We are enjoined to “lay aside every weight” in our Christian career.
One way to do this is to study the art of reducing our necessities to
the lowest terms, like this umbrella:
A twenty-six-inch umbrella that will fold up and go in an inside
pocket without crowding has been invented and constructed by a
Minneapolis man, we are told in _The American Inventor_.
Says this paper: “This seems almost incredible until the secret
is told. The handle and all the ribs consist of fine and very
strong steel tubes, in sections, which telescope one inside the
other. The covering is of very fine silk, which takes up but
little room. The wooden handle of the umbrella is hollow and
receives all the rest of the telescoping umbrella-rod when shut
up. A small and light case is provided to contain the whole,
which, as stated, goes easily into the pocket. If such a device
can be made and sold for a reasonable price there is little to
prevent the owner from making a fortune; there are few men who
would not welcome an umbrella which could be always carried
without inconvenience, and which could be put out of the way of
the borrower-who-never-returns, when entering a public place,
such as a restaurant.” (Text.)
(863)
* * * * *
In the packing business nothing is lost but “the squeal of the
pig.” Every part of an animal is now valuable. Much of the
profit of a packing-house now comes from byproducts, like hair,
entrails and the like, that once were thrown away.
(864)
* * * * *
You do not see to-day as many of the old peach or pea or salmon
or tomato cans emptied of their contents and thrown about in the
vacant lot or in the rubbish heap of the private family or the
general garbagepile of the community. It was a real nuisance to
have so many of these useless “cast-offs” accumulating under eye
and foot. And with the increased use of canned goods this was
becoming more and more so. Loads of these refuse cans are now
gathered every year and are made into shining sheets which are
used as a covering and decoration of traveling trunks. Enough
tin refuse is taken from the ash-heaps to keep several mills
employed in turning this waste into products for the markets.
Even the solder which is saved from these cast-away cans brings
twelve cents per pound, and yields an income that pays well for
the pains of gathering this rubbish. Window-sash weights are
made out of the tops and bottoms of these old cans, while the
body of the can is cleaned and rolled anew, and made serviceable
for trunk covering.--G. P. PERRY, “Wealth from Waste.”
(865)
* * * * *
Have you ever, in hours of illness or of great preoccupation,
performed some piece of work; undertaken, for example, some
long-drawn piece of needlework, and woven your thoughts into the
leaves and flowers? Through force of association, your inner
experience and your work were henceforth completely identified,
and after many years you could still say to yourself: This
flower recalls the day when I was expecting news of my sick
and absent son. I wavered between fear and hope and my hand
trembled. Something of his fever has remained in this frail
stem.... Here is a swallow that I embroidered after I had
received happy tidings that reassured me and announced his near
return. Never shall I be able to look at it without thinking of
all the joy of which a mother’s heart is capable!
The labor involved in economy is like these patient toils. The
little pennies also have their story. This story is made up of
watchfulness, of cares, of tenderness, of sublime sacrifice.
Never will the large sums of nameless money attain to the power
of signification possest by these little pennies amassed one by
one, put carefully away, to which one has said: Little penny,
I keep you to-day in order that you may keep me to-morrow; I
give you a post of honor; the day when misery approaches my
sill and threatens to cross it, you will cry out: you may not
pass!--CHARLES WAGNER, “The Gospel of Life.”
(866)
See WASTE, THE PROBLEM OF.
=Economy by Inventions=--See LABOR-SAVING INVENTIONS.