The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-01-20
Curious Facts About Needles.


making was kept secret until aJput
1850, when 1t was revealed by
Christopher Greenlng In the little
town Of Rcdditch, a tew miles from
Birmingham, the uecdle makers still
ply their trade for all the world.
Twenty thousand people make over
a hundred millions of needles a year.
From the ugly pig Of iron to the fairy
like needles are manifold processes,
but probably the drilling of the eye
is the most interesting of all. The ex-
perts can easily perforate a hair, and
thread 1t with its own end. The steel
wire is cut into the length Of a bristle,
and the needles are born as twins,
heads together, feet furthest apart.
In the old days the end were sharpen
ed at a cost of life that made this in.
dustry more deadly than war. The
grinders asthma" by which strong
mems lungs were inwardly ground to
pieces by inhaled particles of steel,
slew tens of thousands of strong men,
Now, blast of air away from the
grindstone makes a grinders life a
hrstclass risk for insurance companies.
Temperlng, annealing, and polishing
are all worth seeing in the process.
So easily and cheaply can English
needles be made and exported, that
on our American tariff needles stand
on the free list. We have no hand
needle industry to be protected. We
still depend on John Bull and the
gentleman who wears the spiked
| helmet.
But do not our Yankees, who invent
who harness the river, the lightning
and the child of welded fire anc
water to do their work, make an,
needless
Yes; for it was the Yankee who
made the needle turn somersault
All the world since the first hg. lea.
sewers thread the needle in one fash
ion. 1t was the Yankee who dis
covered that it was threaded at the
wrong end. He declared the busi
ness end Of needle to be, like thai
of bee, farthest from its head
Either Elias Howe, or the other man
who did not win the lawsuit, was the
first man who, like the hero in Greek
mythology, held the "eye" in his hand
and put it where he would. He drill.
ed the needle and inserted the thread
at the other end, and set it in arms
Of steel, multiplying its potency. AS
Americans gave the world the sewing
machine and new kind of needles,
SO they manufacture this sort and this
only. At Springfield, Massachusetts,,
the National Needle Company make
and finish every year thirty million
machine needles. Prussia, the great
War Power, put spike on her helm
and a needle in her gun, and with the
latter humbled Austria. The United
States. which, as President Arthur de-
clared, is the great Pacific Power, put
her needle in frame and treadle to
tighten toll and clothe the naked.
Probably there is true parable here
"As naked as needle" is an old
proverb, yet, though nude and limbless
the needle has features and anatomy.
Yet all the world does not see eye
to eye, as their terms and description
show. Missionaries who translate the
gospel, in which a camel and a needle
rich man and the kingdom OF
heaven, meet only to separate, must
keep their own eyes open. The
translator of the Coreans New
Testament had to write, at is
easier for camel to so through the
ear of needle" And this though
the Coreans, like the Japanese and
unlike the Chinese, wear no earrings.
The ear Of the needle Hal ha! what
gossip could the steel give to a
tongue, had it one !?
In English literature how often the
needle shines The open book OF
London street names-a volume OF
English literature in itself-tells OF
Threadneedle Street. There were
three needles in the arms of the
Needle-makers' Company of London
but ''the Old Lady of Threadneedle
Street is the Bank of England. All
England took up Cobbett's epithet
which stuck to this Mrs. Partington o
his time. Does not Dr., Marigold
call bank-note "a silver curl-papel
which myself took off the shining
locks of the ever beautiful lady,
From great Shakespeare to the poe
of "Sunsct and Evening STAR the
shining inch or two is often mentioned
Even inpolitics and controversy an ac
of Parliament is only "the needle tc
draw in the thread of the new
measure. Proverbs also and folklore
locate the needle in strange places
Was the swain popping the question
when the haystack was made the
symbol of useless search? Is there more
] of paganism than of Christianity Ill the
name " devils needle" given to the