The record-union., 1893-02-06
NEEDLES.
Some Curious Facts About the Art of
Needle-NIakine.

Neeule-Maklns.
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 Red
ditch, few miles from Birmingham, the
needle-makers still ply their trade for all
the world. Twenty thousand people
make over hundred millions of needles
year. From the ugly pig of iron to the
fairy-llke needle are manifold processes,
but probably the drilling of the eye is
the most interesting of ali. The experts
can easily perforate hair, and thread it
with its own end. The steel wire Is cut
into the length of a bristle, and the
needles are born as twins, heads to-
gether, feet furthest 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 men's lungs
were inwardly ground to pieces by in
hailed particles of steel, slew tens of
thousands of strong men. Now, a blast
of air away from the grindstone makes
a grinders life a first-class risk for in
surance companies. Tempering, an
nealing and polishing are all worth see
ing 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 in
dustry 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 Summersault. All the
world since the first fig-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 a needle to be,
like that 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 mythol-
ogy, held the ''eye' in his hands, and 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
potency. AS Americans gave the world
| the sewing machine and a new kind OF
needle, so they manufacture this sort and
this only
AT Springfield, Massachusetts, the Ma
tional Needle Company make and finish
every year thirty million machine
needles. Prussia, the great war power,
put spike on her helm and needle in
her gun. and with the latter humbled
! Austria. The United States, which, as
President Arthur declared is the great
pacific power, put her needle in frame
and treadle to tighten toll and clothe the
naked. Probably here is a true parable.
LAS naked as a needle" is an old pro-
verb, yet though nude and hmbless, the
needle has features and anatomy. \ ct
| all the world does not see eye to eye, as
their terms and description show. Mis-
sionaries who translate the gospel, in
which camel and a needle. a rich man
and the kingdom of heaven, meet only to
separate, must keep their own eyes open.
! The translator of the Corean New Testa-
ment had TO write, at is easier for a
| camel to go through the ear of Deedle.''
And this though the Coreans, like the
Japanese and unlike the Chinese, wear
no earrings. The ear of the needle
| Hal hal what gossip could the steel give
| to tongue, had it one?
In English literature how often the
needle shines The open book of Lon
don street names-a volume of English
| literature in itself-tells of Threadneedle
arms of the Needle-makers' Company
of London, but "the Old Lady of Thread
needle street, is the Bank of Eng
land. All England took up Corbett's
epithet, which stuck to this Mrs.
Darlington of his time. Does not
Dr.. Marigold call bank-note ''a silver
curl-paper which | myself took off the
shining locks of the ever-beautiful
LADY,? From great Shakespeare to the
poet of ''Sunset and Evening Star" the
shining inch or two is often mentioned.
Even in politics and controversy an Act
| of Parliament is only the needles to
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 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 "Adam's flannel" "?-Harper's
| Bazaar.