The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-22
AS WE PASS ALONG.

Along with other signs of general pros
ond-hand shops now, tools are scarce.
When times are hard,
Secondhand or when long strikes
Tools. are on, the windows
and double-deck coun-
tiers of shops are piled high with tools sold
10 buy bread. In good times, only old
fashioned tools are left on hand. and men
come in daily to buy tools, for secondhand
shops often keep ordinary tools, hammers.
axes. shovels and saws, as the secondhand
dealer calls II. ''in the new" At the door
OF such a shop now stands a boys ax-an
old ak with a new handle plainly marked
30 cents" and yet the newsboy. after
jingling the shop door to throw in the even
ing paper, opens the door again to say,
How much is this boys ax?" He either
thought 10 cents was too good to be true,
or he hoped the lady behind the counter
would come down on the price.
All secondhand hammers sell again, 1T
Is stated, especially the claw and rivet
hammer. Old cooper's tools are not very
salable- as nearly all barrel work is now
done by machinery. Cobbler's hammers
and blacksmith's hammers are good stock
Carpenters tools and old saws of all kinds
are In demand at all seasons. Scoop-shov-
els get lively winter comes on and coal
has to be handled. Dirt-shovels and picks
seem to be needed always, but second
hand spades, garden spades, lie idle in cold
weather. Hetchets, old or "in the new"
keep steadily coming in and going out and
ak and Ratchet handles sell well. The
lady behind the counter said she had a call
for ship ak the other day, and knew
she had one. but couldn't find IL. So the
man had TO go off and buy a new one at
25o. and the very next day the old ak
turned up. marked 50 cents Old-fashioned
planes. hollow planes and beading planes.
owing to machinery. are dead stock nova
days, but ordinary planes are good sellers
Sometimes old-time tools sell as relics; an
old charcoal-heating tailor's goose sold for
~ cents this week. Among small tools. two
special tools are sure signs of spring: the
mapping hammer. or rock-breaker's ham,
mer. aud the garden trowel. When people
come In to ask for these the dealer saws
the backbone OF the winter is broken Sec
ond-hand garden trowels are seldom seen.
as they are. curiously enough. almost never
sold Mapping hammers have a sharp edge
when new, but resemble an iron doughnut
when cid. More white men sell their tools
than Colored men. as white men generally
have good tools, while the majority of
colored laborers put up with any kind
OF old tools that can be had.
Heres a curious bit of book history"
remarked an old book browser. taking a
slip Of paper from his vest pocket; lat the
NJ ha tue III
Old Kentucky volume OF an old Brit
Prestige. ish encyclopedia, pub
lished in America in
1918. I found a list of names-the subscrib-
ers 10 the second American edition. On this
list are only the States OF Kentucky, Ten
nessee. Ohio. Indiana and Alabama Terri
tory Kentucky, at that early period no
doubt. was the center of Western popula-
ton. emigrants from Virginia always strik-
ing out for the West through Kentucky,
and then distributing themselves north
ward to Ohio and Indiana. Consequently.
and strangely enough to modern eyes, Ken
lucky must then have been the great liter
ary center OF the West; her list of SUBJ
scrsbers 10 the British encyclopedia num-
bers l.31 names. distributed among forty
two counties. while Ohio had but nifty SUBJ
scribeTs, all @; Cincinnati. Indiana sub