The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1886-11-12
constant heating

| SOISObhO Nv
Having cleared the window frame
I secured the new pane in place witt
tiny tacks and thought that was al
| could do, with no putty attainahlt
short of the Court House, nine miles
away. But the glass ratified in 6
way unpleasantly suggestive of pos
sible breakage, and lump of hare
putty falling into my hands. cast
about for the means of softening it
Heated iron did not work success
fully, so | inquired of lay husband Of
what materials putty was made, and
finding that oil was an essential in
gredient l tried the emolllcnt power
of kerosene, not having any in-seed
oil, and soon reduced the lump to
working order. To apply it with an
old case-knife was an easy matter
and little prac tice enabled me to
make quite aworkmanlike job.
Soldering was the next branch of the
tinker's trade which | essayed, and
this l found very useful. A solder
ering iron. little powdered rosin, a
piece of solder, and old case knife
enabled me TO render many pan
and tin pail water-tight. l soon
learned that the edges of the hole
must be scraped bright so that the
solder would adhere. A very little
rosin sprinkled on, and a careful ap-
plication Of the solder melted of
with the hot iron, seldom failed in
stopping leak. A stout poker was
my first soldering iron, but it lost
its heat very quickly, and the first
time I visited New York 1 invested
in bona flde soldering iron which
is wonderful comfort.
A very annoying, but very com
mon occurrence, is the parting com
pany of lamp and the brass collar
into which the burner is screwed. A
really satisfactory cement for this is
made by stirring plaster Of Paris in.
to thick solution of gum arabic I'm.
til a tolerably thick mortar is made.
| have fastened door-knobs with
this cement very successfully.
A break in the stove-pipe or in the
collar Of the stoye in which the
stove pipe fits, can be temporarily
mended by cutting the top and bot
tom off tomato can, and after it
has been cut open and hammered fat
fastening it over the broken part by
means of fine wire.
1t seems great pity that girls
are not taught the use of tools more
often than they are. Almost every
woman finds at times that the power
of using a hammer, gimlet, saw. and
sometimes chisel, quite as useful
as that Of using needle. The pres.
ent move in the direction of manual
training fortunately includes girls,
and happy will the women of the fn-
ture be in the ability to do "whaLso
ever their hands findeth 10 do" Ger.
tainly the power of repairing the
hundred and one little breaks in a
house is far more useful than much
of the elaborate fancy work so beau
tifully executed nowadays. But one
need not exclude the other. The
power of using ones hands is, how
ever, only half. We must cultivate
an inventive spirit, so that if we
have uot the proper tools we can
manage with what we have. An in.
yentive spirit is very necessary for
tinkering, and in spite of sneers
about the small number of women in
ventors, women are very inventive
The very limited number of tools
which they generally have at their
command helps to develop this inven.
tive tendency. A friend of mine made
very pretty playhouse of two stories
and garrett with slipping roof, out OF
packing boxes, with no other tool.
than a meat saw and a hammer
need not say she was first rate tinker
-Eliznbeh B. Sykes in Ehrich's
Quarterly.