The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1892-07-02
SING a Oh.
- TlNsAatTh DISCUSSES THE oPPoR-
TUNlTleS or HIS TRADE.


1Aoughsfal Parents--what . Boy May
Rxpect In Work and wases-Details Of
sAe ApprensieeshIp.
Matthew Barr is the walking dele
knke Of the Tin and Sheet Iron Workers
NsEion, and worked for many years as q
Afnamith In shop and in business for
Mmeelf. THE tinsmith trade" said
4Gx. Barr TO reporter. ISIS split into sew
nEal branches. and to be able to do all
Kinds Of work in tin and sheet iron, re-
auires considerable time spent in each
department. Sheet iron work, as it is
nnderstood in this city, is carried on in
what are known as furnace shops,
sghile the manufacture of tin goods is
regtricted to what are called assortment
ahope-' Apart from these there are the
cornice makers and slate and metal
roofers, which are included among the
branches that tinsmiths must know to
nound ont their knowledge.
1.-The best age for boy to begin the
Einsmith trade is about sixteen. He
ought to have picked up sufficient edu-
cation from the common schools at this
age to give him fair start in life No
boy is bound out as an apprentice to a
Hnsmith in this country, but beginners
are not looked upon as full fedged
5ourneymen until they reach the age of
manhood, no matter how proficient they
may be. In some shops boy has very
little show, because there is system of
employment which practically excludes
him
This is the result Of surplus of labor
In other countries. Tinsmiths land here
from other lands with but little knowl-
edge of what the trade requires here.
but with general knowledge of the
business and the use of tools. They ap-
ply for work in shops and they are taken
on In preference to the native born bows
who desire 10 learn the trade. These
foreign mechanics can learn quicker
than boy generally. and while they are
hired for low wages, they in a short
time are able to do almost as much work
as an expert tinsmith This system is
against the American boy, but so long
as there is money in it for the bosses it
will be kept up.
This trade is no, such a laborious
one that it requires ali unusual amount
of strength \ tinsmith need not be as
strong as carpenter, blacksmith or
bricklayer, but he must have plenty of
endurance. He ought TO be versatile
intellectually. because he is not a mere
machine, but is often required to make
entirely new things. which can only be
done with fair degree Of inventive
skill, besides AL expert knowledge of
the use of tools
"a boy Will never become a good tin
smith if he is not obedient and patient
He will have to do soue simple thing
over SO many times that life will be-
come very weary in the shop before he
is set to work upon something that ap-
pears to be important to him In the
assortment shops boy viii first be
Taught how TO use the shears. He will
Be given lot of old scraps To cut up.
and before his muscles get nsed to the
movement he will think that his arm
viii drop of. He will receive about
three dollars a week ID the start.
n nv AOACAIId WdA(fIS~ ttt- NY Cart
fully. and i be does not take hold of the
heals and other tools haniily in
few days, he will probably remind
him that he has made a mistake in his
calling. SoIue boys are put at this and
other trades by their parents who would
make god clerks and salesmen. lint
never Will BE- good mechanics To ac-
custom t4e boy to the use Of the ulallet
ard hammer. he Is kept strengthening
old HgB When he knows little about
tools and shows tue proper spirit III
doing his work. be is sent 10 the Jonr-
neymaa's Ueityh to hold things for him,
and fn this way gets an idea of the prac-
ticaI USE Of tools. He may he kept at
this for long time, and this is the
period that will test his patience.
1T is always red letter day for the
beginner when the foreman gives him
niece of metal and tells him TO make
drinking cup. He has seen il done many
times, but when he comes 70 cutting ont
ne Tin and getting 1t into shape his I'm
Gers seem TO be all thumbs. He wants
10 make good cap, bat his anxiety will
knock IL ont Of shape. When il Is all
brightly polished it is taken TO the fore
nen for inspection. Nine times out Of
~ the beginner is told TO take II home
a . memento. He feels very happy.
Init he would not think go much of his
work il he knew that the real reason
that Il was not taken by the foreman
wae that Il could not be sold.
ssThe boy viii soon find this out when
- foreman keeps him making cups nm
~ he gets perfect one. From cup
- eoes TO other things of minor impOr.
f0ce. which he IL kept at until no grad
ua1ly SECURES skill. II depends upon
- boy himself how much time he will
W1ste before he becomes an expert. II
h - civil and obliging the jOnrneymen
MN teach him pattern drawing, and in
dds way the boy will-leaEn how to block
out the models OF every kind Of WORK