Story Of A Needle — The Story of a needle chapters 1-5

───── CHAPTER I. MY EDUCATION.

I REALLY can say nothing of my earliest days except from report.

I have heard, but I can hardly believe it, that I was once part of a rough mass of iron ore, that had lain for ages in a dark mine in Cornwall; that I was dug out, and put into a huge furnace, and heated till I became red-hot, and melted; that I was made into part of an iron bar, and when in a fiery glow was suddenly plunged into cold water, which changed my whole constitution and name, for iron was thenceforth called steel.

I

can just fancy how the water fizzed and hissed, and how my fiery flush faded suddenly away, and I became again quite black in the face!

I can fancy all this, as I said, but I really remember nothing about it.

Nor have I any recollection of being drawn out into wire, forced to push myself through little holes, smaller and smaller, till I was long enough and slim enough for the purpose for which the manufacturer designed me.

My very earliest remembrance is of finding myself lying on an anvil, along with thousands of others of my species.

But you must not fancy me then, gentle reader, in the least like the neat, trim, bright little article that now has the pleasure of addressing you.

I fancy that I looked uncommonly like a bit of steel wire, neither useful nor ornamental.

While I lay quietly reflecting in a kind of dull, sleepy doze, for at that time I was not sharp at all, a violent blow on one end of me startled me not a little—I had been hit on that side as flat as a pancake!

“What next?

” thought I. I had little time for thinking.

I was popped into the fire in a minute, but taken out again before I had time to melt.

Then down came another blow upon me, which had quite a different effect from the first.

It pierced out a little hole in my flat head, and I received the advantage of having an eye.

No sooner did I possess it than I began to use it.

I peered around me with much curiosity, now on the long brick building in which I found myself; now on the rough care-worn faces of the workmen, reddened by the glow of the fire-light;

now on the multitude of baby needles around me, all looking up with their little round eyes.

I was now placed upon a block of lead, and my eye was punched to bring out the little bit of steel, which was neither tidy nor convenient.

Then, to improve the shape of my flat head, it was filed a little on both sides.

I felt now tolerably well satisfied with myself—something like a child (for I have since seen a good deal of the world) when it has mastered the first difficulties of learning, and begins to fancy itself a genius.

But there was a good deal more of filing, and heating, and polishing before me; education is a slow and troublesome matter, whether to children or needles!

I am afraid that I should tire you, dear reader, were I to give you the whole story of how I was filed into a point; how I thought the file hard, disagreeable, and rough, as many young folk have thought their teachers; how I was then heated in a fire till I grew as red as naughty boys who have been caned by their master; then left to cool in a basin of cold water, like the same boys shut up to think over the matter.

Then I and a number of my companions were held in a shovel over the fire, and stirred about, and then straightened with blows of the hammer.

I thought that I must now be quite perfect; but never was needle more mistaken.

How could I go through linen, cloth, and silk—how could young gentlemen and ladies go through the world—without a proper degree of polish!

Thousands of us were put on a piece of buckram sprinkled with emery dust; more emery dust was thrown over us, and then a small quantity of oil; for I wish that every teacher would remember that though the emery of discipline is necessary enough, it works best when laid on with the sweet oil of kindness.

Oh, if I could only describe the rolling backwards and forwards, the rubbing and scrubbing again and again, the washing, the wiping, the smoothing on a stone, thought necessary to complete a good needle!

Depend upon it, dear reader, your reading and writing, your sums and your tables, nay, even the terrible dog’s-eared grammar, are nothing to what the smallest needle must go through before it is fit to appear in the world!

------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER II. MY FIRST ADVENTURE.

OUR education being now finished, two hundred and fifty of us were packed up together, and remained in darkness and seclusion for some time.

We were then removed, separated, and in smaller numbers placed in neat little dark-coloured papers, and kept in a box in a shop.

Of all the tiresome parts of my life, this was the most tiresome by far.

I

longed for the moment when I should be taken from the prison, and see a little of the world.

I was quite discontented with my state.

“Why was I made, if not to be used?

” thought I. “Why have I undergone all this heating, hitting, and polishing?

why am I so sharp, so neat, so bright, if not to make some figure in the world?

” I was only a young needle, you see, and impatience is natural to youth: I am not the only one who has found it hard to stay contentedly in the position in which he has been placed.

At length I felt myself moved (you know that I could see nothing out of my paper).

I believe that I had been bought and sold; and though not at once released from my confinement, I felt reasonable hopes that I soon should be so.

Nor were my expectations disappointed.

“Oh, mamma!

dear mamma!

what a sweet little work-box—and all fitted up so nicely!

” exclaimed a childish voice near me.

I longed to have a peep at the speaker.

“I hope that it may assist my Lily to be a tidy, useful little girl, such as her mother would wish to see her.

” “What a pretty silver thimble!

and it fits me exactly; just see!

You’ve left a place for my scissors, as I have a nice pair already.

What neat, tiny reels!

—and what’s this?

a yard measure—ah!

and here is wax to make my thread strong!

Thank you, dear mamma, again and again!

” I confess that I was rather in a state of irritation.

Nobody seemed to be thinking in the least about me; after all my finished education, it was not thought worth while even to give me a look.

At length my paper was moved, very roughly torn open, light flashed upon its contents, and I and my companions were scattered in every direction, I alighting on the Holland pinafore of a fair, chubby-faced boy, who had been the author of the mischief.

“Oh, Eddy!

you tiresome child!

if you would only leave my box alone—just see what you’ve done with my needles!

” I seized the opportunity of looking around me, in no hurry for my resting-place to be discovered.

I found myself in a very comfortable room, full of so many things to excite my curiosity, that I felt as though I could have gazed for ever!

But perhaps what interested me most was my first sight of the human beings who occupied the apartment.

They were so unlike the workmen to whom I had been accustomed, that I examined them just as a philosopher might examine some newly-discovered curiosity.

In the first place, there was a gentle, blue-eyed lady, who sat near the table on which the work-box was placed; while on her knee rested a very plump little child, calmly engaged in sucking her thumb.

A girl of about ten years of age (I knew nothing of ages then, and had not a notion of anything growing, but I have since learned much from observation) was on her knees, searching for her needles.

She was evidently to be my future mistress, and I anxiously glanced into her face to read what sort of a child she might be.

I scarcely knew whether her countenance pleased me or not.

She had light eyes, like her mamma; rather a turned-up little nose, which gave her a somewhat saucy expression; and I am sorry to say that, just at that moment, I saw on her brow sundry creases, which did not give me an idea of good temper.

I know that it is a foolish feeling of mine, but whenever I see those ugly creases rising on the brow of a little boy or girl, I always feel inclined to bestow on them a little prick, just by way of good counsel, you understand!

I have seen lines, and very deep lines, made on the forehead by care; I could just faintly trace some on that of Mrs. Ellerslie; they became only too distinct in the course of time, but they never for a moment altered the gentle expression of her face.

I think now that I hear her soft voice as she said,— “Oh, Lily, do not be so much vexed with your brother.

You know that he is only a little boy.

Come, my Eddy, let us help to look for the needles; you must not touch the papers again!

” I cannot say much for Eddy’s skill or industry in the search; he was much more intent on making baby laugh by snapping his fingers and grinning at her, turning his head knowingly first on one side, then on the other, till he succeeded in drawing from her a merry crow, and a smile showed her little toothless gums.

Such success elated Eddy, and, determined to press a good kiss on that sweet little mouth, he came close—too close to her, alas!

for he caused me to inflict, I am sorry to confess it, a very tiny scratch on the baby’s plump white arm.

You should have heard what a scream she set up!

I really felt quite embarrassed: was this to be the commencement of my career, was I to begin my services by mischief?

You must consider also, gentle reader, that my astonishment was very great at the effect produced by my head simply rubbing against a child’s arm!

I myself, though not a thousandth part of the size of the baby, had borne hammering, bruising, and battering, not only in silence, but with little inconvenience; and here the smallest touch seemed to excite terror and pain such as had never even entered into my fancy.

Ah!

I soon found how very different the human species is from ours; how easily their tender flesh is wounded, and—what I thought still more strange—how easily their feelings are pained!

It has seemed to me, from what I have observed in life, and from what I have heard from companions of my own, possessing greater experience, that there are some human beings whose great business seems to be, pricking and paining the hearts of those around them; as if life were not full enough of sorrows without our wilfully bringing them upon our neighbours.

Eddy seemed much more penitent for having hurt baby than for having overthrown Lily’s paper of needles, though the latter action had been the cause of the former.

He joined his mother and sister in trying to soothe little Rosey, and assured her so often that he was “very, very sorry,” and called her by so many sweet names, “little pet, darling, and duck,” and kissed the scratched arm so often, that she soon appeared quite pacified.

I was not so well pleased at the titles which he gave me, throwing all the blame on “the naughty, ugly needle,” that had been the innocent cause of her pain.

I was rather in ill humour when Lily hastily replaced me in the work-box, not dreaming of putting me back in my paper, but sticking me unceremoniously into the red silk which lined the top of the box.

And there I was to remain, in company with other articles of metal, with which I soon entered into acquaintance; for all the metals are naturally related to each other, and I was able to make myself understood by everything bearing the nature of a mineral.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER III. CONVERSATION IN A WORK-BOX.

“WELL, what do you think of your new life?

” said the Scissors, as soon as we were left quietly in the box.

Perhaps I had better pause for a moment to describe my new companion, before I record our conversation.

The pair of Scissors, with which I had now to make acquaintance, had rather an old-fashioned air.

One end was rounded, the other had been sharp, but a little piece had been broken off the point.

I fancy that I detected on one of the handles something reddish, like a little speck of rust, and the brightness of the whole article was dimmed.

This was doubtless a mark of antiquity, and it was in the patronizing manner of one who was aware of her own superiority, that Mrs. Scissors repeated her question, “Pray, what do you think of your new life?

” “I have hardly had time to judge,” was my reply; “but I am rather hurt at the way in which that little boy laid the whole blame of his own fault upon me.

” “Oh, that is what you must always expect,” laughed the Scissors; “a bad shearer never has good shears.

I’ve been these ten years in the family, and I’ve always found it the same.

When Miss Lily took it into her head to imitate the hairdresser, and practise upon Eddy’s flaxen poll, when I glanced aside, and snipped his little ear, whose fault was that but ‘the stupid Scissors’!

’ And when I was seized upon to open a nailed box, whose contents the young lady was impatient to see, whose fault was it when my poor point suddenly snapped?

why, ‘the good-for-nothing Scissors’,’ to be sure.

” “I hope that I shall not be treated in such a way,” said I, rather alarmed at her words; “it would be too bad, after the trouble that has been taken to form me, after having had to pass to perfection through so many hands, to be snapped by a careless child.

” “You would have nothing but the dust-hole before you,” said the Scissors.

I thought the remark very unpleasant.

“I almost wish that I had remained in my mine,” sighed I. “Oh no,” said a soft voice beside me, and I remarked a beautiful little Thimble, of a metal unknown to me before, so bright, and white, and shining, that I felt at once that it was of superior nature.

“Would you wish,” she continued, “to lie useless, to be of no benefit to any?

Has not man refined, formed, polished, improved you, and exerted the powers of his reason to render you an instrument of good?

” “What has man’s reason to do with us?

” said I. “I know not whether I can explain myself clearly,” replied the Thimble, “but I will endeavour to show you what I mean.

Man has been gifted with a power called reason; by this he governs the world, by this he subdues creatures stronger than himself, and makes all things combine to serve him.

He has discovered that iron possesses a strength which he may turn to valuable account.

It would be endless labour to plough the fields, if the ground had to be torn up by the hand; it would be terrible work to reap the corn, if each blade had to be pulled off by the fingers.

Man determined to aid his own weakness by the wonderful strength of iron.

He made the ploughshare, and the furrows are turned up; he made the sickle, and the sheaves are gathered; huge trees, which he would never have had force to pull down, are laid low by a few strokes of his axe.

” “There is no doubt but that ours is the most useful metal by far,” said the Scissors, with something of a sneer.

“Who would use ploughshares, or sickles, or axes of silver?

Precious little work they would do!

” “I grant it,” said the Thimble, with perfect good-humour; “but we all have our place in the world, we all have some good purpose to fulfil.

Zinc, lead, tin, arsenic, platina, nickel—” “Stop, stop,” I exclaimed, overwhelmed with such a list; “I never knew there were so many metals before.

” [Illustration: “Mamma, please, will you lay down the hem for me?

” said Lily.

_Page 27. _ ] “Nay,” replied the Thimble gaily, “I have not numbered one half of them,— “Manganese, cobalt, rhodium, Copper, potassium, sodium—” “Who ever such names bestowed on ’em?

Such long names I hold in odium!

” cried I. “There’s rhyme, but not reason,” laughed the Thimble.

“If it is hard to number up the metals,” I observed, “how impossible must it be to count all the uses to which they are put!

” “Impossible indeed,” said the Thimble.

“Man avails himself every day, every hour, of the treasures which he has won from the mine—for “Ploughing, digging, and hoeing;

Cooking, ironing, mowing;

Cutting, sawing, and sewing;

Holding the embers glowing;

Speeding the vessel’s going;

Music, when horns are blowing;

Money, when debts are owing;

Bridges, where streams are flowing, Lace, where finery’s showing;

Greenhouse, where plants are growing—” “In short, there’s no counting or knowing All that man to metals is owing!

” cried I. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER IV. A MOTHER’S DELIGHTS.

“SEWING!

how I hate sewing!

I wonder what use there is in my learning to sew,” exclaimed Lily, in rather a fretful tone, as she took me out of the box.

“I wonder what’s the use of learning to spell!

” yawned little Eddy over a dog’s-eared book, as he sat on a stool close by his mother.

Mrs. Ellerslie was busy at her desk, examining her monthly accounts, with a grave and anxious expression.

She was interrupted, in the midst of summing up a long bill, by her little girl bringing her work to her.

“Mamma—” “Yes, my dear,” said Mrs. Ellerslie, without raising her eyes, and continued murmuring half aloud, “Thirteen pounds and a half at seven-pence three-farthings—I thought there must be an error somewhere.

” “Mamma, please will you lay down the hem for me?

” “Really, my love, I am very busy at present.

I think that, after all the trouble which I have taken to teach you, you might manage to do that for yourself;” and again she went on with her accounts; while Lily, looking rather discontented, slowly returned to her seat.

“Mamma,” said Eddy, rising, and laying his book on her knee, “I know my lesson.

” “Wait a minute, my boy; I will hear you almost directly.

” So Eddy waited cheerfully enough, and, to amuse himself in the meantime, began trying to mend his mother’s pen, to the no small damage of the pen, and the imminent risk of his own fingers.

“Oh, Eddy, put that knife down!

” exclaimed the harassed lady, when she had raised her head for a moment to see the nature of his occupation.

“Come, you had better say your lesson at once,” she continued, hopelessly laying down the bill, and taking up the spelling book.

She was too gentle, too loving, to be irritable or peevish; but petty cares and petty troubles were wearing out her strength, and damping the spirits which had once been so light.

I saw that though Mrs. Ellerslie fondly loved her children, she could not help feeling them a weariness to her; and though they had much affection for their mother, they had little consideration for her comfort.

“Now, Eddy,” said Mrs. Ellerslie, as the little gentleman stood with his arms pressed down to his sides before her, “how do you spell the word _pan_?

” “B-o-y,” replied Eddy, with emphasis.

“Oh, fie!

that’s not knowing your lesson.

You had better look it over again,” she continued, as a servant brought in a note with the words, “The messenger is waiting for an answer.

” In the meantime, I was making my first essay in sewing; and though, I assure you, it was from no fault of mine, a lamentably bungling essay it was.

The hem laid down by my little mistress was in some parts twice as broad as in others, while in one place the edge was scarcely turned in at all.

I was quite hurt at the crooked stitches which Lily forced me to make, and I wondered to myself whether she worked thus from stupidity or a wilful temper.

While the lady read and answered the note in haste, Eddy sat demurely on his stool, leaning his elbows on his knees, and his chin on the palm of his hands, as if buried in profound study.

As soon as the servant had left the room, he came again to his mother with,— “Mamma, I know my lesson now.

” “What do p-i-n make?

” said the lady.

“_Pin_,” replied Eddy; for which correct answer he received a smile and a quiet “That’s right.

” “And what do p-i-n-e make?

” continued his mother.

“_Needle!

_” shouted out the child with decision.

Mrs. Ellerslie laid the book down on her knee.

“I’m afraid that I must turn you again, Eddy.

” Eddy pouted as he took back his lesson, and before Mrs. Ellerslie resumed her accounts, she said to Lily, “Let me see how you are getting on with your work.

” Lily brought it reluctantly to her mother.

“Oh fie!

this will never do!

Are you not ashamed of such hemming?

” “I couldn’t lay down the hem right,” said Lily very dolefully.

“Could not, or would not, Lily?

I am sure that you can work more neatly than that.

Just take it back and unpick it nicely.

” Lily coloured, and as she bent over me again, I saw a big tear fall close beside me.

“Three and eight, nine and four,” murmured Mrs. Ellerslie over her accounts.

“Lily, hold up your head; you must not stoop so my child.

Eddy, do not pull off your buttons.

” She leaned her head upon her hand.

I believe that it was aching, and so Lily would have suspected had she looked at that pale face; but the young lady was gloomily proceeding with her work, and perhaps grumbling in her heart at the little task which she might so easily have performed.

It was clear to me that the poor mother was to have no peace, for again she was interrupted to pay the washerwoman, and had scarcely finished that small piece of business, rendered troublesome by not having enough of change, when there was a sound of crying from the room above.

“Is not that baby’s voice?

” exclaimed Mrs. Ellerslie, half rising from her seat.

She glanced at Lily, probably intending to send her on a message—at least it appeared so from the movement of her head; but Lily had no idea of reading the wishes of her mother, and kept sullenly pricking me in and out, sitting as if fastened to her seat.

Mrs. Ellerslie, therefore, took the shortest way of settling the matter, and herself ran upstairs to the baby.

Master Eddy took advantage of her absence to clamber up her vacant chair, and make himself acquainted with the contents of her desk.

A very little care on the part of Lily might have prevented him from doing any mischief; but, whether from ill-temper or inattention, she took no notice whatever of his pranks.

When Mrs. Ellerslie re-entered the room, she found her ink-bottle overturned on the table, and a black stream flowing down on the carpet, which her little boy was attempting to stop with a handful of bills.

“Oh, Eddy, Eddy, what have you done!

” cried the poor lady.

“Lily, run quickly and call down the housemaid.

I cannot leave the room for a minute,” she added, provoked beyond even her powers of endurance, “but some mischief is sure to occur.

” “Mamma, I didn’t know there was ink in the bottle—I only turned it up to see if there was any; but I’m trying to wipe it all up.

” “Oh dear!

the bills!

—and your hands and pinafore; just see what a state they are in!

You must run up to Sarah directly!

” “I’ll never do so any more!

” cried Eddy, looking at his blackened fingers, and beginning to whimper.

When the housemaid had performed her office, and the children had been sent up to prepare for their walk—happily the weather was not rainy—the weary, delicate mother again took her place before the table, and pushing aside the blackened heaps of bills, which she had now hardly a hope of being able to make out, she leaned back upon her chair and sighed.

“The children are too much for me!

” she murmured to herself; “I really have not the strength to do them justice.

I must ask Edward to let me have a governess.

But no; how could I think of such a thing, after the hint which he gave me about expense, after his parting with his own horse and gig, and giving up the trip into Wales?

He spoke, too, of the expense of keeping George at school!

I am sure that there is something weighing upon his mind; shall I add to it the burden of my petty cares?

No, no; whatever my dear husband finds to annoy him in the busy, bustling world, he must find his own home a quiet haven of rest.

I must manage as well as I can, and always have a cheerful smile for him!

One comfort is, that George’s holidays are so near;—my own boy, what a welcome he shall have!

” and her lips parted with a pleasant smile, and the lines upon her pale brow quite disappeared, as if smoothed down by an invisible hand.

“This is odd enough!

” thought I, as I lay half out of the work-box, sticking in my unfortunate hem; “three children are more than this poor lady can manage.

I should have thought that a fourth would have driven her wild!

” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER V. A PERFECT METAL.

“I AM not very sorry,” observed I to the Thimble, “that careless Miss Lily has forgotten to replace our companion, Mrs. Scissors, in the box.

Her manners are so sharp, her remarks so cutting, that I take little pleasure in her society.

” “She has a little speck of rust on her, I own,” quietly replied my philosophic friend; “but we must all learn to bear patiently with the weaknesses of others, and see that we keep our own metal bright.

” “You have no difficulty about that,” I observed.

“Pardon me,” answered the Thimble; “silver is not subject to rust, but it tarnishes, especially if exposed to impure, smoky air.

” “And was your origin as low as mine?

” I inquired; “were you also dug from the earth?

” “I was dug out of a mine in Norway; I have been, like you, purified in a furnace, and exposed to heavy blows of the hammer.

” “I wonder how long it is,” exclaimed I, “since man first found out the use of metals, and employed them in making whatever he requires!

” “The use of metals was known before the time of the Flood, more than four thousand years ago.

Tubal-Cain is the name of the first man who is recorded to have worked in metals.

” “Oh!

” cried I, “how much I should like to know who it was who first invented needles!

” “I dare say that the invention is of early date,” replied the Thimble, “though the needles of ancient times were probably far inferior to the polished, delicate articles of which I see so fine a specimen before me.

I have heard that needles were first manufactured in England by an Indian, in the reign of stout Harry the Eighth, upwards of three hundred years ago.

” “Well,” I exclaimed in admiration, “what it is to have a thimbleful of information!

I shall always couple silver and knowledge together, the best metal and the best thing in the world!

” “Ah, there you are wrong!

” said my bright companion; “there is a metal far more precious than silver, and a possession even more valuable than knowledge.

What is learning compared to virtue!

what is silver compared to gold!

” “Gold!

what is that?

” said I. You must remember that I was but a young needle, with little information, but eager to obtain more.

“Gold is what is called a perfect metal,” replied the Thimble; “it is injured by neither fire nor water, and it is reckoned of great value in the world.

It is found chiefly in South America, California, and lately in the immense island of Australia.

” “And has it to submit to the hammer as well as we?

” I inquired.

“It has much more wonderful power of enduring it than either silver or steel,” replied the Thimble.

“It never breaks beneath the heaviest stroke, but it spreads itself out beneath it, and that to such an amazing extent that I have heard that a bit of gold not so large as a halfpenny can be beaten out into a wire a thousand miles long.

” I was not a little astonished to hear this, and I was still more so as the Thimble proceeded.

“Look around you, and, even in this room, you will see wonderful proofs of the malleability of gold—that is the name given to this curious property which it possesses.

See the picture-frames glittering in the light, the shining pattern on the paper on the wall, the edge of all those gaily bound books; they owe their beauty to a layer of gold so thin that, though that metal is one of the heaviest known, the gentlest sigh would have blown the leaves away.

” “And is gold useful for anything but gilding?

” said I. “It is much used in various ways,” she replied; “amongst others, it was formerly much employed in medicine, and is now used in giving a fine red colour to glass.

” “And is this beautiful and wonderful metal also dug out of the earth?

” “It is procured in some places,” answered the Thimble, “by washing carefully sand drawn from the beds of some rivers, which is mixed with particles of gold; but it is chiefly found by digging.

” “Well, then,” cried I, rather triumphantly, “though silver and gold be both esteemed more perfect and more precious than iron and steel, man would have very little chance of gaining either of them without the help of a humbler metal!

If silver be like knowledge, and virtue like gold, to what shall iron be compared.

” “To firm resolution,” said the Thimble thoughtfully, “without which man would acquire little of either.

” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER VI.