The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-30
CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT NEEDLES.
Needle Making, the Needle in Europe
and America, and Needle Proverbs.

Needle Making, the Needle in Europe
and America, and Needle Proverbs.
William Elliot Gri6is, in Hd-per's Bazaar.
AS matter of fact. the art of needle making
was kept secret until about 1850 when it was
revealed by Christopher Greening. In the
little town Of Redditch, a few miles from Birm-
ingham, the needlemakers still ply their trade
for all the world. Twenty thousand people
make over 100, 900 of needles year. From
the ugly pig OF iron to the fairylike needle are
manifold processes, but probably the drilling of
the eye is the most interesting of all The ex-
perts can easily perforate hair and thread it
with It's own end. The steel wire is cut into the
length OF bristle, and the needles are born as
twins, heads together, feet farthest apart. In
the old days the ends were sharpened at a cost
OF life that made this industry more deadly
than war The grinders asthma" by which
strong mems lungs were lnwardly ground to
pieces by inhaled particles OF STEEL slew
tens OF thousands OF strong men. Now, blast
of air from the grindstOne makes a grlnder's
life first-class risk for insurance companies
Tempering, annealinR, 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 rivers the lightning and the child
of welded fire and water to do their work, make
any needles.
Yes; for it was the yankee who made the
needle turn so.nersaut. All the world since
the first ig-leaf-sewers threaded the needle in
one fashion. 1t was the yankee who discovered
that it was threaded at the wrong end. He de-
clared the business end of q needle to be- like
that of a bee farthest from its head. Either
Elias Howe, or the other man, who did not win
the lawsuit, was the first men who. like the hero
in Greek mythology, held the "eye'' in his
hands, ana put it where he would. He drilled
the needle and inserted the thread at the other
end, and set it in arms of steel, multiplying its
potentcy. AS Americans gave the world the
sewing machine and new kind of needle SO
they manufacture this sort and this only. At
Springfield, Mass, the National Needle Com
pany make and finish every year
coo machine needles. Prussia the
great war power put spike on her helm and a
needle in her gun, and with the latter hum bled
Austria. The United States, which, as Presi-
dent Arthur declared, is the great pacific power,
put her needle in frame and treadle to tighten
toll and clothe the naked. Probably there is a
true parable here.
LAS naked as a 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 forms and descrip-
tons show. Missionaries who translate the Cos
pei, in which O camel and needle a rich man
and the kingdom of heaven meet only to sepa.
rate must keep their own eyes open The
translator of the Corean New Testament had
to write, 1t is easier for e camel to go through
the ear OF a needle" And this though the
Coreans, like the Japanese and unlike the
Chinese. wear no ear rings. The ear of the
needle! Ha ha! what gossip the steel could
give to a tongue, had it one2
In English literature how often the needle
shines The open book of London street names
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 Mrs. Darlington of his
time Does not DR.. Marigold call a bank
note "a silver curl paper which myself took
off the shining locks of the every. beautiful
LADY," From great Shakespeare to the poet of
Sunset and Evening Star" 'the shin
ing inch two is often mentioned
Even in politics and controversy an act
of parliament is only "the needle to draw in the
thread or 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 not more of paganism than of
Christianity in the name devils needle'' given
to the dragon fly. Are not our first parents and
their limitations pictured in the term bestowed
upon the thorns and fibers of the yucca plant
of Adams needle and thread" while another
velvety leaf is named Adams fiannel?"