The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-07-04
The CarDenter's Trade.

james Patton, in Youths COmpanionl
1 asked an excellent carpenter, few
deys ago, what was the chief quality a boy
must possess in order to become good WORK.
man. He answered without an instant's hes
itation-
Aptitude"
''But," ssid 1, how can you or the boy
himself tell whether he has aptitude or not2"
"Well," said he, after duly scratching his
wig, zone of the first things boy wants to
do who has in him the making of good car
penter, is TO hammer, whittle, saw and chop.
He likes to wstch men who are at work with
tools, and he has great deal of curiosity
about the tools themselves. By the time he
Is twelve years of age, unless all his native
sense and ingenuity have been schooled out
CT him, ne VIII make a very good dog house,
bird-csge and rabbit trap; put up a very
respectable shelf for his mothor in the store.
room, and knock together q pretty good shed
or summer house for his sisters in the gar
den. He has sort of relish for work and
tools"
Such is the boy for carpenter. The sd-
vantsges Of carpeDtering are so obvious, and
some slight degree of skill in il is so easily
acquired, that it continually attracts the
wrong boys as well as the right ones. In
these days Of sharp competition, the msn
can 90. or csn.do common things in super
Tor way
If, therefore, you do no. perceive in your
self any signs of aptitude" for the csrpen-
ter's trade; if you have no ''relish" for good
work and ingenious tools; if you have not
something OF the mechanics peculiar pa
tience, or power OF keeping on without fret
or worry, 1t is better to avoid the bench and
try something which does not require these
qualities.
Let us suppose, however, that, after proper
consideration, you have made up your mind
to be carpenter. How are you to get into
the trader
A boy now, in q country place, on coming
cut of school at sixteen years OF age, getsin to
carpentering in very simple way. He stops
st a carpenters shop and says perhaps to the
master
81 have worked with carpenters tools
little. My cousin lie q carpenter, and have
been round his shop good deal. Can you
give me jobl"
| If il is q busy time, and the master wants
hands, he will try him for day; "feel of
him." as carpenter expressed it, "to find
cut what he is made Of" He will set the
| lad to helping man make q picket-fence,
| one operation of which is digging holes tor
posts. Often, the first hole the boy digs de-
! cides lis fate. If he has "gumption,"
| the hole will have two qualities that win re-
spect-
First, it will be straight; secondly, the
minimum of earth will be displaced in dig
| ging it. An unhsndy boy will throw out
four times the amount of dirt necessary; he
| will scatter that dirt all around; and
after all the post may not stand upright in
the hole.
The boy that digs his first hole in that way
| is very likely to be told at the close of the
day, that he is not wanted the next. He
may be set to mailing on pickets, q very sim
] pie matter; only they must be put on
straight, just so far apart, and just so high.
A careful boy, after mailing on six pickets
under the eye of an experienced man, will
make no more mistakes.
He will soon learn to do easy work with
certainty and rapidity. His merits will at
| once attract attention, because steadiness and
patience are among the rsrest qualities shown
| by boys OF sixteen seventeen; and what
an employer most wants is men who can be
trusted to carry on piece of work without
| tuperintendence.
heard q carpenter say recently
"If q young fellow ssks me for q job, l
lcok him over first of all, and If like his
| lCoKs, mark two or three boards, give him q
| cav. and tell him TO saw them of. IT he
saws straight begin TO think there's some.
thing in him, and so do even If 1 only see
that he tries hard to saw straight, though he
may not hit it. Everything in our