Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-06-20
can easily cut !. 600. 900 needles in day
Of twelve hours"

can easily cut /. 900. 900 needles in . day
OF twelve hours"
Dorothea's eyes widened.
"How are they polished?" she asked
"I hardly know whether / can ex-
plain the operation to you. replied her
mother. "The needles are tied up in
bundles. and are placed in what is called
the securing They are kept
in motion from eight to ten hours,
which gives them a silvery appear
ance."
THAT seems simple enough" OBJ
served Dorothea-
81 didn't say they came out Of the
machine polished" resumed her moth
er. 1.-The rolls are then covered with
putty-powder and oil, wrapped in cam
vas. and placed in a similar machine
called the pc ishing-machine. A tEird
process is necessary. The canvas Is re-
moved and the needles are agtated in
vessel filled with soft soap and water"
I'm order to remove the oil?" Dor
othea asked.
"Yes, dear. They are finally dried
in ash-wood sawdust, after which they
are tempered"
(which means made brittle, don't it,
mammal"
''Just so. 1t is done by making them
hot, plunging them into oil, and after
ward'burning off the OIL"
Dorothea was very much interested.
She closely examined the needle which
she had in her hand.
Mamma, do they drill the eyes and
sharpen the needles before they temper
thema" she asked.
"Yes, Dorothea. Twas getting along
too fast in my description. A clever
workman will drill and polish the holes
of seventy thousand needles q week.
That is large number, mamma.
Are they sharpened on grindstone"
Eyes"
''One needle at timer"
''Oh, no. An expert grinder will
hold twenty-five of the wires at once
against the stone, presenting all their
points by dexterous movement of his
thumb"
Dor0thea pushed her inquiries.
"Where are needles principally made,
mammal
'In Redditch, q small town near Bir-
mingham. in England. 1t is the great
center of the needle trade, and it may
be said that 1t has supplied the whole
world for almost two hundred years.
Ninety millions of needles are turned
out every week"
1t was larger number than
Dorothea's mind could grasp.
Did they use needles in old timesp~
she asked.
They are mentioned by some very
old writer's. The beautiful Babylonian
embroideries. which were often made
out of gold thread, were wrought with
needles. The body of the wife of the
Emperor Honorius, whose grave was
discovered at Rome in 1874, was
wrapped up in an embroidered dress,
from which thirty-six pounds of gold
were obtained. The needles used by
the ancient Egyptians were made of
bronze. They had no eyes in them,
owing to the difficulty of piercing such
minute holes in the metal"
Dorothea put away her patches, q
thoughtful look filling her face.
Mamma, she said, "they had
needles in Bible times. Needles that
had eyes in them, too"
why do you think so. Dorotheap"
Because it says, in the eighteenth
chapter of Luke, twenty-fift6 verse,
that it is easier for camel to 90
through needles eye thar for a rich
man to enter into the Kingdom of God"
THAT. Dorothea, is now supposed to
refer to the name needles eye,' which
was given to the narrow side entrances
in the fortified places in the East. In
India. AN elephant going through
narrow door, or through the eye of q
needle, is a proverbial phrase. Others
say that in the dialect of Galilee the
word for camel means also the cable of
vessel 1t is not at all probable that
our Saviour meant the eye of sewing
needle. lOung Folks Friend