The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-06-10

ferent character, than is to be found
there to-day. Drake & Stone con-
Quoted an extensive tannery. They
tanned sole leather, using the hem
lock bark from the immense hem
lock forests that abounded on every
hand.
There were three saw mills there
then, one was proprietored by VIM.
G.. Stanton, another by Richard Oh
yer and the third by Stone & Drake.
Mr.. Brock was the village black
smith, and
THE smith, mighty man was he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Were strong as iron bands.
+
Week in, week out, from morn till
night,
You could hear his bellows blow;
You could hear him swing his heavy
sledge,
With measured beat and slow"
The old-line shops and the old-line
blacksmiths, like the old-line print
ers, have about vanished from the
face of the earth. Instead of the
old bellows that appealed to the boys
nowadays you will find a dinky lit
tie arrangement that you grind like a
hand-organ; and as to the old-time
sights about the shop, they have
about passed away. Longfellow drew
perfect picture of his day and gen.
Grafton when he wrote how
children coming home from
school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that
fly
Like chaff from a threshing-
floor"
In these days there are mighty few
children coming home from school
and if they do stop at the apology
for blacksmith shop that some-
times you may be able to locate, you
will find the blacksmith, quite like
ly, pale-faced youngster, fresh from
college, perhaps, and with the afore-
mentioned dinky little grind-organ
travesty on Vulcan's forge, you also
will find him tinkering up some
body's automobile. Oh, Longfellow!
These days would make you sick!
You died just in the right time!
Pardon me, please. Richard
Brock is the real disciple of Vulcan
we want to talk about. So here
goes.
In those days to turn out the work
necessary to keep three sawmills and
tannery running, the blacksmith
shop was indeed very busy place.
Mr.. Brock couldn't do the work
alone, of course, and he had two
assistants.
Not only did they shoe horses
then, but oxen were as plentiful as
horses, and oxen had to be shod.
Say, if you owned a yoke of oxen to-
day, where would you go to get them
shod? Further than that, where
could you find a blacksmith that
could do the work? Where would
you find shop equipped with the
facilities for shoeing oxen?
Mr.. Brock says he went into a
shop recently and the proprietor ask
ed him to make an ox-shoe. The
man had never seen one. Perhaps
you never have, dear reader. He
showed the inquirer how the trick is
done.
When ox-shoeing was in vogue in
Old Wayne county you could not
buy shoes for horses and oxen as
you may buy them to-day. Neither
could you buy shoe nails then. Both
shoes and nails were made at the
blacksmith's forge. When shoeing
was slack the time was utilized in
making various sizes of shoes. AS
to the making of nails, that was
quite different proposition. To
make a horseshoe nail was SEEM
ingly slight matter. To see it done
gave one the impression that "any-
body could do that" AS a matter
of fact it was one of the most diff
cult feats of the trade. To make one
thousand nails was counted a days
work. Mr.. Brock could make SO in
20 minutes, and that surely was GO
ing some.
saw Joe Murphy, famous Irish
actor, make horseshoe at a forge
on the stage. 1t took with the boys,
and they were willing to pay prem
iums to get those shoes. Now, after
talking with Mr.. Brock, the thought
comes to the fore, could Joseph have
made horseshoe nail? The nail
is small affair, but much import
ance has at times been attached to
the little bit of tough metal, for in
stance:
For the want of nail
A shoe was lost;
For the want of shoe
A horse was lost;
For the want of horse
A rider was lost;
For the want of a rider
A battle was lost
And all for the want
or horseshoe nail"
1t takes SO nails to shoe yoke of
oxen. There are eight shoes for
each OK, and it required six nails for
each shoe. .bA
TO shoe a span of horses it takes
"a nails-eight nails to each shoe.