The San Francisco call., 1899-09-17
Girl as a Naval
frchffecf.

A bright-faced girl works with hammer
and anvil at forge in a shop next TO the
railroad tracks in Boston. Her name is
Lydia Gould Weld; the shop is part Of the
Massachusetts, Institute of Technology,
and she is studying TO be a naval archi-
tect.
Miss Weld is q years old and daughter
Of the late Franklin Weld Of Falmouth
While attending the Institute OF TechnoI-
ogy she lives with her relative, George T.
Seavers. in Morton street, Jamaica Plain.
She IS an attractive girl Of medium height,
with brown hair. blue eyes and a merry
laugh, which does not go at all with the
popular conception of the erudite woman.
She has not had a college education in the
classics, but is well up in mathematics
Before coming to the Institute of Tech
nology she was a pupil at a fashionable
school in Bryn Mawr.
Miss Weld, says the ST. Louis Republic,
made her choice of the profession of ma
rine architecture a few years ago, when a
yachting party Of which she was one put
IN at Bristol, R. I, TO repair a broken
Herreshofs while the work was being
done the desire to be a master of that
craft took possession of her and grew to
serious purpose. in which she was hu-
mored by her family. In the same shop
with Miss Weld are working about fifteen
young men, some graduates of universities
or sons of manufacturers, who have here
more facilities for learning rapidly than
| In the shops Of their fathers. Miss Yields
!
mering TO point the end of short piece
Of iron bar. Next she was given a foot
length of bar and told TO make it into
About this time the biisters began to
come. The nrSt was at the base of the
forefnger Of the left hand. This burst,
and the continued abrasion Of the hammer
| handle turned the skin black, leaving a
| square half an inch so tender that an or
binary girl would have cried had anything
| touched it. No cries and no gloves for
Miss Weld-onIy more hammerfng.
day or two later she made an iron
bracket like that used TO support a man
tel. There are three nail holes in each
arm of this bracket, which must be
punched and countersunk at the anvil.
In using the punch she missed it with one
swing Of the heavy hammer and struck
the back Of her left hand a hard blow,
peeling off the skin and raising swell
A hook and staple was one of her easi-
est pieces of work. She surprised her in
structors with the ease with which she
made an iron strap similar to that used
for SuSpending the ends Of timberS.
After that she tried fagOt welding, be-
ing given three scraps of iron, which she
forged into single ba". This is not so
easy as 1t seems, and many an apprentice
blacksmith has become Yexed in spirit to
see the cracks in plain sight and one or
two stray ends sticking out.
The most difficult of her tasks so far
has been the timber-hanger. Six or seven
years ago, says the instructor, young
man became so angry at the obstinacy
| into this form that he hurled the mated
thing through the open window to the
furthermost side of the railroad tracks
/ and walked out of the shop, leaving a
| blue streak in the air as he passed. Two
or three days later he returned in humble
and determined spirit and managed to
conquer the troublesome bit of iron This
| is an indication that Miss Weld's path is
not altogether one of roses, and that the
problems in forging set before her are Of
! the kind that would sometimes test the
| patienCe of q saint.
The reporter asked the instructor If he
| didn't give his extraordinary student
more attention than the young men but
he explained her proficiency by another
reason, saying:
"She is more than usually quick to COM
prehend what is told her. In grasping the
principles of forging she has proved her
self the equal of any Of the young men.
Her use of the hammer is fully up 70 the
average. She has very strong arm and
does not appear to get tired. A few days
ago 1 was busy in another part Of the
shop for a long time and was somewhat
curious to know how she was getting
| along When I got back TO her she asked
me tokingIy, if I had forsaken her.
| found that she had progressed as well as
If I had been advising her, and she went
right ahead until the job was done