The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1888-10-17
RURAL INDUSTRIES.
"eATH,sp CHAT ABOUT SOME OF OUR
SMALL MANUFACTURERS.


The WagonmaIker of an obscure Village.
American Mechanics In Country Towns.
Tho Fodder. Chicken Merchant, Etc.
why People Went West.
was about to say that l talEo an interest
in the small manufacturers Of the land, and
ran upon one Of these only yesterday at an
obscure village which is about fourteen miles |
from any railroad, and at that distance has
three different railroads tantalizinglv de- |
scribing kind of diamond around it, but not |
one drawing any nearer. The consequence |
has been that the artisans Of that little vii
lage have adhered to the crafts of their fore |
fathers. My wife wanted a wagon and had |
been TO this village to Gee the wagonmaker's |
assortment and drove eleven miles to look
into her selection. There was a plain man
who had lived through all the civil war q
firm Unionist, had manufactured from his
youth up the different kinds Of riding
wagons, and was still making them between
the intervals Of his job work. Living re-
mote from a railroad, In a country Of
abundant food and wood and leather, ho
could afford to make wagon for 20 per
cent less than city work. His little warehouse
one Of these which had been transformed had
been driven nineteen years by its purchaser,
who then sold it back again and got new
one Here, for $50, you could get hand
made wagon quite as cheap as the cheapest
pattern made wagons In the western states.
For $50 you could buy what is called Day
ton wagon with two seats; for $40 you could
buy tongue made to order, and according
to tho dimensions you might leave, the
tongue being set with all its paraphernalia,
with front and rear For 81 you could have
a brake put on any wagon. or course the
springs Of these wagons are made at different
places, such as Wilmington, DEL. the wheels
are generally made in the adjacent country,
and sometimes come from the west All the
rest Of tho machinery, except the iron fix
lures. like the steps, is made on the spot.
We are constantly saying that there are no
American mechanics, but we are only talk
ing about the towns. In tho country towns
of tho United States there are just as many
blacksmiths, wheelwrights, ETC., as there
ever were. These men, working alone and
making all parts Of a finished product, not
dividing their labor into series Of single
drudgeries become intelligent and OBJ
servant and keep their eyes upon the manu-
featuring centers of the country and know
| new patent Is better adapted to thor purpose
than an old one. In this way the old Ger
manic regions Of tho United States through
eastern Pennsylvania, middle Maryland and
| central Virginia keep up their little shops of
oil descriptions, and on emergency you
could collect q small army Of country me
! cbnnics, every ono of them old in this soil
| and stock
Again you will see, about twice a week,
| through the district / have described, the
| chicken merchant come past with his wagon
constructed to put chickens in tho body,
| turkeys towards the front and other sorts of
| fowl in about the rear He goes surrounded
with caclsllng and Growing, and his little
game Is TO forward the said chickens to the
| city market Ia coops aud crates mnde for that
cnd.
About twice q week, also, you will see the
| cgg and butter man come along In a wagon
manufactured for his service. Ii contains a
refrigerators part for the butter and a saw
dust body for the eggs. He buys chiefly
| from tho poor, and these who want ready
money, who would otherwise put in their
butter and eggs at the country store In tho
way of bnrtering, and thus suffer two shaves;
| first the shave Off their product, and, sec
ondly, the shave upon the product they ex-
change for, Tho egg and butter man pays
rcligiously but cents pound for butter to
tho country people who keep COW or two.
He pays 6 cents dozen for eggs at nearly
MI times of the year. He saves the wayside
a walk of two or three miles to the next viii
lngo store. At tho present timo eggs arc Is
cents dozen at tho stores, and therefore
every tiino tho egg man surrounds dozen
eggs he has made 10 cents.
You might not suppose that there were
country potters any more in this region, but
you would be mistaken there. They have an
old pottery at Hagerstown, which is moro
| than 100 years old and know Of one IN an
| obscure part Of tho country which has sup
| ported two or three generations of tho Same
| family In respectable independence That is
60 say they may make $500 year IN cash
upon their pots, jars, etc. The man gets his
| clay from some distance, and has o little kiln
| which you would hardly think to be more
than Dutch oven, and no has small shop
| where he sits at his wheel aisl makes his pots
| and jars Sometimes he delivers them at tho
railroad station, and at other times the farm
ers como with their own teams and place the
| pots In the straw and take them home to their
| wives, who fill the said pots with pickles, pro-
servcs. catsup, apple butter, etc. Really our
| largest manufacturers have come from these
| little beginnings. The majestic works OF
this country, which employ 1000 hands, fro
| quentIy began with a rural blacksmith.
Not long ago l drove to the only county
scat or court house town in Pennsylvania
where ii 10 said tho whole county is destitute
| OF railroad facilities had to cross u mount
ain to yet into this county, and there lay the
court house clustered In beautiful but mar
row valley with abundant streams. The
whole county was walled in by nature, like
some parts Of the Alps. For fifty years the
people had conceived that railroads would
have TO come TO them some day, because
| they wero on ono OF tho great lines OF COM
| inunication between tho east and west. At
last some Of the Pitiburg people united with
| tho Vanderbilt family to run railroad
through that region, and spent a great deal
| Of money In beginning the tunnels and build
| ing the steel towers to cross the chasnns. But
the cxigencies OF many railroads united to
Withdraw all this enterprise just as tho con-
summation seemed within reach. The peo-
ple there have settled down to the conviction
that now they will never have any railroad
whatever.
Tho result Is seen in the moving Of every
young man TO Kansas, Dakota and the far
wost The young men stayed around as long
as there was chance to work on therailroad
and enjoy the fruits OF its construction.
When they found the matter was knocked In
tho head, SO to speak, they packed their
bundles and set Off for tho excursion train
which, once q week or twice month the
year through, runs from these old settled
parts to Kansas and Nebraska. You would
eco in those trains tho Dunkers, tho United
Brethren, tho Lutherans and tho Reformed
Brethren taking their lunches frequently
with them, going to Kansas under the charge
Of q guido which tho railroad company EN-
los or even less. They look at the new land,
figure up on their old farms, and then
dispatch d son-inlaw or a son to the new rer
gion to put in his crop upon those plains and
prairies, where no trees are to be cut down
nor any stores arc TO DO gathered from the
surface. George Alfred Townsend in Boston
Globe.