The Turning of the Tide; Or, Radcliffe Rich and His Patients

by Elijah Kellogg

"I'll save the body of them," he said, "and when I get some new iron, put on new legs, and Susan can have her tongs again."

He put them into the fire, and cut off the lips, drew down the small end to half its size, in order to save iron, and that the handles might occupy less room in his hand. A new difficulty now presented itself. Indeed, our smith, who was in want of everything but brains and perseverance, trod a brier-planted path. He had no punch to make a hole for the rivet, and without it all his previous work was useless. Punches are made of steel, or, at least, pointed with it; but he had no steel, except his tools and a file, that he needed to sharpen his saws and augers, and could not do without. He knew that an iron punch would answer the purpose; but where should he get the iron to make it of, for he had now discovered that he needed two pairs of tongs, in order to take two pieces of iron from the fire at the same time, to weld, and could spare none from the legs of the fire-tongs for a punch. He took the two oval buttons that had formed the lips of the house-tongs, welded them together, and made his punch. To be sure, at every three or four blows it bent; but he straightened it again, and, by heating the iron as hot as it would bear, succeeded in punching the holes in both pairs of tongs, and then took part of the punch to make the rivets.

So delighted was he when the whole matter was accomplished, that the big man capered around the shop for joy, and ran in to tell the good news to his wife.

"Now, Sue," he said, "let us have a thanksgiving to-day, for I have two pairs of tongs; let us have pea-soup."

There was not much left of the house-tongs, only the head, and about two inches of each leg, below the fork, just enough to weld to. The great benefit of the tongs was instantly apparent. Returning to the shop, William took up what remained of the punch, and exclaiming, "A blacksmith has the advantage of a carpenter, for he can work up his chips," made a hook. This he fastened to a belt around his waist. Of the remainder he made a clasp that he could slip over the handles of the tongs, thus holding the iron and liberating his hand.

Now, if he wanted to use his left hand to hold a punch or cutter, he could put a clasp over the handles of the tongs, and drop them into the hook at his waist; the iron, also, was not slipping out of the tongs and dropping on the ground, every three or four blows. He could now work alone to very good advantage, as he had no large iron to draw, and his wife was not compelled to take her hands out of the dough to help him.

"Wife," said William, when he came in from his work that night, "I am as tired as a dog. It's hard work trying to make something out of nothing." After resting his brain a while, and doing the new work his neighbors had brought, he began to think about making a hammer; so he cut off sufficient iron from one of the andirons, lapped it over, welded it, and formed the body of the tool. But in this a large hole was to be punched to receive a handle. It was necessary that he should have more than one punch, a small one to make the hole, and another to enlarge it, as he could not, with his nail-hammer, strike with sufficient force to drive a large punch through so thick a piece of iron.

"I am sure, wife," he said, "I don't know what I shall get to make punches of. I have a good mind to take one of the teeth out of your flax-comb—they are steel—to make the small punch, and cut a piece off the crowbar to make the big one."

"I wouldn't cut the crowbar, William. Take part of the other andiron; we might as well have a stone under the ends of both as under one. There's an old wheel spindle will make the small one."

He acted upon his wife's advice, and made the hammer. Hammers are faced with steel, whereas this was all iron; but Richardson knew that, like his iron punches, it would answer a temporary purpose, and that when it was battered up, he could hammer it back again. He now was able to do all the work his neighbors brought, and in half the time required before. While he was congratulating himself upon his success, David Montague came to the shop, bringing the chain he had mended first; the link had straightened when put to a severe test.