Evening journal., 1898-11-03
MONEY IN BAYONETS.
How 1t Was Made by a Wash
ington Blacksmith.
lie worked the weapons of War
Into the Implements of Peace,
and Received Good Pay
for HIS Labor.

for His Labor.
Il wish | could pick up the bayonets
that have been thrown away around
Santiago" said q blacksmith in one
Of Washington's down town shops.
What earthly good would they do
you?" asked bystander.
81 could make a small fortune out
of them" replied the blacksmith. Just
as did once before with the bayonets
that we're picked up at Antietam and
Harper's Ferry"
''How's that?"
"Well, I don't'know as It did me any
good-leastways it doesn't now that
have lost 1t all. Perhaps thatiis the
reason that think l would like to
try il again. was young man when
the war was over and was living up
at little out-of-the-way place In the
mountains of Maryland. Ihad learned
my trade Of my father, who fell at
Gettysburg, and the world was before
me. / settled down TO shoeing farm
horses and mules, repairing reapers
and mowers, and doing odd jobs OF
all kinds. Prices were better then
than they are now, and the country
had some cash In 1t. 1 did well and
laid by little capital.
zone day an old fellow living way
up on the mountain came into my shop
with a bayonet in his hand. On the
other arm was little basket of nice
white eggs.
"'Cap,' he said, as he laid the bayo-
net on the anvil my unyin patch is
all gormed up with weeds and filth.
an eff yo' could on'y jest make me
leetle narrer hoe outen this baynet
fer this yere mess O. eggs, reckon
I'd hev a right good chance of un-
yins.'"
"I took the bayonet and hit 1t tap
against the anvil and it rang like a
bell. There was the best of steel in
II and I knew I could make a first
class hoe out of it. 1 had seen any
number of bayonets, army muskets
and swords kicking around in that
country, but I had never thought of
using them for anything before.
stuck the bayonet into the fire and
In a few minutes I made a very pret-
ty little onion hoe for the old man.
I cut off about two-thirds of the steel,
then bent the rest around nearly
square with the ferrule and fattened
4 it out into nice sharp blade an inch
wide. The ferrule 1 left untouched so
4 that the hoe handle could be put into
y It. There happened to be an old ham
die standing in the corner Of the shop,
and I put it in for the old man. 1t
hung just right and made the prettiest
garden weapon you ever saw. The old
& fellow was delighted. A few hours
later he came in again and told me
how the hoe worked. He said it was
so light, so thin and so sharp and
strong that it was play to hoe onions
something that 1 had always heard be
fore this was the hardest kind oi
work.
"What he said set me to thinking
If a bayonet made such a good onion
hoe why was there not field for max
ing them on u large scale? The bayo-
Il acts were to be had in quantity and
there were people enough raising on
ions. In few days a neighbor of the
old man came into the shop with a
bayonet and said he wanted a hoe
made out of It, Several others fol
lowed his example in the next month
or so and bayonet hoes came to be
known and generally used in that re
gion. put up a notice in several post
Offices around there that I would pay
five cents apiece for bayonets. They
came in by hundreds. In spare time
! made them up into hoes. which
finished off as nicely as I knew how
Then put little advertisement in th'
country paper and finally another il
an agricultural paper, and the order
began TO pour in on me. / charge,
s5 cents apiece for the hoes, and as /
did not take over five minutes to mak'
one, when I was making them il
quantity, I estimated that there wa
at least 25 cents profit on each hoe
] had no discount TO make TO the trade
I sold every hoe myself and got al
the profit myself. The trade increased
until bayonets began to get scarce ant
ia ] had to offer seven, eight and finall.
ten cents for bayonets and they wer'
slow to come in at that figure. Blu
for q year or two I sold the hoes b.
hundreds and I got very we'll fxet
financially. In my advertisement o
course / alluded to the Biblical motion
of beating swords into plowshares ant
shears into pruning hooks. This wa
very fetching with all sorts of goo,
people, and a good many, l suppose
bought my hoes not only because the.
we're a first-class article. but as relic
OF the war. Some of those bayonet
had no doubt pierced some poor fel
lows vitals. and let his life blood ou
upon the greensward on the battl
fields of the south. 1t is good to thin
that the use put them TO was NOR
peaceful and useful to mankind."-
Washington Star.