“Here we are again, my lads,” said Captain Gildrock, standing upon one of the boxes. “The first thing to be done is to put the shop in order. Your instructors are here; and you must heed what they say, and obey their orders. Like the session of the forenoon, the afternoon will last three hours. At four o’clock you will be dismissed for the rest of the day. The time will be your own then, but you must learn the lessons which have been assigned. Now, Mr. Brookbine and Mr. Jepson, I turn the pupils over to you. They have already been divided into classes. Mr. Jepson will take the first, and Mr. Brookbine the second.”
Captain Gildrock stepped down from the box, and seated himself on one of the benches to witness the proceedings. He was quite as much interested as any of the pupils.
“I am to teach you the use of carpenter’s tools,”
said Mr. Brookbine. “It will be an easy and pleasant job if you give attention and try to do the best you can. The tools we have here are of the latest fashion, and some of them are quite different from those with which I learned my trade.
“Let me say, that every one of them must be handled with the utmost care, and be kept in good order. You will be shown how to grind upon the grindstone, and sharpen on the oil-stone, the chisels and plane-irons. None but a bad workman ever uses dull tools. It is easier to avoid running your tools against a nail than it is to grind out the gaps the nail will make.”
“But where are the tools? I don’t see any,” asked Tom Ridley.
“They are in these boxes, and we will now open them. I will put two of you to each box, for there are just six of these large boxes. Dory and Thad Glovering may begin with the first one: the others will look on, and see how it is done. You may learn how to do it, or how not to do it.”
The carpenter handed Dory and Thad a wooden mallet, a chisel, and a hatchet. Thad was full of enthusiasm. He thought he knew just
how to do it. He had the hatchet and chisel in his hands. Inserting the latter under the lid of the box at one end, he struck the handle of the chisel with the hatchet.
“Stop there, if you please,” interposed Mr. Brookbine.