to drive nails with articles of glass or china
such as hand mirrors or heavy coffee cups
The fatility of such efforts is, however, s
quickly demonstrated that even before tn
fragrant of glass and china have been picke
up the fair nail driver makes up her min
that hammers must be made of sterner stuf
Brass candlesticks have become of late yeal
comparatively scarce, but wherever the
exist they are uniformly regarded by We
men as admirable substitutes for the han
mer. It is undeniable that tacks and eve
small nails of the species popularity know
as "shingle nails have been driven success
!, fully with the help of the brass candlesticl
but, on the other hand the carnage inficte
upon fingers by the sharp edge Of the fs
bottom of the candlestick is, in most case
simply frightful, so that it must be classe
as one of the most dangerous as well as Sc
ductive substitutes for the hammer that ca
, be found. i 49,
Razor strops, mucilage bottles, book
knives, legs of broken chairs, and heels {
shoes are among the miscellaneous hamme
substitutes in common use among wOmer
but they give little satisfaction. There
I no doubt that the genuine hammer is mor
efficient and less dangerous than any sui
stitute for it yet discovered by female ing
nuity, and could the mind of woman b
! brought into sympathy with the hammer
she could doubtless drive nails with em
inent success, and with only an infrequen
and purely accidental mashing of fingers.
New Method of In1aying Wood.
; A new method of inlaying wood hi
been contrived bv furniture manufactu