Smyrna times., 1897-01-27
AMBI-DEXTERITY.
For the Smyrna Times.


tion in the natural order, immediately
replied-the human hand.
In its mobility, in its adaptation t.
the marvellous cunning that exacts tn,
admiration of the world in works O.
art in the profession and sciences; il
the facility in which it executes crimes
that stain civilization and sends shud
der through the stoutest hearts; in tht
tenderness in which the soft velvety
hand strokes the brow of pain and al
leviates intense suffering.
1t was more than an aphorism OF
Napoleon when he said-"The hand
that rocks the cradle rules the world. -
In all the stupendous achievements
that come and go with the centuries in
creating, it paves the way for other
hands to equal or excel.
The delicate mechanism that records
IN minute accuracy the flights of time
acts IN unison with the rythme of the
ponderous machinery of the ocean
greyhound that dashes the foam from
its cleaving stem as it finds a wav
through pathless deep.
The human hand has called a halt to
Nlagara's seeming waste of waters. un-
til now the cataracts mighty roar can
be heard amid the gentle rustic of
tropical Palm-trees, while a blaze of
light rivalling in brillancy the Aurora's
flash CLEANS in the Northern skv.
But this genius of the hand is bv
no means the cumulative efforts of
ages to be reserved for its full exploit
ing in these Fin-de-Siecle times.
What we call the Biblical times of
the Worlds period is replete with
wonderful displays of skill wrought
by hand whose process are unknown
at the present day.
Not an artifcer in the workshops of
the world to-day can so temper a blade
OF steel like the famous Damascus
blades that could be coiled through
and through the handle, and springing
back, sever falling leaf with the ra-
pldlty of the lightning stroke. What
hand is there to day to excel the lace
work on the facade of the Cathedral of
Cologne, wrought in marble. Under
the dome of st. Peters at Rome an
army OF "a, 900 men could stand sat at-
tention" without being crowded while
looking down upon them the superb
trescoes of the old masters Rubens
Raphael, Michael Angelo would re-
mind them that where they stood was
sacred ground. In the ruins of the
temple of Baalbec in upper Syria are
stones "a feet long, laid in cement in
seams SO fine that their course can only
be traced with a needle. With what
rare skill must all the measurements
have been taken in the building of
Solomon's Temple, when it is recorded
that not the stroke of hammer or the
rasp of saw was heard throughout its
construction.
For a long time it puzzled the
modern engineers as to the best means
for moving the Cleopatra's needles
that lay prone in the sands of Egvpt.
when apparently it was no trouble for
the ancient engineers to up-end them
on the desert waste.
What would the builders of the
Pyramids say could they have seen the
durability of the ''staff'' material used
IN the construction of nearly all of the
Chicago Exposition Buildings. And
what would the ancients say of Chicago
as 1t stands? But here halt is called
Justice is not being done. Whether or
not the ancients worked with one hand
or with equal facility with either. goes
unrecorded. However, this we do
know leaving out exceptional cases all
of the brilliant conquests of the present
day IN the Arts, sciences and Mechanics
are the work of one hand, and that one
Is the right. The other is there. not
willing however, but with proper train
ing, could be made to do it's share of
the worlds work.
Some time when you have leisure
Just size up the easy time you are let
ting your left hand have at the expense
OF your hard working right.
You write letter and if Won throw
weight on the paper the left does not
even take the trouble to hold the sheet
down while his brother is at work.
say that if the muscles
nearest the heart could be exercised
more, fewer 80 called heartfailures
would be recorded. The UNEMPLOYED
left hand controls the muscles and
vast net work of nerves leading directly
to the heart.
1t looked at one time as if that ex-
cellent system of Primary object teach
ing, the Kintergarden, would break ND
the senseless right hand habit and sub
lect the left to wholesome training. but
habit is custom and custom soon be-
comes law. There is no good
reason why the left hand should
not have the same cunning as
his right good brother providing
the training is commenced at the
proper time in life and in no case is
that proper time when the child is
under parental control. Right handed
parents are not to be expected to take
great interest in showing up their
own deformities and most children are
naturally prone not to do more but
less than their parents. It is then to
that noble army of teachers who take
the sapling just as it springs from the
soil and gathering the idle, shiftless
left say here from hence forth you
shall earn your bread by the sweat of
your brow. JAMES B. SooTT.
Good Words For Woman.