Thomas County cat., 1886-12-09
A WONDERFUL MACHINE.

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Great-G-andfather Pritchet Surprises th
Boys on Thanksgiving. Morning an,
Teaches Them an Object Lesson.
| Great-grandfather Pritchet rubbe.
his spectacles right and left and VI
and down. and blew upon them, ant
set them astride of his nose, and tool
out his nippers and pincers ane
drivers. and gathered together th'
machinery OF the new, big. bright en-
gine with all the insides and outside.
of ga regular steamer" tn,
boys had taken apart. And every one
nudged and looked at every one else
for Grcat-Grandfather Pritchet was :
great man in his way, and nobody
could have helped looking and nudg.
ing when smoke-stacks and boilers and
shafts ana pipes and pistons went into
a hempen bag, and Grandfather
Pritcnct sat on the three-legged stocl
shaking them up.
''What is that for, pleasee" ventured
young Wilfred. chuckiing a bit to him.
self
I'm shaking the engine together, p"
was the reply.
1T will smash every single thing, "
muttered Johannes.
And Great Grandfather Pritchet
looked askew from under the
glasses astridc of his nose and ex-
claimed: odd! very odd!"
So it was; and every one was sure
of it.
''You said you would put 1t togeth-
err muttered Johannes, not very glee-
fully, land you are shaking it to
5itsr'
How's that? Is it possible!" ejac-
utated Great-grandfather Pritchct,
eying the bag outside; then glancing
within. ''No; not a bit OF it. Boy, you
are mistaken! 1t is but taking form;
the parts are but selecting their atti-
tudes; they are but preparing to COM
bine-to slip into their appointed
places"
And the nippers and pincers and
hammers and drivers lay cooliy on the
floor, while Great-grandfathe Pritch-
ct shook the bag as before. Johannes
bit his lip and turned red in the face,
and twirled about on his high heel,
and his brothers whispered among
themselves, waiting to see what was to
come next.
s. 1t will be ruined. Grandfather
ruined and broken to bits! Please let
me have the bag
"HOw! Why? For what?" inquired
Great-grandfather Pritchet, calmly, as
if amazed. "Will it not put itself to-
gether?''
"Why, how can it without hands?"
''HOw can it without somebody to do
it?' ''lt takes Il head as we'll rs hands
to put q steam-engine togethcr!' three
voices exclaimed.
Great-grandiather Pritchet looked
gravely at his bag.
"a head as well as hands?-in other
words a man. That is odd enough, to
be sure!-But now answer me this: if
it takes head and hands to put toy
steam-engine together, what must it
take to put man tOgether?-man, who
is mass of wonderful tissues, nerves,
muscles, bones; man. who is sensitive
and Intelligent breathing, moving,
thinking; man with his wonderful body
continually reconstructing itself; so in
tinitely delicate in mechanism that
pins point of deviation from the
proper arrangement gives anguish; so
wonderfully constructed that it moves
in all its complicated ways without
effort and without pain;-who is to put
such a creature together?'
And the three lads answered.: sGod."
''Now, suppose put this steam
engine together and make it run
smoothly, inquired Great-grandfathe
Pritchet. cycling the bag. ''what will
you do for your part, johannes; for
the steam-engine is yours?"
81 shall thank you very much, SIR"
Great-grandfather Pritchet stamped
his foot with its buckled shoe. and Jo- |
hanncs knew that he had made the |
right answer.
There are four of US here whom God |
has put together. All our joints work;
all our hearts pump; our lungs take
in the air and puff it out; our stomachs !!
take charge of our food and deal it. |
about to our wearing bodies; our ears
hear, our eyes enable us to see,
and our brains carry on a world of |
business. Which of us has misfitted
joint or q badly made bit of machin-
cry, or finds any thing at all wrong or
out of place in his whole body? Why.
not one of us; not one of us, though I
am not so brisk runner as once
was-not q soul of us! And whom
have we to thank: Put on your hats,
boys; the air outside, too, is clear and
bright; we shall not spen1 Thanksgiv-
ing morning fitting steam-engines to-
gether when we have not thanked God
that we are in comfortable working
order ourselves. Be quick now, and
ay about!''
And Great-grandfather Pritchet
hard on the floor with his
'pry, bebuckled foot, till the boys
started for their hats; and the boys
whisked about as though they were
trJ1ng their joints. and Great-grand-
lather Pritchet hung the hempen bag
IN . nail. while he and the three
Pntchets went to give thanks
George K1ingk, IN st. Nich0Ia& i