Evening star., 1909-01-10

got q four-foot pine board. 1t was rough,
and l knew I had a tough job. but I was
determined to make a roll Of honor of
it. This job was the most tedious in
all my experience, but the more difficult
the task the better 1 like it. After sew
era1 days I had a framed cross made Of
the board. From each arm Of the cross
I suspended twenty-nine links Of a chain.
The links and the chain are all one
piece. At the bottom of the chains 1
carved scythe. The board never split
use any glue or nails in making this big
piece. After sandpapering the cross,
links and scythe carved Careful Clean
ers' on the scythe and ornamented the
cross.
''On the right arm Of the cross 1 carved
side 1 cut the name Of the boy or girl who
brings q new member to the Sunday
school. On the left arm Of the cross 1
carved the sheaves and on the links on
that side I whittle the names of the new
members Up to dAe have carved about
forty names Oh the links which are about
a quarter of an inch in width. Last Sun
day l carved four names, two old scholars
school. eA ~ -
Il have just finished similar design,
although much smaller. j have offered
this as a reward to the boy or girl who
on the big roll. When the winner is
determined will carve the same name on
all the links of the smaller roll:
why are you carving the letter @
now?" inquired the reporter.
i've got that far on my second alpha
bet.'' said Nichols. THE pastor Of the
church said he would like to have me
whittle a motto from Scripture to place
over the pulpit. He hasn't told me what
motto he wants, SO / decided to carve
out two or three alphabets and when
he makes his decision / will have all
the letters ready to be tackled over the
pulpit"
carve any given design OH almost any
kind Of wood he ever saw. but prefers
dogwood. oak. pine and hickory. Fire.
uuently he has whitfield out the emblems
OF various secret societies and used hard
wood such as is employed in flooring
mansions. He says this is difficult work.
but he likes it because he learns more
about the wood on every job.
Naturally a person vino has Whlttieo
as much as l have must become familiar
with all sorts OF wood said Nichols,
land l can come pretty near telling the
age OF piece Of wood by the way 1t cuts
l had long laugh on some good ladies'
who heard OF me as whittier ana want
ed me to carve one hundred canes made
from the wood taken from the White
House when it was being renovated sew
eral years ago. They had the canes
turned or shaped at some shop and
brought them to me to whittle fancy de-
signs on them. They told me the WOOD
was fifty or a hundred years old, and l
took their word for it until began whit
fling on the wood. The sap gushed from
the wood like water from fountain, ana
| laughed at the thought of any one be-
lieving the wood had been chopped down
more than six or eight months. l carved
about twenty of tho canes. but the ladies'
never brought me any more. guess
they got wise to the age of the wood
and learned that its history was not quite
so closely connected with the White
House"
aud O station Nichols desired to pre-
serve a souvenir OF the old building when
it was torn down after the opening of
the Union station. Naturally, ne TOOK a
large piece Of pine wood. More naturally,
ifa whittled the wood At present there
is in the home Of Wasiiinston's champion
whittier, o2414 18th street southeast,
wooden obelisk.
The obeiisk is three feet hlgil. 1t
stands upon q six-inch-wide base. On the
four sides of the base Nichols carved the
rnri1s .E,aith." ,'IIope," Charity. Love
After shaping the wood into o5elisk
form the whittier thought it too plain and
began ornamenting II.
From the base to a height of six inches
he changed the corners OF the monument
so as to represent four Gothic pillars
while he carved the oblong block of wood
into perfect bail.
Higher up Nichols whitfield four more
posts leaving similar oblong piece OF
wood in the center. This he later formed
into pulpit. with an open Bible resting
or it, Still the piece looked too prosaic,
and after ascertaining the number OF the
pages in the Bible on which appeared his
fayorite passages, he Inscribed the words
on his wooden book and properly num-
bered the two leaves which showed.
There yet remained TWO feet o. the
monument 10 be decorated. ard the cham
pian outwllttled himself in the ornamen-
tation. With courage and determination
he set out to carve something new to him.
When the last of the shavinss had been
brushed away a five-i1ch wooden bell,
perfectly formed and equipped win
huge clapper. hung between the last four
pillars. The hell was the termination OF q
two-inc.i thickness of wood. This did not
suit the whittier. SO he carved u chain
link and a hole in the top of the bell i'll
order that it might swing 10 aud fro in
the belfry.
For several days Nicilols thought Of a
decoration for the top of the monument.
While he sandpape pered the remainder OF
the large stici, of wood. a square block OF
rough pine ornamented The head of the
monument. After all except the block had
been made as smooth as glass and as per
feet as II 1t had just been turned by
machine the whittier rea acbed the conclu-
sion that a cross would be the proper
thing to top off his work Of art. He
lt,,rr h. risy yllf