P S 
 
 1000 
 
 A8 
 
 M3 
 
 1852 
 
 MAIN 
 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-three, by 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, 
 
 in the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
 of New York. 
 
M.4//J 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE design of the series of volumes, entitled 
 MARCO PAUL S ADVENTURES IN THE PURSUIT OF 
 KNOWLEDGE, is not merely to entertain the reader 
 with a narrative of juvenile adventures, but also to 
 communicate, in connection with them, as extensive 
 and varied information as possible, in respect to 
 the geography, the scenery, the customs and the 
 institutions of this country, as they present them 
 selves to the observation of the little traveler, who 
 makes his excursions under the guidance of an 
 intelligent and well-informed companion, qualified 
 <o assist him in the acquisition of knowledge and in 
 he formation of character. The author has en 
 deavored to enliven Kis narrative, and to infuse into 
 H elements of a salutary moral influence, by means 
 of personal incidents befalling the actors in the 
 story. These incidents are, of course, imaginary 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 but the reader may rely upon the strict and exact 
 truth and fidelity of all the descriptions of places, 
 institutions and scenes, which are brought before 
 his mind in the progress of the narrative. Thus, 
 though the author hopes that the readers who may 
 honor these volumes with their perusal, will be 
 amused and interested by them, his design through 
 out will be to instruct rather than to entertain. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 PA or 
 
 I. THE WRONG BOAT, .... 
 
 . 11 
 
 II. THE FLOOD 
 
 28 
 
 III. THE WATER SHOPS. 
 
 42 
 
 IV. FORGING. . . . . 
 
 52 
 
 V. IRON, ....... 
 
 fiS 
 
 VI. ARCHER r. ...... 
 
 82 
 
 VII. TURNING AND BORING. 
 
 . 100 
 
 VIII. INSPECTION, 
 
 116 
 
 IX. THE ARSENAL, ..... 
 
 . 128 
 
 X. THE DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 
 
 139 
 
 XI. ORDNANCE. ...... 
 
 . 156 
 
 XII. THE BREAKING Ur, 
 
 177 
 
ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE WRONG BOAT, 22 
 
 THE FLOOD, 39 
 
 STAGE IN THE WATER, 41 
 
 THE WATER SHOPS, 49 
 
 THE FORGING ROOM, 58 
 
 CASTING, 74 
 
 THE STOOP, ........ 85 
 
 THE STREAM, 90 
 
 TESTING THE BAYONETS, 118 
 
 FARMER S WORK, 124 
 
 MAKING UP THE LOCKS, 131 
 
 THE RAILWAY STATION, 141 
 
 MARCO S MORTAR, . .... 176 
 
 THE RAFT, . . 189 
 
ORDER OF TEE VOLUMES. 
 
 f an I, 
 
 I __IN NEW YORK. 
 
 II ON THE ERIE CANAL. 
 III. IN MAINE. 
 IV. IN VERMONT. 
 
 V. IN BOSTON. 
 VI. AT THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
PRINCIPAL PERSONS. 
 
 ME. BAROV, a merchant of New York. 
 
 MARCO, his son, a boy about twelve years old. 
 
 JOHN" FORESTER, Marco s cousin, about nineteen years ol.L 
 
 Marco is traveling and studying under Forester s care. 
 
MARCO PAUL 
 
 AT THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE WRONG BOAT. 
 
 Visit to Vermont. Marco takes charge. 
 
 IT was by a somewhat singular accident that 
 Marco Paul had an opportunity to pay a 
 visit to the great armory at Springfield. The 
 circumstances were these. 
 
 On one occasion, while he was under his 
 cousin Forester s care, they were going from 
 New York city to Forester s residence in Ver 
 mont. Marco proposed that his cousin Fores 
 ter should allow him to choose the route. 
 
 " Very well," said Forester, " I have no ob 
 jection to that. You may not only choose the 
 route, but take the charge and direction of the 
 whole journey." 
 
 " How do you mean ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, we will suppose," said Forester, 
 
12 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Forester s explanation. Tlie two routes. 
 
 " that I am an infirm old gentleman, and that 
 you undertake to conduct me safely to Ver 
 mont. You may choose the route, and make 
 all the arrangements, only letting me know when 
 I must be ready. Then you shall call the car 
 riage, and take me to the boat, and engage our 
 berths, and do every thing in a word, which a 
 gentleman usually does for a lady in such a 
 case." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " I should like that very- 
 much." 
 
 In fact, Marco was very much pleased with 
 the idea of exercising a little power. So he 
 got a traveling map of New England, spread it 
 upon a table, and began to study the features 
 of the country, with reference to the different 
 routes. There were two routes, which princi 
 pally attracted his attention. These the reader 
 will understand very distinctly by consulting a 
 map. 
 
 The first was, to go up the North river in the 
 Troy boat, thence by railroad to the southern 
 end of Lake George, thence by steamboat along 
 the lakes George and Champlain, to Burlington, 
 and from Burlington by stage, across the coun 
 try, to the town where Forester s father lived. 
 
 The other route was bv the wav of Boston. 
 
THE WRONG BOAT. 13 
 
 Marco chooses the North river route. The day lino. 
 
 Marco liked to be in Boston very much. He 
 thought that he should like very well to go and 
 spend a week at Boston, and then to go across 
 the country by railroad and stage. He hesita 
 ted a little, however, whether it would come 
 within the limits of the power which Forester 
 had intrusted him with, to spend a week in Bos 
 ton. While doubting on this subject, it oc 
 curred to him that after all there would be the 
 greatest variety to be seen in traveling on the 
 North river route. He therefore finally deci 
 ded upon that. 
 
 Then came another question to be decided, 
 and that was, whether to take the day or the 
 night boat up the North river. There is one 
 steamboat which leaves New York for Albany 
 and Troy every morning, and another every 
 evening, so that one goes through by day, and 
 the other by night. Marco decided in favor of 
 the day boat, in order that he might see the 
 scenery. 
 
 This was not, however, in fact, a very wise 
 decision, for the whole of a long summer s day 
 is too long a time to spend in looking at scene 
 ry, however beautiful it may be, and the pas 
 sengers who take the day boats on the North 
 river for this purpose, generally become very 
 
14 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Night line preferable. 
 
 tired of the pleasure before night. Whereas, in 
 taking one of the night boats, some of which 
 leave New York an hour or two before sunset, 
 there are four or five hours before bed-time, du 
 ring which the river scenery can be enjoyed, 
 varied too, as it is at this time, by the changing 
 light of sunset and evening, and perhaps, at 
 last, clothed in the wild and solemn beauty 
 which is shed over such a scene by moonlight, 
 or the still fainter illumination of the stars. 
 Thus a night passage is far more favorable for 
 really enjoying the scenery of the Hudson, than 
 a long and monotonous voyage, made under 
 the full glare of the sun. 
 
 Besides, at the time that Forester and Marco 
 were making this journey, it was too early in 
 the season to enjoy the scenery much. It was 
 early in April, and though the grass was quite 
 green at the Park at New York, yet the High 
 lands and Green Mountains were still covered 
 with snow. 
 
 Marco, however, did not reflect on these 
 things, and he decided upon the day passage. 
 The boat was to go at seven o clock. Marco 
 learned this by a printed handbill, in large let 
 ters, which he saw posted up in the office of 
 the Atlantic Hotel, where his cousin always 
 
THE WRONG BOAT. 15 
 
 The handbills. Arrangements. 
 
 took a room when he came into New York. 
 There were several of these handbills hanging 
 in the office, but, instead of being placarded on 
 the walls, each by itself, they were hung all 
 together upon a sort of hook which was sus 
 pended against a pillar. These various bills 
 were the advertisements of different boats, go 
 ing in various directions, and as they were all 
 hung together upon the same hook, the travel 
 ers who came to consult them were obliged to 
 lift up the outer ones when they wished to see 
 those that were beneath. It happened, howev 
 er, that when Marco went to look, the bill 
 which advertised the Albany boat was itself 
 the outer one ; so that he had nothing to do but 
 to stand there and read it, without lifting up the 
 handbills at all. 
 
 " Now, cousin Forester," said Marco, the day 
 before they were to go, " I will order a cab to 
 come to our house at six o clock, and will come 
 down in it to the Atlantic Hotel, and call for 
 you." 
 
 " Very well," said Forester. " I will be ready 
 at six." 
 
 Forester was ready at six, but it was nearly 
 half-past six when Marco arrived. Forester s 
 trunks and baggage were in the hall, and as the 
 
16 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Cabman. Cleopatra. Mistake, 
 
 cabman was carrying out one of the last arti 
 cles, he turned to Forester and said, 
 
 " What boat is it, sir, that you wish to go 
 to?" 
 
 " I don t know," said Forester, turning to 
 Marco. " Marco, he wants to know what boat 
 we are going to." 
 
 " The boat ?" said Marco, stopping to think. 
 " O, I ll tell you in a moment." So Marco 
 ran back to the office, and went to the pillar 
 where the notice was put up. The cabman 
 and Forester followed him. Marco looked 
 hastily upon the outer handbill, and his eye 
 caught the name " CLEOPATRA." 
 
 " The Cleopatra, " said Marco. 
 
 O ay," said the cabman, " the Cleo 
 patra." 
 
 " Stop a moment," said Marco, " and I will 
 see where she lays." 
 
 " I know where she lays," said the cabman, 
 " she lays at Peck Slip." 
 
 Now it happened that since Marco had read 
 the outer handbill the evening before, and found 
 that it described a boat going to Albany, a man 
 had come in and hung up another handbill, ad 
 vertising a boat to go to New Haven, which 
 was the destination of the Cleopatra. Marco 
 
THE WRONG BOAT. 17 
 
 Forester s suspicions. Murco. Mystery. 
 
 turned away immediately when the cabman 
 said that he knew where the boat lay, and thus 
 did not discover his mistake. Forester said 
 nothing. He had an impression that Peck Slip 
 was the place of departure for the Connecticut 
 boats, and not for the North river boats ; but as 
 there was a route to Vermont through New 
 Haven and Hartford, which he thought would 
 be nearly as convenient for them as any other, 
 he concluded to say nothing, but to let Marco 
 manage the business which he had undertaken, 
 in his own way. 
 
 Marco thought, from the expression of his 
 cousin s countenance when they got into the 
 cab, that there was something the matter, or, at 
 least, it appeared to him that Forestti looked as 
 if he had some secret in his thoughts, and he 
 questioned him about it. 
 
 " You ve got some secret, cousin Forester, 
 I know you have," said he. 
 
 " Some secret ?" repeated Forester ; (< what 
 makes you suppose so ?" 
 
 " Why, you look very queer, you ve got 
 some present for me, I expect, from my mother, 
 that you are going to give me when we get 
 aboard the boat." 
 
 Forester made no answer, and they rode on 
 B 
 
18 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Marco rambles about the boat. A boy. 
 
 in silence. When they reached the slip where 
 the boat lay, Marco was very busy in paying 
 the cabman, and in seeing that the baggage was 
 put safely on board. The first bell was rung. 
 Many persons were coming and going over the 
 plank which led from the pier to the boat. As 
 soon as Marco had the baggage secured, he 
 went up to the promenade deck, where he 
 could be a little out of the bustle, and took a 
 seat with Forester there. There were many 
 ladies and gentlemen standing near, or seated 
 on chairs and settees, under a large awning. It 
 was a pleasant morning, and Forester anticipa 
 ted a very pleasant voyage up the river. 
 
 Marco took his seat upon a settee, and 
 watched the movements of the crowd upon the 
 pier, and of the sailors on the guards of the 
 boat, who were making preparations for cast 
 ing off the lines. There was seated near him 
 a boy somewhat older than he, who also seemed 
 to be watching the movements which were go 
 ing on around him with great interest. Marco 
 was just going toward him, with a design to 
 enter into conversation with him, when a young 
 man appeared at the top of the stairs, leading 
 up from the deck below, and beckoned to the 
 boy to come to him, at the same time making 
 
THE WRONG BOAT. 19 
 
 Marco accosts the boy. No answer. 
 
 some other sign which he did not understand. 
 The boy immediately rose and went away. 
 
 In a short time, however, the boy returned 
 and took his seat again. Marco had some hesi 
 tation about addressing him, but as the expres 
 sion of the young stranger s face was intelligent 
 and good-humored, he at length moved gradu 
 ally toward him, and said, 
 
 " Do you know what time we shall get to 
 Albany ?" 
 
 The boy looked at Marco steadily when he 
 spoke, with a pleasant expression of counte 
 nance, but instead of making any reply, he first 
 put. his finger to his ear, and then to his lips, and 
 shook his head. 
 
 " What do you mean by that ?" said Marco. 
 
 The boy said nothing, but gazed a moment 
 longer in Marco s face, and then took out a very 
 small slate from a breast pocket in his jacket, 
 and began to write upon it. When he had fin 
 ished writing, he handed the slate to Marco. 
 It contained the words, " I can not speak ; I am 
 deaf and dumb." 
 
 " O," said Marco, " I did not know that." 
 Then, instantly reflecting that it was vain to 
 speak to the boy if he could not hear, Marco 
 took the slate from his hands, and wrote upon it, 
 
20 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 A correspondence. Marco perplexed. His inquiry. 
 
 " I only asked you if you knew what time we 
 should get to Albany." 
 
 The boy read Marco s writing very slowly 
 and carefully, and then shook his head and 
 looked perplexed. He then took the pencil and 
 wrote, " I do not know." 
 
 By the same mode of communication, Marco 
 then asked him what his name was. He wrote 
 in reply, " Erskine." 
 
 " Do you live at Albany ?" wrote Marco 
 next. 
 
 Erskine looked at the question a moment or 
 two, apparently somewhat at a loss, and then he 
 wrote, 
 
 " I do not know of Albany ; I shall go to 
 Hartford." 
 
 It was now Marco s turn to be a little per 
 plexed, through the singularity of Ersldne s 
 phraseology. After studying it a moment, he 
 concluded that Erskine meant that he was going 
 to Hartford, and the idea flashed across his 
 mind that he might possibly have made some 
 mistake, and have got into the wrong boat. So 
 he turned suddenly to one of the hands that be 
 longed on board the boat, who happened to be 
 passing by just at that moment, and asked him 
 
 " Isn t this boat going to Albany ?" 
 
THE WRONG BOAT. 21 
 
 Murco alarmed. He finds Forester. 
 
 " No, " replied the man, without stopping, 
 " she is going to New Haven." 
 
 " Then we ve got into the wrong boat," ex 
 claimed Marco, in great trepidation. " Where s 
 cousin Forester ?" 
 
 He began to run about this way and that, in 
 pursuit of his cousin Forester. Forester had 
 disappeared. He went down stairs to find him, 
 and when he reached the lower deck, he found 
 that the boat was just gliding away from the 
 pier. The plank had been taken in, and the 
 cable by which she had been made fast to the 
 pier, had been cast off, and the hands were 
 drawing it in. Marco might have jumped 
 across to the pier, but by so doing he would 
 only have separated himself from Forester and 
 the trunks, which would have made matters 
 worse instead of better. 
 
 Just then Marco saw his cousin Forester 
 leaning against a sort of pillar which supported 
 the upper deck. His countenance wore a very 
 quiet and composed expression. Marco ran up 
 to him and exclaimed, 
 
 " Cousin Forester, we ve got into the wrong 
 boat." 
 
 I know it," said Forester, coolly. 
 
22 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Forester s composure. 
 
 His reasoning. 
 
 " Well, what shall we do ?" said Marco, in 
 the greatest perturbation. 
 
 " Don t you know what it is best to do ?" 
 asked Forester. 
 
 " No," said Marco, " I am sure I don t." 
 " Then I advise you not to be in such a hurry 
 and flurry," said Forester. " The time to be 
 in a hurry, is when we know exactly what to 
 do, and have but a short time to do it. When 
 we don t know what to do, we ought to cairn 
 
THE WRONG BOAT. 23 
 
 Various plans. Forester is amused ; Marco displeased. 
 
 and compose ourselves, and take time to 
 think." 
 
 " Why, if we were only ashore," said Marco, 
 " we would go back, and find the right boat to 
 go to Albany." 
 
 " But we are not on shore," said Forester, 
 " and we can t get on shore ; so that supposition 
 does not help us any." 
 
 " Why, the captain would put us back," said 
 Marco, " I ve no doubt, if you would only ask 
 him." 
 
 " Perhaps he would," replied Forester, " but 
 I m only a feeble old man, you know, traveling 
 under your care. You must go and ask him, 
 if you want him to put us ashore." Here For- 
 ester laughed aloud, at the ludicrous predica 
 ment which Marco had got into. As for Marco, 
 he tried to look grave, but he could not entirely 
 suppress a smile which struggled to appear upon 
 his countenance. 
 
 " I don t think it is any laughing occasion, 
 myself," said Marco, after a pause. " Besides, 
 I supposed that if we got into any serious diffi 
 culty, you would help me out of it." 
 
 " So I would," said Forester, " but I don t 
 conceive that you have got into any serious 
 difficulty yet. We may as well go to Vermont 
 
24 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Forester speaks of the armory. Manufacturing muskets. 
 
 by the way of New Haven and Hartford, as any 
 other way. You see we can go up from Hart 
 ford to Springfield, and there we can take the 
 railroad to Boston. There will be one greal 
 advantage in taking this route, for we can visit 
 the great national armory at Springfield." 
 
 " What is that ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, at Springfield/ said Forester, " the 
 government of the United States have a great 
 establishment for manufacturing muskets for 
 the national troops, and it is a very curious and 
 interesting place to visit." 
 
 " What can we see there ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " O, all the processes in manufacturing mus 
 kets," said Forester. " The first is the work of 
 the great trip-hammer, which goes by water, 
 and forges out the iron plates, which the mus 
 kets are made from. These plates are bent 
 round over a long iron rod, and welded, and 
 thus the barrels are made. Then these barrels 
 are bored by various machinery, and the out 
 side surfaces turned. Then the forging and 
 grinding of the bayonets is very interesting." 
 
 " I shouldn t think there would be any thing 
 very interesting in grinding," said Marco. 
 
 " There is," said Forester. " Grinding an axe 
 on a hand grind-stone is not a very wonderful 
 
THE WRONG BOAT. 25 
 
 Forester s descriptions. The deaf and dumb boy. 
 
 process, to be sure, but in these large estab 
 lishments, where they grind on such a great 
 scale, the enormous stones, and the speed with 
 which they revolve, and the streams of sparks 
 which fly out, strike you with wonder." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " I should like to see 
 them." 
 
 " Then there is a great deal that is curious in 
 the making of the locks," said Forester ; " the 
 forging out all the small parts, and filing and 
 polishing them, and then the putting of them 
 together. You will be very much interested, 
 I ve no doubt." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " I don t care much 
 about our getting in to the wrong boat." So 
 he went away from Forester, intending to go 
 up upon the upper deck again. 
 
 He came back, however, a moment, to tell 
 Forester that there was a deaf and dumb boy 
 on the deck above. 
 
 " Where is he going ?" said Forester. 
 
 " To Hartford," said Marco. 
 
 " Very likely he is going to the asylum," said 
 Forester. 
 
 " What asylum ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, there is an asylum," replied Forester, 
 " in Hartford, where the deaf and dumb go from 
 
26 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The manual alphabet. Marco learns it. 
 
 all parts of the country, to learn to read and 
 write." 
 
 " Yes/ said Marco, " he can write. He has 
 a slate." 
 
 " Then I have no doubt," said Forester, 
 " that he is a pupil of the asylum at Hartford. 
 You had better get him to tell you about that 
 establishment, and ask him to teach you the 
 manual alphabet." 
 
 " What is the manual alphabet ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 So Forester explained to Marco that the 
 manual alphabet was a mode of representing 
 the letters of the alphabet by the fingers of the 
 hand, and that those who understood that al 
 phabet could talk, by means of it, with the edu 
 cated deaf and dumb. 
 
 Marco was very much interested in this idea, 
 and he returned to the upper deck, and sat an 
 hour with Erskine, learning the manual alpha 
 bet, and writing in dialogue with him, on his 
 slate. They were once interrupted in their occu 
 pations, by a colored man, who went about the 
 decks, ringing a great bell, and calling out to 
 all who had not paid their fare, to call at the 
 captain s office and settle. Whereupon Marco 
 left Erskine for a short time, while he went to 
 
THE WRONG BOAT. 27 
 
 Summons to pay the fare. Two tickets. 
 
 the window of the captain s office, on the lower 
 deck, and after waiting there some minutes 
 among the crowd, until his turn came, he took 
 two tickets for Hartford, one for himself, and 
 one for Forester. 
 
28 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Situation of Hartford and Springfield. Great freshet. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE FLOOD. 
 
 THE two travelers arrived safely at New 
 Haven, where, on leaving the steamboat, 
 they entered a train of cars, and proceeded im 
 mediately to Hartford. Hartford is on the 
 Connecticut river, and Springfield is on the 
 same river, about twenty-three miles above. 
 The travelers expected to have gone up the 
 river that afternoon, by a small steamboat, 
 which Forester told Marco was accustomed to 
 ply between Hartford and Springfield, but 
 when they reached Hartford, they were told 
 that there was no boat. Marco went to the 
 bar of the United States Hotel the house to 
 which he had taken Forester on his arrival, 
 in order to inquire the reason. The clerk told 
 him that there was a great freshet on the river, 
 and that the boat had not been able to get 
 down. Marco went with this intelligence to 
 Forester, who was reading the Boston newspp 
 pers in the gentlemen s parlor. 
 
 " I don t see why a flood on the river should 
 
THE FLOOD. 29 
 
 Effects of the freshet. Boat kept back. How. 
 
 keep the steamboat from coming down," said 
 Forester. 
 
 " That is the reason, I know," said Marco, 
 " for they told me so at the bar. Perhaps it is 
 because the water runs too swiftly." 
 
 " That might prevent the boat from going 
 up/ said Forester, " but I don t see how it 
 could keep it from coming down. I should 
 think it would come down all the faster." 
 
 " Perhaps the flood brings down ice and logs, 
 so that the boat can t get along," rejoined 
 Marco. 
 
 " I don t think that is a very probable expla 
 nation," said Forester. " It is much more likely 
 that there is some mistake in your informa 
 tion." 
 
 Marco felt a little piqued at having his infor 
 mation thus called in question, and he went back 
 to the bar to inquire how a freshet could keep 
 the boat from coming down. They told him 
 that there was a bridge across the river, some 
 distance above, and that the boat could not get 
 under it when the water was high. This seemed 
 very satisfactory, and Marco went back with 
 the explanation to Forester, who seemed satis 
 fied with it too. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when they ar- 
 
30 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The cupola of the state-house. The inundation. 
 
 rived at Hartford, and although it was very 
 pleasant when they left New York, yet the sky 
 had become overcast during the day, and now 
 it began to rain. Marco, however, was very 
 eager to go out after dinner, to see the flood, 
 and Forester concluded to go with him. It was 
 so late when they arrived, and the evening 
 came on so early, that it was not until just be 
 fore dark that they got ready to go out. They 
 first went to the state-house, in order to ascend 
 to the cupola, to take a view of the flood from 
 that elevation. The state-house at Hartford is 
 in the midst of the city, and a broad street de 
 scends from it to the river. Forester and Mar 
 co went up by various flights of stairs, until, at 
 last, they reached the summit, where they had 
 a grand view of the city, and also of the river, 
 which seemed expanded into a vast sea, that 
 spread over the whole valley, with groves, 
 farm-houses, orchards, and even the buildings 
 of the city itself rising out of the water. 
 
 After looking upon this scene for some time, 
 they descended again, and followed the street 
 down toward the bank of the river. But long 
 before they reached the bank, they found the 
 streets filled with water. Barrels and boxes 
 were floating about, piles of merchandise, which 
 
THE FLOOD. 31 
 
 Goods afloat. The coach. Streets overflowed. 
 
 had been taken out of submerged cellars, were 
 arranged along on the sidewalks, where they 
 were out of the reach of the water, and men 
 were busily at work, getting other goods into 
 places of safety. By this time, however, it be 
 came dark, and the wind and rain seemed to be 
 increasing ; so Forester and Marco returned to 
 the hotel, anticipating much pleasure in taking 
 a walk in the morning, when they could exam 
 ine the effects of the flood to better advantage. 
 
 They were called the next morning at six 
 o clock, and were told that the boat had come, 
 and was going to start at seven for Springfield. 
 So they dressed themselves with all speed, and 
 hastened down to breakfast. They had hardly 
 time to finish their breakfast, when the coach 
 was at the door to take them to the boat. They 
 got in, and after riding through several streets, 
 descending continually toward the water, Mar 
 co, who had his head out of the window all 
 the time, looking forward, said, 
 
 " Cousin Forester, look here, the street is all 
 full of water. We can t go but a very little 
 farther." 
 
 Marco expected that as soon as the carriage 
 had gone as far as it could go on the firm pave 
 ment, it would stop at the brink of the water, 
 
32 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The skiff. Marco perplexed. Deep water. 
 
 and that some other plan would be adopted for 
 conveying them to the steamboat. What that 
 plan would be, he could not at first imagine ; 
 but in a moment there suddenly glided into 
 view a little skiff, that came down the street 
 that crossed the one in which they were riding, 
 at right angles to it, at some distance before 
 them. The skiff came into view from behind a 
 block of brick buildings, which formed a corner 
 of the street, and passing across the street 
 which Marco was in, kept on, and soon disap 
 peared. There was a man in it, rowing. 
 
 " He ought to come," said Marco, " with his 
 skiff, and take us along." 
 
 By this time the horses had reached the brink 
 of the water ; but, to Marco s surprise, they did 
 not stop, but advanced slowly into it, drawing 
 the coach after them. The water grew deeper 
 and deeper, until, at length, the horses were up 
 to their knees. At some distance before him, 
 at the extremity of the street, Marco could see 
 the end of the bridge which led across the riv 
 er; but he saw no steamboat. However, it 
 was some relief to Marco to see the bridge, as 
 that promised to be, at least, the termination of 
 their ride ; for he did not at all like navigating 
 such deep water in a carriage. The water, 
 
THE FLOOD. 33 
 
 The embarkation. Paddle-wheels. The boat. 
 
 however, did not grow any deeper, and pres 
 ently, just, before they had reached the bridge, 
 it began to grow shallower, and soon the car 
 riage stopped at a place where there was a 
 small piece of dry land, big enough for them to 
 stand upon. Here the little steamboat came in 
 sight too, which was to take them up the river. 
 By scrambling along through a store, and over 
 planks, and along the edges of piers, they suc 
 ceeded, at length, in getting on board. 
 
 There were some ladies in the coach, and 
 they, with the gentlemen who had charge of 
 them, when they had got on board of the boat, 
 went down into the ladies cabin. The steam 
 boat was very small. It had a great paddle- 
 wheel at the stern, and two small ones at the 
 sides, one at each side. " These last/ Forester 
 said, " he supposed must be to aid in steering." 
 The boat reminded Marco of the canal-boats, 
 which he had seen on Erie canal. It was simi 
 lar in construction to those boats, though larger. 
 It had, like a canal-boat, a small forecastle, 
 which was below the level of the main decks, 
 and very near the water. From this forecastle. 
 Forester and Marco went down into a little 
 cabin, which was, of course, near the bows. 
 The ladies cabin was toward the stern. In the 
 
34 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 I l " clelugj of waters. Forester s explanations, 
 
 cabin, they were sheltered from the wind and 
 rain, but they did not remain there long, as they 
 wished to look about, and observe the eii eets oi" 
 the flood, and the strange aspect which was 
 given to the whole surrounding scenery, by such 
 a deluge of waters. 
 
 " All this," said Forester, " comes from the 
 melting of the snows, away up among the 
 mountains. I should think that Hartford might 
 be about at the place where the height of the 
 waters would be a maximum." 
 
 " I don t understand what you mean by that," 
 said Marco. 
 
 " Why, you will see, by reflection," said For 
 ester, " that up near the sources of a river, there 
 never can be a very high flood, for the streams 
 are all small, and they descend rapidly down 
 the sides of the mountains, and thus the water 
 runs oft fast, making a torrent rather than a 
 flood. These small streams join together, and 
 other branches come in from each side, and thus 
 the river is formed ; and when it gels upon 
 lower land, where it is more level, so that the 
 water can not run off* so quick, it rises higher, 
 and spreads over the meadows on each side. 
 The great body of water moves on slowly now, 
 and is increased by every branch which comes 
 
T HE F L U u D. 3rt 
 
 General movc-muiii oi a d..v.:ge of water. 
 
 in from each side, until the height of the water 
 reaches the maximum, that is, the greatest." 
 
 " Why does it not keep on increasing all the 
 way to the sea ?" said Marco. 
 
 Because." replied Forester, " when it gets 
 within the influence of the sea, the water flows 
 out freely into the sea, and spreads off over the 
 ocean. A flood in a river is sometimes twenty 
 or thirty feet above the common level of the 
 water ; now if it were to be so near the sea, 
 there would be a steep descent from the river 
 to the sea, of twenty or thirty feet, which you 
 see could not be. For the water, when it gets 
 near the sea, presses down from the river by its 
 weight, and spreads out into the sea so rapidly 
 as to keep the water down for many miles back 
 from the mouth of the river. Thus, if ar bird 
 were to begin in the mountains, when a great 
 fall of rain was taking place, and follow the flood 
 down, she would find it increasing, and be 
 coming higher and higher as it advanced, until 
 it reached the level plains, and it would go on, 
 inundating them more and more, and spreading 
 out over intervales and meadows ; until at last, 
 like a great wave which had begun to spend it 
 self, it would appear not to rise quite so high, 
 though it would still keep advancing ; and thus, 
 
36 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 A freshet near the mouth of a river. 
 
 if she was a reasonable bird, she would know 
 that the water was coming under the influence 
 of the sea. After this, the freshet would seem 
 less and less high as it advanced, until it reached 
 the mouth of the river, where it would scarcely 
 produce any perceptible effect at all." 
 
 " Then there can not be any freshet at the 
 mouth of the river," said Marco. 
 
 " No," replied Forester, " there can be none 
 caused by floods coming down the river. Some 
 times, however, a storm at sea, when the wind 
 blows in toward the shore, raises the water 
 several feet, and makes a sort of inundation, in 
 that way, though it seldom rises more than four 
 or five feet above high tide." 
 
 By this time the men began to push off the 
 boat from the pier, and the great paddle-wheel 
 at the stern of the boat began to revolve, and 
 they swept out into the stream. They were 
 just above the great wooden bridge, which 
 stretches across the Connecticut, at Hartford. 
 Marco saw that the water was up to within a 
 foot or two of the floor of the bridge, and some 
 <>f the men said that it was very fortunate that 
 there was no ice running. 
 
 " Why ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Because," replied the man, " it would soon 
 
THE FLOOD. 37 
 
 The forecastle. Marco nearly loses his umbrella. 
 
 make a jam above the bridge, and carry it 
 away." 
 
 Marco observed that the water was turbid, 
 and its surface was strongly agitated by whirl 
 pools and eddies. Marco went forward, and 
 took his place upon the forecastle. The wind 
 was north-east, and thus was almost against 
 them, and it blew the cold rain into Marco s 
 face. He attempted to hoist his umbrella, but 
 a sudden gust of wind caught it out of his hands, 
 and swept it along the upper deck. Marco 
 scrambled up the steps, and ran after it. It 
 lodged, very fortunately, under the bows of a 
 little skiff which had been placed upon the deck 
 in order to be taken up the river. If it had 
 gone over into the water, it would have been 
 irrecoverably lost, as it would not have been 
 worth while to detain the boat for it. 
 
 When Marco got his umbrella, he went back 
 to his station again, but when he opened it this 
 time, he was careful to hold it in such a manner 
 that the wind could not get under it again. He 
 then peeped out from beneath it. to survey the 
 wide waste of waters, which extended as far as 
 he could see, on either hand. The ordinary 
 course of the river itself was entirely undistin- 
 guishable, and instead of it, there was a broad 
 
. ty T H E S P R I X <"i F I E L D A 11 M Oil V. 
 
 Melancholy spectacle. Whole country under we,te> j . 
 
 sea of turbid water, agitated by the wind and 
 by whirling eddies, and spreading over fields, 
 farms, villages, orchards, extending, at the 
 extremity of the view, far in, under the trees of 
 the forests. 
 
 It was a melancholy sight to see the farm 
 houses, some with the water up above the floor 
 or even to the windows ; and others standing 
 on- a little spot of ground, which the water 
 seemed just ready to cover, with the family at 
 the door, gazing at the unexpected spectacle of 
 a steamboat going across their mowing-fields ; 
 for the water being deep enough everywhere, 
 the boat was not required to confine itself to the 
 ordinary channel of the river, but made a straight 
 course, over fields, fences, yards, and gardens. 
 Once or twice, Marco perceived that they were 
 flroing through an orchard. The tops of the 
 apple-trees were about half out of the water. 
 Marco thought that if it were only the right 
 season, they could get some apples ; but, as it 
 was, the trees were leafless and bare. At some 
 of the farm-houses, men were busy, securing 
 their goods and furniture ; at others, they were 
 gliding about in skiffs ; and in one case, Marco 
 saw a man and his boy going out to the barn, 
 
T il E FLO O D. 
 
 The raft made of barn doors. 
 
 Rapids. 
 
 to take care of the cattle, on a raft made of the 
 barn doors. 
 
 About half-way between Hartford and Spring- 
 field there is a fall, or rather a rapid, through 
 which boats can not go either up or down. 
 They can not go up, because, even when the 
 water is deep enough, they can not stem the 
 current ; and they can not come down, because 
 the current would sweep them along too swiftly, 
 and dash them against the rocks on the shore. 
 
40 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 A village under water. 
 
 A canal had accordingly been made around this 
 fall, in order to take the boats up, or let them 
 gently down, by means of locks, in the manner 
 explained in " Marco Paul on the Erie Canal.* 
 This canal was, however, now submerged, and 
 the steamboat had to stop below it, at a little 
 village called the Point, from whence the pas 
 sengers were to be taken the rest of the way by 
 stage. When they arrived at this village, the 
 ooat sailed along in front of the principal street, 
 and then turned into another at right angles to 
 it, in which the tavern was situated. The 
 helmsman brought the boat up to the piazza of 
 the hotel, as if it were a wharf. The passen 
 gers stepped out upon the piazza. It was cov 
 ered with people of the village, who had col 
 lected there, to witness the spectacle of a 
 steamboat corning up to a tavern door. 
 
 The tavern was entirely surrounded by water, 
 and from the piazza, there was a view of a large 
 part of the village, with the streets, yards, and 
 gardens entirely submerged. Barrels, boxes, 
 and planks were floating about. The people 
 that had assembled stood upon the steps of the 
 platform, observing the scene. First, a wheel 
 barrow came slowly drifting into the tavern 
 yard ; then a boy on a raft made of two planks. 
 
T ii E FLO o 
 
 41 
 
 Various spectacles. 
 
 Then a little boat glided by, full of children, 
 going home from school. There was a bridge, 
 made of a line of planks, leading across from 
 the platform to the land behind the tavern. 
 The ends of the planks were supported by 
 horseblocks, for piers. Marco ran back and 
 forth across this bridge several times, until, at 
 length, the stage 
 coaches which 
 were to take the 
 travelers to Spring 
 field were ready. 
 These stage coach 
 es were backed 
 down through theEj 
 water, to the steps * 
 of the piazza, and 
 the baggage was 
 put on. The stages 
 were then driven 
 out to dry land, 
 
 the passengers went, one by one, over tne long 
 plank bridge, took their seats, and thus they all 
 proceeded to Springfield. 
 
 STAGE IX I 
 
42 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Arrival at Springfield. Buildings of the armory. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE WATER SHOPS. 
 
 ON the morning after Forester and Marco 
 arrived at Springfield, they sallied forth 
 from their hotel, to see the works of the armory. 
 The village of Springfield is one of the most 
 beautiful villages of New England. The busi 
 ness part of it lays along the bank of the Con 
 necticut, on a sort of plain ; and from this plain 
 streets ascend to a tract of more elevated land 
 behind it, which is covered in every direction 
 with handsome villas overlooking the village 
 and the river, and the broad and beautiful val 
 ley of the Connecticut. 
 
 The principal buildings of the armory are 
 situated upon another plain, which extends back 
 from this elevated land, at the distance of per 
 haps half a mile from the river. The buildings 
 are very large and handsome, and are arranged 
 around the sides of a spacious square, which is 
 ornamented with walks and rows of trees. 
 Marco thought that the whole looked like a col 
 lege. There was one edifice in the center of 
 
THE WATER SHOPS. 43 
 
 Residences. Water shops. 
 
 the principal front of the square, which had a 
 cupola upon it, as if it were a chapel. Forester 
 told Marco that that was the office and count 
 ing-house. The other buildings were shops and 
 storehouses, though Marco thought that they 
 were very splendid buildings to be used for such 
 purposes. On one side was a long row of 
 houses, which were used for the residences 
 of officers and others connected with the ar 
 mory. From this central square, streets di 
 verged in every direction over the plain. These 
 streets were bordered with smal], but very neat 
 and pleasant houses built for the workmen. 
 The houses were ornamented with trees and 
 shrubbery, and surrounded with pleasant yards 
 and gardens. The whole scene presented, on 
 every side, a very pleasant prospect to the 
 view. 
 
 After looking at it for some time, Marco pro 
 posed going into some of the buildings, but 
 Forester said that he thought it would be better 
 to go first to the water shops. 
 
 " What are the water shops ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, you must understand," said Forester, 
 " that in making a musket, there is a great deal 
 of light work to be done, and also a great deal 
 of heavv work, and this last can be done best 
 
44 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The mill stream. Forging the barrels. 
 
 by the help of machinery. Now there is a little 
 stream, south of Springfield, which runs into 
 the Connecticut, just below the town. So they 
 have built three dams across this stream, and 
 built shops near the dams, with water-wheels 
 under them to be carried by the water. Here 
 they do all the rough and heavy work which is 
 required." 
 
 " What is the rough and heavy work ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 "Forging the barrels is one thing," said For 
 ester ; " that is very heavy work." 
 
 " I don t see how they can forge the barrels," 
 said Marco. " They couldn t make them round, 
 nor hollow ; if they were to strike upon them 
 when they are hot, it would flatten them in. 
 So I think they must make them in some other 
 way." 
 
 "No," said Forester ; " they forge them with 
 heavy trip-hammers, as you will see. They 
 have peculiar contrivances to keep them hol 
 low, and to make them round." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " and what other heavy 
 work is there ?" 
 
 " The grinding and polishing is heavy work/ 
 said Forester. 
 
 " The grinding," said Marco, " but not the 
 
THE WATER SHOPS. 45 
 
 The wheels. Rapid revolutions. Milling. 
 
 polishing. The polishing must be very nice 
 work." 
 
 " It may be nice work, but still it requires 
 heavy machinery to do it," rejoined Forester. 
 " For polishing is done by means of wheels, 
 which are made to revolve with prodigious ve 
 locity, and then the things to be polished are 
 held against the circumference of them. Now 
 it is not heavy work to hold the article against 
 the wheel, but to make the wheel revolve so 
 very rapidly, requires heavy power in the ma 
 chinery." 
 
 " How fast do the wheels revolve ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 " I don t know," said Forester, " we can ask 
 the workmen, when we come to the polishing 
 rooms. At any rate, it is a great many times 
 in a second, and it requires a water power and 
 machinery, to turn wheels so fast. Then there 
 is the boring, and the turning, and" the milling." 
 
 " What is the milling ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, in some cases," said Forester, " in 
 stead of finishing the work with files, they cut 
 it down to its proper form by wheels of steel, 
 with teeth like those of a file, cut upon them. 
 These wheels are made to revolve very swiftly, 
 and the iron or brass is made to bear against 
 
40 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Finishing. Marco and Forester cross the plain. 
 
 them, and also to move along at the same time, 
 and so it is cut down to the exact shape re 
 quired." 
 
 " Why don t they hammer it into the right 
 shape in the first place ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " They can t hammer it into precisely the 
 right shape," said Forester ; " and, besides, the 
 surface which is left by the hammer is not per 
 fectly sound. There are small flaws and scales 
 in it, so that the metal must be cut away a little, 
 to come down to where it is sound. So they 
 forge it to pretty nearly the proper shape, leav 
 ing it a little too large, and then mill it clown to 
 the precise form, or else file it, if the shape is so 
 irregular that it can t be milled." 
 
 While Forester and Marco had been engaged 
 
 o o 
 
 in this conversation, they had been slowly walk 
 ing along in the direction which Forester said 
 led to the water shops. The road which they 
 took was straight, and it traversed the plain, 
 which has already been spoken of, in a southerly 
 direction. It was bordered, for a part of the 
 way, with the neat and pleasant-looking houses 
 of the armory workmen, and beyond these there 
 were extensive fields, traversed by various roads, 
 the view being terminated in the distance by 
 occasional glimpses of the great valley of the 
 
THE WATER SHOPS. 47 
 
 Mt. Holyoke. Valley of the Connecticut. Ascending. 
 
 Connecticut, with the mountains beyond. There 
 was one round summit off at the north, which 
 Forester told Marco was the famous Mount 
 Holyoke, near Northampton. 
 
 " What is it famed for ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " For the prospect which you can have from 
 the top of it," said Forester. " The mountain 
 is close to the Connecticut river, and rises ab 
 ruptly from the valley, so that, from the sum 
 mit, you look down upon one of the most rich, 
 and verdant, and populous regions of the land, 
 covered with farms, fields, villages, and verdant 
 meadows, and with the Connecticut winding 
 beautifully through the whole. It is very dif 
 ferent from most mountains in this respect." 
 
 " Why, how is it with other mountains ?" 
 asked Marco. 
 
 " They are surrounded generally," said For 
 ester, "by lower mountains and hills, or, at 
 least, they rise out of a rough or mountainous 
 country ; so that the transition is gradual from 
 the level a-nd fertile land to the high elevations. 
 But Mt. Holyoke rises abruptly from the midst 
 of one of the richest scenes in the land ; you 
 can ride in your carriage so near to it that the 
 remaining ascent is only going up stairs." 
 
 " Have they really got stairs ?" said Marco. 
 
48 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Descent into the valley. 
 
 " Yes/ replied Forester ; " a kind of rude 
 stairs, made of stones or of logs, placed across 
 the way." 
 
 " I should like very much to go to Mt. Holy- 
 oke," said Marco. " I have a great mind to 
 go that way." 
 
 " It is not the right season of the year," said 
 Forester, " to enjoy the excursion. We want 
 the month of June." 
 
 By this time they had arrived at the end of 
 the plain, and they began to descend, by a wind 
 ing road, into the valley where the water shops 
 were situated. It was a beautiful glen, shaded 
 by trees, with the mill stream flowing through 
 the center of it. There was a road, leading up 
 and down the valley, on each side of the stream, 
 and, at the point where they came to it, there 
 was a bridge across it, connecting one of these 
 roads with the other. 
 
 Above the bridge was a dam of handsome 
 mason work, with various flumes for conveying 
 the water. There were also some large and 
 handsome shops, on each side of the stream, 
 with torrents of water pouring out from be 
 neath them, indicating that they contained ma 
 chinery which was carried by water. Marco 
 was much pleased with the view. 
 
T [J K \V A T EK Sit Ol ri. 
 
 49 
 
 
 
 THE TVATT.P., SHOPS. 
 
 Forester told Marco that there were three 
 water shops on the stream, about half a mile 
 apart, and that this was the middle one. 
 
 ; I shouldn t think that they would wish to 
 have them so far apart," said Marco. 
 
 " It is probably on account of the stream," 
 said Forester. " They have to put their shops 
 where they can get a good fall of water, and it 
 happens, I suppose, that the falls on this stream 
 are at that distance from each other. They 
 
50 THE SPRING r 1 1<: L u A it vi u i; v. 
 
 Minimum power. Forester s illustration. 
 
 build a dam on each fall, and construct works 
 to employ the whole power that they obtain 
 there, that is, the whole minimam power/ 
 
 "What is the minimum power?" asked 
 Forester. 
 
 " All the power which they can have con 
 stantly in use, all the year round," replied For 
 ester. " A stream of water is not constant, you 
 know. After rains, it is much greater than af 
 ter a drought. Now suppose there was a brook 
 with water enough, in midsummer, to turn a 
 large grindstone, and no more ; of course, the 
 brook could turn that grindstone all the year, 
 and that would be all it could do, unless there 
 was a basin above the dam, which would retain 
 the water after a rain, and deliver it out after 
 ward, in drought, so as to give a greater power 
 than the stream alone would give. Perhaps, in 
 this way, with the help of a reservoir of water, 
 the brook would carry two such grindstones all 
 the year round. This would, then, be its min 
 imum power. But for onehalf the year, that 
 is, all through the spring and fall months, there 
 would probably be twice as much water ; so 
 that, during that time, it would carry four grind 
 stones. Thus, when people speak of the mini 
 mum power of a stream being all employed, 
 
T H K W A T E R SlfOP S. 5 1 
 
 S;i\v-miils. Marco s ideas. 
 
 they mean all the power which it can exert, 
 steadily and constantly, all the year round. 
 Then, above that, there is a considerable power 
 which may be used at certain seasons, if it is 
 worth while to construct the machinery to em 
 ploy it." 
 
 " And is it worth while, generally ?" said 
 Marco. 
 
 "Yes, "said Forester, "though that depends 
 somewhat on the nature of the business. For 
 instance, in saw-mills, they can run one saw 
 during the summer months, using the minimum 
 power ; and then, when the stream swells, in 
 the spring and fall, they can set more saws a- 
 going. thus employing the surplus power. Still 
 it is a disadvantage to have a great surplus pow 
 er. It is much better to have the stream steady 
 all the year round." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " that is plain enough." 
 
 "True," replied Forester, " but all the rea 
 sons for it are not very plain." 
 
 " Why, they can keep their works a-going 
 all the time," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes ; but why wouldn t it do as well," said 
 Forester. " to keep twice as many works going 
 half the time ?" 
 
52 T II K S P KING F I K L L) A R M O (< V, 
 
 Forester s reasoning. Drought. Torrents. 
 
 " Why , I don t know," said Marco, hes 
 itatingly. 
 
 " Because," replied Forester, " it would take 
 twice as great an investment of money to con 
 struct the works. Two saws, running six 
 months each, would saw as many logs as one 
 running a year ; but then it would cost twice 
 as much to put them up with all the necessa 
 ry machinery ; and then it would take twice as 
 many men to work them, and these men would 
 have to be dismissed for six months in the year, 
 and go away, and seek other employments. 
 This would be inconvenient, and attended with 
 increased expense. 
 
 " There is a very great difference in different 
 streams," continued Forester, "in respect to 
 their steadiness. Some streams are pretty 
 nearly the same all the year. They are not 
 much increased by rains, or diminished by 
 droughts. Others are very small in mid 
 summer, and then, in the spring, or after long 
 rains, they are torrents, capable of carrying ten, 
 or even a hundred times as much machinery as 
 their minimum power would carry. Though it 
 sometimes happens that, in such streams, the 
 water-wheels, which must be adapted in their 
 construction and position to the ordinary flow 
 
THE WATER SHOPS. 53 
 
 Freshets. Sources of streams. Pouds. 
 
 of the water, are all submerged and over 
 whelmed when the water is very high, and so 
 stopped entirely ; or the dams are undermined, 
 or torn up, and the mills themselves carried 
 away." 
 
 " I don t see why there should be any such 
 difference in the streams," said Marco ; " I 
 should think they would all have freshets after 
 the rains." 
 
 There is a vast difference," said Forester. 
 " It depends upon the source of the water which 
 supplies the stream. There are three kinds of 
 streams, in respect to the source of their waters; 
 or, rather, there are three different sources from 
 which the water of brooks and streams is sup 
 plied, ponds, springs, and rain. A brook may 
 flow out of a pond, or it may arise from springs, 
 or it may proceed from rains, which fall upon a 
 valley, and run down through the lowest part of 
 it. Now a stream that comes from a pond does 
 not rise and fall very much, because the pond 
 keeps, at almost all times, near the same level. 
 The water which falls upon it, in rain, spreads 
 over so great a surface, that it does not raise it 
 more than a few inches, generally, and, of 
 course, the stream flowing from it rises only in 
 proportion. It is <o with streams which come 
 
M THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The valley. 
 
 from springs, or great swamps, which are full 
 of springs. But where a stream comes from a 
 great valley, extending many miles, so as to 
 catch and drain off all the water which falls on 
 the valley, you see it must necessarily become 
 a furious torrent in the spring, when the snow 
 is melting over the whole valley, or after a pow 
 erful rain. It is the same with streams that 
 descend in ravines and glens down the declivi 
 ties of the mountains." 
 
 ." Yes," said Marco. " I never thought of 
 that difference in the brooks before." 
 
 While this conversation had been going for 
 ward, Marco and Forester had come down into 
 the valley, arid had been walking up and down 
 under rows of trees, which had been planted on 
 the banks of the stream, admiring the beauty of 
 the prospect. They now turned their steps to 
 ward one of the great shops, where they heard 
 a loud sound, as of heavy machinery in motion, 
 and Forester opening the door, they both went 
 in. 
 
FORGING. 55 
 
 Forges. Arrangement of the machinery. 
 
 CHAPTER IV, 
 FORGING. 
 
 THE room which Forester and Marco had 
 entered was a very large apartment on 
 the ground floor, and not well lighted, except by 
 the blazing fires of the forges. There were 
 rows of forges extending through the whole 
 length of the room, all glowing with the intense 
 heat of anthracite fires, urged by bellows which 
 were carried by water. Connected with each 
 forge was a great trip-hammer. A trip-hammer 
 is an enormous hammer, worked by water. The 
 handle is a beam of wood, perhaps ten feet long. 
 This handle moves on an axle near the end of 
 it. The end of the handle projects a short dis 
 tance beyond the axle on which it turns, and is 
 armed at the extremity with iron, and beyond 
 it is a wheel with projecting cogs or pins of 
 iron, which strike against the end of the handle, 
 as the wheel turns round, and drive it down, 
 and this makes the head of the hammer rise up. 
 Then, when the cog in the wheel, which had 
 struck against the end of the handle, slips by, it 
 
56 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Cogs. Trip-hammers. 
 
 lets the end of the handle up, and the head of 
 the hammer of course falls down upon the an 
 vil, or rather upon the work placed upon the 
 anvil to be forged. 
 
 There is one thing more, which it is very im 
 portant to observe, in respect to the operation 
 of the trip-hammer, and that is, that when the 
 wheel containing the cogs, revolves fast, it 
 throws the hammer up so violently as to spring 
 the beam of wood which forms the handle, and 
 the head is then brought back again to the an 
 vil, by the elastic return of the handle to its 
 position, with great force. Persons that do not 
 understand the operation of the trip-hammer, 
 are often surprised to see the head of it not so 
 large, in proportion to the other parts, as they 
 had expected to see it. They think that if the 
 head w,ere heavier it would descend with more 
 force, and do more work. This would be the 
 case, no doubt, if it were by the simple weight 
 of the head that the work was done. But it is 
 riot. It is by the elastic force of the handle, 
 which brings down the head to the anvil with 
 great power, after being violently thrown up by 
 the cog behind, just as the effect of the common 
 hand hammer, in a blacksmith s shop, is due not 
 so much to the weight of the iron in the head 
 
PURGING. 57 
 
 Operation oi tiio machinery. Red-hot gun-barrel. 
 
 of the hammer, as to the force of the arm 
 which wields it. 
 
 Each of the trip-hammers, connected with 
 the forges, were so connected with machinery, 
 that they could be made to go very swiftly, or 
 be entirely stopped. While the iron to be forged 
 was in the furnace, heating, the trip-hammer 
 remained at rest, but when the men wanted to 
 use it, they could set it in motion, fast or slow, 
 according to the work which they wished to do. 
 Now when Marco and Forester came into the 
 building, the workmen at some of the forges 
 were heating the irons ; at others, they were 
 hammering quickly, and at others slowly ; and 
 every moment Marco observed a long, red-hot 
 gun-barrel, drawn out of a furnace, and pushed 
 under a trip-hammer, and then, by some move 
 ment of the workmen, the hammer would sud 
 denly begin its blows, with the greatest rapidity 
 and force, throwing the sparks about in every 
 direction, and filling the whole place with a 
 deafening din. Then, after a few minutes-, by 
 some other movement of the workmen, the 
 hammer would be made to cease its rapid 
 movements, and to strike more slowly. Pres 
 ently, it would cease altogether, and the iron 
 would then be drawn out from under it, and put 
 
58 
 
 T HE S I R I N G F I E L D A R .M O R V. 
 
 Noise of the (rip-hammers. 
 
 back into the fire to be heated again. Every 
 time one of the trip-hammers was thus set in 
 motion, it produced a rapid succession of loud 
 reports, like a discharge of musketry ; and these 
 volleys of sound were continually breaking out 
 over the great apartment, as the men happened 
 to get the barrels heated at the several forges. 
 
 After standing a few minutes, and looking at 
 the general scene, Forester and Marco drew up 
 to one of the forges, to examine the process in 
 detail. 
 
 iHE FOUGrJ.M 
 
FORGING. 59 
 
 Observations. The anvils. Talking loud. 
 
 They found that the barrels were made of 
 flat bars of iron, bent over lengthwise around a 
 rod, which kept them hollow. When one of 
 these bars had been thus bent, so that the two 
 edges would lap over each other, it was put into 
 the furnace, and heated very hot, and when all 
 ready, it was drawn suddenly out, and slipped 
 under the trip-hammer. The anvil had a groove 
 in it of a cylindrical form, and the hammer had 
 another one corresponding to it, so that it a 
 finished barrel were placed between them, it 
 would just fit into the space -left by the two 
 grooves when the head of the hammer and the 
 anvil came together. 
 
 There was such a continual succession of 
 loud sounds made by the trip-hammers all 
 around them, that Forester had to put his mouth 
 close to Marco s ear, and talk very loud, in 
 order to be heard. Speaking in this manner, 
 he said, 
 
 " Now you see, Marco, how they avoid the 
 two difficulties which you apprehended. They 
 keep the barrel hollow, by having a rod inside, 
 and they keep the outside round, by having a 
 crroove in the anvil and in the hammer." 
 
 O 
 
 Yes, said Marco, ;< I see. I did not think 
 of those plans. 
 
00 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Process of forging a barrel. 
 
 Just then, one of the men at the forge nearest 
 them, was drawing out a barrel from the fur 
 nace, which was of a very intense heat. It was 
 almost white. Forester called Marco to stand 
 back a little, lest the sparks should fly upon his 
 clothes. 
 
 The man pushed the barrel back again, to 
 heat it hotter still. It was, however, only the 
 half which was in the furnace, which was hot. 
 The other end the man kept cool, by wetting it 
 constantly with cold water. He wished to keep 
 that end cool, in order that he might take hold 
 of it, without burning himself. The end which 
 was hot was the biggest end of the barrel. In 
 a moment more, he drew the barrel out again, 
 and then struck it down upon an iron plate upon 
 the floor, with great force, two or three times, 
 to square the end. He then run it under the 
 trip-hammer, slipping the rod into it at the same 
 time. The rod thus entering into the hollow of 
 the barrel, kept the hammer from closing up the 
 bore. There was a sort of pole hanging down 
 as a handle from one part of the frame of the 
 trip-hammer, and another man was standing 
 near it. When the hot bar was in its place 
 under the hammer, this man pulled down the 
 pole, and immediately the trip-hammer began 
 
I 1 o it (i I \ T ( .. 01 
 
 Command of the trip-hammer. Working of it. 
 
 its blows upon the iron, while the workman who 
 held it turned it round and round continually, 
 that it might be struck successively on all sides. 
 Thus he worked the iron into a very round and 
 smooth form, and then the pole was pushed up, 
 and the trip-hammer stopped. As the other end 
 of the barrel had been served in the same man 
 ner before, the whole was now finished, and the 
 man put it upon a rack, with a great many 
 others which had been made before. 
 
 By this time there was another barrel ready 
 at the next forge, which was in a different stage 
 of its progress, from the one last described. 
 One half of it had been nearly finished, but at 
 the other end the edges of the barrel had not 
 
 o 
 
 oeen welded together. They had been brought 
 round over the rod, but had not been joined. 
 Marco looked on while the workman heated the 
 unfinished end and then placed it under the 
 hammer. The heavy blows soon brought the 
 edges together, and joined them around the rod, 
 so as to give the work the form of a gun-barrel 
 throughout. Marco saw that when the work 
 man wanted the hammer to strike slowly, he 
 could regulate its motion, in some way, by put 
 ting his foot upon a projecting bar of wood, close 
 
T H i: S [> i; i x c r i i: i. u A n AT < > u v. 
 
 View of the strouni. 
 
 to the floor, upon one side of the anvil ; or, if 
 he wished, he could stop it entirely. 
 
 After this, Forester and Marco sauntered 
 slowly through the room, looking at the various 
 forges. There were great heaps of coal near 
 them, and men were wheeling in fresh supplies 
 over the stone floor. There were troughs of 
 water at each forge, with a little stream from 
 the mouth of a lead pipe running into each, 
 which kept them constantly full. The fires in 
 the forges were very hot, being kept up by a 
 steady blast of wind from some unseen bellows. 
 After spending as much time as they wished in 
 this building, Forester and Marco came out, and 
 went across the stream by a bridge. They 
 stopped upon the bridge, and looked over into 
 the stream. The water was pouring along, in 
 a tumultuous manner, between the walls of 
 masonry which formed the buildings or the 
 banks on each side. 
 
 " Now," here is a stream," said Forester, 
 which I should think was pretty uniform and 
 steady." 
 
 " Why," said Marco, " how can you tell ?" 
 " I can tell by the looks of the water." 
 " It seems to me very strange," said Marco, 
 "that vou can tell by the looks of the water in 
 
FORG ING. 63 
 
 Discussion between Marco and Forester. 
 
 a brook, whether it comes from a pond, or 
 springs, or a great valley." 
 
 " I could not tell," rejoined Forester, " except 
 at such a time as this, that is, just after a fresh 
 et in every stream capable of a freshet. Now, 
 look for yourself into this water," continued 
 Forester, " and see if you observe any differ 
 ence between -this and the water of the Con 
 necticut." 
 
 " Only that the water of the Connecticut is 
 muddy now," said Marco. 
 
 " And how is this ?" said Forester. 
 
 " This is clear," said Marco ; " only it is of 
 a dark color." 
 
 Very well, and what do you suppose is 
 the reason why the Connecticut is so turbid 
 now ?" asked Forester. 
 
 " Because of the freshet," said Marco. 
 
 "But why should the freshet make it tur 
 bid?" > 
 
 " Why, I don t know exactly," said Marco. 
 
 "The reason is," said Forester, "that the 
 freshet is produced by rains and melting snows, 
 from a vast surface of ground, and from sucR a 
 surface the water washes all the loose soil and 
 light particles which come in its way, into the 
 river. So that the water of a flood, produced 
 
! T n i; S ! ii i N <; ] i K j, D A K M o K v 
 
 iviiins. Clear water. Dark water. Turbid water. 
 
 by rains falling over an extensive valley, is al 
 ways turbid. When, therefore, I see such a 
 mass of turbid water as is now flowing through 
 the Connecticut, I judge it is water which has 
 come from the rains and snows of an extensive 
 valley. But when I see a stream bring down 
 only clear water like this, after such rains and 
 thaws as we have had, I conclude that it does 
 not come from the draining of an extensive sur 
 face of land, but from a pond, or else from 
 springs." 
 
 " And can you tell from the looks of the wa 
 ter, whether it comes from a pond or from 
 springs ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, the water is pretty dark," said For 
 ester. 
 
 " And what does that indicate ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 " It indicates," replied Forester, " that the 
 stream comes from springs, and swamps which 
 are fed by springs. The way in which swamps 
 are formed, is this. When springs arise in flat 
 land, or in any places where the water can not 
 run off as fast as it issues from the ground, it 
 spreads over the surface, and keeps it wet. 
 Then all the plants which grow on dry land arc- 
 killed, and none but aquatic plants will grow. 
 
FORGING. 65 
 
 Formation of swamps. Cause of the color. 
 
 And these aquatic plants, when they die, do not 
 decay. The water preserves them, and other 
 plants grow above them. The leaves, too, and 
 branches, and trunks of trees, which fall in, are 
 covered with moss, and aquatic plants, and wa 
 ter, and are thus preserved ; and in this manner 
 a great depth of vegetable substances is formed 
 in process of time, the water ^ssuing continu 
 ally from the ground, of a dark color as you 
 see it in this stream." 
 
 " Yes," replied Marco, " I see it is, and I 
 have often observed it so in other brooks." 
 
 " But the water which comes from ponds has 
 generally but little color," said Forester. 
 
 " What makes it so dark when it comes from 
 swamps ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " I do not know," replied Forester, " unless it 
 be that the plants and the various vegetables 
 remains, half decayed, which lie soaking in the 
 swamp, color it." 
 
 Just at this moment, a man appeared, com 
 ing out of a shop on one side of the stream, with 
 some curious-looking piece of machinery in his 
 hand, and he advanced toward the bridge, as if 
 he were going to cross it. 
 
 "Ask him," said Marco, "if this stream rises 
 much, in times of freshet." 
 
66 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The workman. Back water. Explanation, 
 
 Forester said that he would, and according 
 ly, when the man had come opposite to them, 
 Forester accosted him, by saying, 
 
 " The freshet does not appear to affect your 
 works much on this stream." 
 
 " No, sir/ replied the workman, " it never 
 does." 
 
 " What is the reason ?" asked Forester. 
 
 " Why, the stream is fed," replied the man, 
 " almost entirely by large springs, a short dis 
 tance from here, and the rain does not raise 
 it much." 
 
 " So, then, you are never troubled much with 
 back water," said Forester. 
 
 " No, sir," replied the man, " not at all." So 
 saying, he passed on. 
 
 " What do you mean by back water ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 " When the water below the dam," replied 
 Forester, " does not run off fast enough, but 
 flows back against the water-wheel, so as to 
 prevent its being turned round by the current 
 above, it is called back water by millmen. 
 Sometimes, when there is another dam a short 
 distance below, it obstructs the water, so that, 
 in times of freshet, it can not escape fast enough,, 
 and so the upper mill is troubled with back wa 
 
FoRG [ NG. 67 
 
 forging the plates. The trip-hammers. 
 
 ter. And even when there is not any other 
 dam, if the natural bed of the stream offers ob 
 struction, or if the descent is not great enough 
 to carry off the water easily, then, when any 
 unusual quantity comes, it makes difficulty. 
 But come, let us go into the next shop/* 
 
 So Marco and Forester went over into an 
 other shop. Here the workmen were forging 
 out the plates of iron, and flattening down the 
 edges, and then bending the edges over toward 
 one another, ready to be lapped and welded. 
 There were several trip-hammers here, and 
 Marco had a better opportunity to observe the 
 construction of them than in the great forge 
 room. He was surprised to see how perfectly 
 they could regulate the blows, and thus strike 
 slowly and carefully, or quick and strong, at 
 their pleasure. The workmen were exceed 
 ingly accommodating in answering all the ques 
 tions that Marco and Forester asked, and in ex 
 plaining every thing which was going on. 
 They seemed, in fact, to take a pleasure in do 
 ing it. 
 
68 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Brass and cast iron. Gold. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 IRON. 
 
 ON the walk from the middle water shop to 
 the upper one, Marco asked Forester why 
 they did not make gun-barrels of brass, instead 
 of iron ; he said that they would be handsomer. 
 
 "I don t know," replied Forester. "They 
 make cannon for field-pieces, of brass, but that 
 is not on account of their beauty, I believe ; 
 perhaps because they can be made lighter and 
 yet of the same strength, when of that materi 
 al ; but iron is always used for musket and pis 
 tol barrels, I believe. I rather think this may 
 be it : iron cannon are always made of cast 
 iron. Now brass may be stronger than cast 
 iron, and yet wrought iron may be stronger 
 than brass. Still this may not be all the rea 
 son. The various metals have so many vari 
 ous properties, that it would require a great 
 deal of study to be acquainted with them all." 
 
 " I read in a book once/ said Marco, " that 
 iron is really more valuable than gold." 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, " that is true." 
 
IRON. 69 
 
 Meaning of valuable. Value of gold. 
 
 " And that all which makes gold valuable," 
 continued Marco, " was its scarcity." 
 
 " No," said Forester, " that is not exactly 
 true, All that makes gold more valuable than 
 iron, may be its scarcity." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " perhaps that was it." 
 
 " There is a great difference between these 
 two statements," said Forester. " And then, 
 besides, there is an ambiguity in the meaning 
 of the word valuable." 
 
 " Valuable !" repeated Marco ; " I didn t 
 know that there was more than one meaning to 
 that." 
 
 " What does it mean ?" asked Forester. 
 
 " It means worth something," replied Marco. 
 
 " Is water valuable ?" asked Forester. 
 
 " Why, I don t know," said Marco ; " we 
 couldn t do without it, very well." 
 
 " No," rejoined Forester, " but still people 
 will not pay any thing for it, generally, for it is 
 so plentiful that they can get it without paying. 
 Thus it has a great value for its intrinsic qual 
 ities, but no market or money value. Now if 
 gold was as plenty as stones in the street, it 
 would be very valuable in the former sense, for 
 it has some qualities which no other metals 
 have, and which are very important." 
 
70 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Steel. Gold, and iron compared. 
 
 " What are they ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Perhaps the most important," replied For 
 ester, " is, that it will not rust, or tarnish, by 
 being exposed to air or water, and it will not 
 be corroded by any common acids. If a drop 
 of vinegar falls upon a knife-blade, it makes a 
 black spot ; and if you cut an apple with a 
 common knife, it blackens it. The acid of 
 the vinegar, or of the apple juice, corrodes the 
 iron." 
 
 " I thought that knife-blades were made of 
 steel," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," replied Forester, " but steel is a prep 
 aration of iron. So if iron is exposed to the 
 air, and especially to water, it rusts, and is soon 
 spoiled ; but gold might remain half a centu 
 ry buried in the ground, without changing, 
 Therefore, if gold were as plentiful as iron, 
 it would be used for a great many things which 
 iron is used for now, simply because iron is so 
 common and cheap." 
 
 " What are some of the things it would be 
 used for ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, for every thing," replied Forester, 
 " which did not require any great hardness, 
 such as spoons, fruit knives, handles of doors, 
 knobs, kevs, and all kinds of vessels for use in a 
 
IRON. 71 
 
 Effect of heat. 
 
 family, as plates, cups, &c.; also for all kinds 
 of cooking utensils, as kettles, skillets, &c. I 
 presume, too, it would be used for sheathing of 
 ships, or for covering roofs of houses ; and, in 
 fact, for almost all purposes, where particular 
 hardness is not required. Still, on the whole, 
 iron is more useful to men than gold would be, 
 for it has several qualities of a very curious na 
 ture, which admirably fit it for our use. It has, 
 in fact, two sets of useful qualities, which are 
 very distinct from each other. One set relates 
 to the facility of manufacturing it, and the other 
 set to its usefulness when manufactured/ 
 
 " I believe I know what one of them is," said 
 Marco. " You can hammer it when it is hot." 
 
 " It undergoes three changes by heat," said 
 Forester, " which are all of great service in 
 manufacturing it. First, it becomes more mal 
 leable and flexible. This is when it is red-hot, 
 If it was as malleable and flexible when cold, 
 as it is when it is red-hot, it would be unfit for 
 most of its present uses. It would bend down, 
 at once, under any load laid upon it, like lead. 
 But, by becoming more malleable and flexible 
 when hot, it can be formed into its proper shape, 
 and the>i. on becoming cold, it resumes all its 
 hardness mid toughness again. It seems as if 
 
72 THE SPRCNGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 BritUeness. WeldingT 
 
 these qualities were given to it expressly for the 
 advantage of man, as we know of no reason 
 why heat should make it flexible and soft, rather 
 than brittle, as it does brass and lead." 
 
 " Does heat make brass and lead brittle ?" 
 asked Marco. 
 
 " Yes," replied Forester ; " if you drop a 
 piece of hot brass upon the hearth, it will break 
 to pieces. And didn t you ever observe, when 
 you are casting little anchors of lead, that if you 
 attempt to take the anchor out before the lead 
 is cool, it will break to pieces ?" 
 
 " No," said Marco, " I never cast any an 
 chors of lead." 
 
 " That is the way it does work," said Fores 
 ter ; " but iron becomes very malleable and pli 
 able as it grows hot, until, at last, when it is at 
 a white heat, a remarkable effect takes place, 
 which is of great importance. That is, the sur 
 face softens. It does not melt, that is, become 
 liquid, as lead does ; but it softens in a peculiar 
 way, so that, if you put two surfaces together, 
 while they are in this state, and hammer them 
 together, they join perfectly, and make one ho 
 mogeneous mass." 
 
 " What does homogeneous mean ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
IRON. 73 
 
 Importance of the welding property. Steel welded to iron. 
 
 " All alike," replied Forester, " through the 
 whole substance. The place where the junc 
 tion is formed is just like all the rest of it. This 
 is welding. I believe there is no other metal 
 but iron, that softens in this manner upon the 
 surface, at a great heat, so that two pieces can 
 be joined together. This, you see, is of im 
 mense importance in manufacturing iron, for it 
 is very often necessary to join parts together. 
 They could not make the gun-barrels in the 
 manner they do, if it were not for this welding 
 property of the iron. As it is, they can take 
 a flat bar, wide enough to make a gun-barrel 
 when it is rolled up, and then, by rolling it up 
 so as to have one edge lap well over the other, 
 they can weld it and make it one solid mass. 
 If you look at the barrel when it is ground and 
 polished, you can not find the least indication 
 of any joint where one edge lapped over the 
 other." 
 
 " And nothing else but iron can be welded, 
 then," said Marco. 
 
 " Iron and steel," said Forester. " Steel can 
 be welded to steel, or to iron. That is the way 
 they make nearly all cutting tools. The cutting 
 part is made of steel, but the rest of the instru 
 ment is generally made of iron the two parts 
 
74: THE SPRINGFIELD AKMOKY. 
 
 Fusibility of iron. 
 
 being made separately, and welded together. 
 Where steel is welded to iron, you can gene 
 rally see a joint, for the two metals are of a lit 
 tle different color. In a common table knife, 
 you can almost always see this mark near the 
 handle, where the steel blade was joined to the 
 iron part, which goes into the handle." 
 
 "I ll look next time I see one," said Marco. 
 " So in axes, chisels, plane irons, and all such 
 tools," continued Forester, " we can generally 
 see where the steel-cutting part was welded 
 to the iron shank. Then the fusibility of iron 
 is another property of great importance. In 
 a certain state, iron can be melted. They 
 melt it in great furnaces. They mix the iron 
 with wood in putitng it into the furnace, 
 and then blow the fire with monstrous bel 
 lows driven by machinery. When the 
 iron is melted, and 
 has become sufficient 
 ly hot, they draw it 
 off through an open 
 ing in the bottom 
 of the furnace the 
 opening being kept 
 stopped up till the 
 iron is melted. 
 
IRON. 75 
 
 Casting. Cast iron. 
 
 When it is ready, they punch the hole open, 
 and the melted iron comes out like a stream of 
 liquid fire." 
 
 " Where does it run to ?" asked Marco. 
 " Oh, they hold a great ladle under it to 
 catch it. The ladle is supported between two 
 long bars for handles, and is carried by two 
 men. When the ladle is full, they carry away 
 the liquid iron, and pour it into the mold, made 
 ready for it beforehand. When one ladle full 
 is carried away, two men are all ready with 
 another, to put directly under, when the first is 
 taken away, to catch the stream of iron, which 
 keeps running all the time." 
 
 " Where did you see them cast iron so ?" said 
 Marco. 
 
 " Oh, I ve often been in foundries," said For 
 ester, " where I ve seen the process." 
 
 " Why don t they cast gun-barrels ?" said 
 Marco. 
 
 They would not be strong enough. Cast 
 iron is of a different nature from wrought iron, 
 more brittle ; and, besides, it is apt to have 
 flaws. So that cast iron will not answer where 
 great strength and toughness are required, unless 
 it is in cases where weight is no objection, as, 
 for instance, where the article is not to be much 
 
76 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Cannons of forts. Form of the cannons. 
 
 moved. Thus, the cannons of forts, which are 
 always stationary, are of cast iron, but, in order 
 to be strong, they have to be made enormously 
 thick and heavy. But muskets, which the sol 
 dier has to carry upon his shoulder, must be 
 made as light as possible. So they use the best 
 wrought iron, and thus the barrels can be made 
 much thinner than if they were of cast iron. 
 You see that a soldier, besides his gun, has to 
 carry his knapsack of clothes, and his powder 
 and ball, and sometimes several days provision ; 
 so that often, when on a march, he is loaded 
 down with almost as great a burden as he can 
 carry. With this, he has to travel through mud 
 and snow, and sometimes through woods and 
 swamps, and thus it becomes necessary to make 
 the musket, and all his equipments, in fact, as 
 light as possible." 
 
 " What makes them have it bigger at one end 
 than it is at the other ?" said Marco. 
 
 " So as to have the iron thicker at one end. 
 The bigness at that end is occasioned by the 
 greater thickness of the iron there. The bore 
 is of the same diameter throughout. You see 
 that the chief force of the explosion of the gun 
 powder, is at the breech, where the charge lies. 
 As the ball advances through the barrel, the 
 
IRON. 77 
 
 Gaaea. Philosophy of explosion. 
 
 gases expand, sfcd their force diminishes, so that 
 so great strength is not required at the muzzle. 
 Cannon are always cast in the same manner, so 
 as to have the greatest strength and thickness 
 at the part which has to resist the greatest force 
 of the explosion. There are, in fact, two rea 
 sons, why the force of the gunpowder diminishes 
 as the ball moves on toward the muzzle. The 
 first is that the gases expand, and the second is 
 that they cool." 
 
 " What gases ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " The gases/ replied Forester, " which are 
 produced by the combustion of the gunpowder. 
 When gunpowder burns, the solid parts, which 
 it is composed of, suddenly combine, and change 
 into gases. Now as the solid gunpowder occu 
 pied much less room than the gases which are 
 formed from it, these gases expand with great 
 force, to get their proper place, and that is what 
 gives the explosive force." 
 
 " Is that the philosophy of it ?" said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, " in part ; but that 
 does not account for the whole explosive force 
 of gunpowder. For if gunpowder is exploded 
 in a confined space, so that they can collect all 
 the gases which result" 
 
78 THE S P K i N o p i E L D ARMORY. 
 
 Chemical experiments. Contrivances, 
 
 " I should think it would blow the confined 
 place all to pieces," interrupted Marco. 
 
 " Oh, the chemists have a mode of arranging 
 apparatus to prevent that, and to keep the 
 gases from escaping." 
 
 " How do they do it ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " They drop the gunpowder, by degrees, that 
 is, a few grains at a time, upon hot iron, per 
 haps the end of a gun-barrel, and then have the 
 other end of the barrel bent, so as to pass under 
 water. Then, as the powder is inflamed and 
 explodes, the gases pass out through the muzzle 
 of the gun-barrel and come up in bubbles 
 through the water." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " but they would get 
 away into the air and be lost." 
 
 " Not at all," said Forester, " for it would be 
 very easy to have a vessel upside down over 
 the place, to catch all the bubbles, or rather the 
 gases that are in them. The chemists have 
 very ingenious modes contrived for doing all 
 such things." 
 
 " I don t see how they contrive to keep the 
 gunpowder from all flashing off at once." 
 
 " I don t know precisely how they do it," said 
 Forester, "but it would be easy to have a tube 
 screwed into the end of the barrel, directly over 
 
IRON. 79 
 
 Results. 
 
 the heated part, and then have a contrivance 
 for dropping the gunpowder, a few grains at a 
 time, down through this tube. Then if the part 
 which contained the gunpowder, at the top of 
 the tube, was closed over, so that the gases 
 could not escape that way, they would all pass 
 off through the barrel, and come up in bubbles 
 through the water. 
 
 " Now, by some such contrivance as this," 
 continued Forester, " the chemists have col 
 lected the gases which result from burning a 
 certain quantity of gunpowder, and then, by 
 pressing those gases into as small a space as the 
 powder itself occupied before, they can tell what 
 the expansive force is." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " I understand it, I be 
 lieve." 
 
 " The object," continued Forester, " of all 
 this is, to measure the expansive power of the 
 gases, and ascertain whether that power is 
 enough to account for the explosive force of 
 gunpowder." 
 
 " And is it enough ?" said Marco. 
 
 " No," replied Forester ; " the result of the 
 experiment is, that the expansive force of the 
 gases, which result from the burning of the 
 gunpowder, when they are collected and artifi- 
 
80 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Forester s explanations. Effect of heat. 
 
 cially compressed, is not great enough to pro 
 duce such powerful effects as are caused by the 
 explosion of the powder." 
 
 " Perhaps some of the gases escape," said 
 Marco. 
 
 " They have tried the experiment very care 
 fully," said Forester. " But there is one cir 
 cumstance which makes the case very different, 
 when the gases are collected in this manner, 
 from the natural explosion." 
 
 " What is it ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " The gases," replied Forester, " are in a very 
 different condition, when they are first produced, 
 from what they are when they are collected and 
 compressed afterward. When they are first 
 formed by the burning of the gunpowder, they 
 are intensely hot ; but when they are after 
 ward collected and condensed slowly, they are 
 cold. This must make a considerable difference 
 in the force which they exert." 
 
 " Why ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Because," said Forester, " any gas, when 
 hot, expands with greater force than when cold. 
 A bladder filled with air, will burst if you put it 
 down before a hot fire. Steam, too, expands 
 with vastly greater force when it is heated to a 
 high degree, than when it remains at the same 
 
IKOX. 81 
 
 Gunpowder. Conclusion. 
 
 temperature at which it was generated. So the 
 gases resulting from the burning of gunpowder, 
 when hot, will expand with much greater force 
 than when cold. And when they are first 
 formed by the burning of the powder, they must 
 be intensely hot, from the heat produced by the 
 combustion. So that, perhaps, that is the ex 
 planation of the force of gunpowder. Stated in 
 general terms, it would be thus. The explosive 
 force of gunpowder is owing to the sudden for 
 mation of a large quantity of elastic and expan 
 sive gases, at a very high temperature. 
 
 Therefore," continued Forester, "the great 
 thickness of the gun must be at the place where 
 the gunpowder is lodged, as there the gases are 
 first formed and most compressed. As the bul 
 let moves along the barrel, the gases expand 
 and fill the space, and so their force is dimin 
 ished ; but they still continue to act, though 
 more and more feebly, pushing the bullet along 
 until it leaves the muzzle of the gun." 
 F 
 
82 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMOR Y. 
 
 Marco hungry. Tho sign. Tha pleasant front yard. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 ARCHERY. 
 
 IN passing along the road from one water shop 
 to another, Marco saw something which 
 made him hungry, namely a sign put up over 
 the door of a small house, saying that cakes and 
 beer were for sale within. 
 
 " Ah !" said Marco, as soon as his eyes fell 
 upon this sign, " let us go in and get some cakes 
 and beer." 
 
 " Why ! are you hungry ?" asked Forester. 
 
 " Yes," replied Marco, " and thirsty too." 
 
 " Well," said Forester, " let us go in then and 
 see what they have got that is good." 
 
 There was a little yard in front of the house, 
 with a gate leading into it. On each side of 
 the path leading from the gate to the door of the 
 house there \vas a little parterre, planted with 
 shrubs and flowers. The flowers were just 
 coming up out of the ground. The beds looked 
 very neat and nice, having been spaded up and 
 raked over only the day before. 
 
 At the time when Forester and Marco turned 
 
A R C H E R Y. 83 
 
 Girl afraid. Marco and Forester go into the house. Hot cakes. 
 
 to go into the house there was a little girl in the 
 pathway, employed in sowing some flower seeds. 
 When she saw Forester and Marco coming, 
 however, she jumped up and ran into the house. 
 
 " i don t see what she is afraid of," said 
 Marco. 
 
 Forester and Marco walked into the yard and 
 advanced to the step of the door. The door 
 opened into a small entry, and the entry into a 
 very neat and pleasant-looking room. There 
 was a woman just coming forward into the 
 entry from the room. 
 
 " We wanted to get some of your cakes," 
 said Forester. 
 
 " Walk in," said the woman. 
 
 So Forester and Marco walked in. The 
 woman conducted them into the room, and gave 
 them seats by a little table. 
 
 " I am just baking," said the woman, " and I 
 can give you some cakes right from the oven." 
 
 " That will be good," said Marco. 
 
 " Have you got milk as well as beer ?" asked 
 Forester. 
 
 " Yes," said the woman, " I can let you have 
 some milk." 
 
 " Would not you like milk as well as beer 
 Marco ?" said Forester. 
 
84 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The platform. The cakes and milk brought in. 
 
 " Yes," replied Marco, " better." 
 
 The woman then went out to get the cakes 
 and milk, while Marco and Forester remained, 
 and began to look about the room. There was 
 a door on the side opposite to the one where 
 they had come in, which seemed to lead out 
 into a pleasant-looking yard. Marco went to 
 this side door to see. 
 
 He found a little platform outside, covered 
 with a roof, and having a seat on each side of 
 it. He sat down upon the seat, and then called 
 to Forester. 
 
 " Forester," said he, " come here." 
 
 " No," said Forester, " not yet." 
 
 In a moment more the woman came in with 
 a waiter in her hands, containing a plate of 
 hearts and rounds, hot from the oven, and a 
 pitcher of milk. There were two tumblers on 
 the waiter also. The woman placed the waiter 
 down upon the table. 
 
 " Have you any objection to our going out 
 upon the stoop ?" said Forester. 
 
 " Not at all," said the woman. " I will move 
 the little table right out there." 
 
 So she took up the table, which was very 
 small, and carried it, with the waiter upon it, 
 out to the stoop. Forester followed her. She 
 
ARCHERY. 
 
 The luncheon eating. 
 
 85 
 
 Rich milk. 
 
 THS STOOP, 
 
 put the table down 
 in the stoop be 
 tween the two 
 benches.and Marco 
 and Forester took 
 seats on the bench 
 es, one on each side. 
 
 " This is a good 
 place," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," said For 
 ester, " and a good 
 luncheon." 
 
 Forester poured 
 out some of the 
 
 milk. It looked very rich indeed. In fact, the 
 woman having been much pleased with the ap 
 pearance and manners of her guests, had con 
 trived in pouring out the milk from the pan 
 into the pitcher, to mix with it an unusual por 
 tion of the cream, so that the milk as she brought 
 it to the table was very rich indeed. 
 
 While eating their cakes and drinking their 
 milk, Forester and Marco were much interested 
 in viewing the scene around them. The stoop 
 where they were sitting was on the back side 
 of the house, and there were steps leading from 
 it down to a neat little garden, all laid out care- 
 
86 THE SPRINGFIELD A n M o R Y. 
 
 Gate leading into the garden. Path beyond. 
 
 fully in beds. At the end of the garden was a 
 gate, and a path beyond it. The path led appa 
 rently down to the mill stream, which flowed 
 through .the grounds in that direction. Marco 
 could not see the stream very well, on account 
 of the trees and shrubbery that were in the 
 way. He could hear it, however, and he said 
 that after he had finished his luncheon he meant 
 to go down and see it. 
 
 Forester did not pay much attention to this 
 remark of Marco s, for he was busy at the time 
 in reading a newspaper which he had found in 
 the room while the woman was gone after the 
 cakes, and which he had brought out with him 
 to the stoop. He held the newspaper in one 
 hand, and the cake which he was eating in the 
 other. 
 
 "I ve a great mind to go down now," said 
 Marco. " Would you, cousin Forester ?" 
 
 " Would you what ?" asked Forester, still 
 reading. 
 
 " Go down and see the brok," said Marco. 
 " That path there beyond the garden leads down 
 to the stream, I suppose." 
 
 " And you want to go down ?" said Forester. 
 
 t: Yes," replied Marco. 
 
 " I shall have to go with you then," said 
 
A R C H E R Y. 87 
 
 Marco s two cakes. Scenery on the bunks of the stream. 
 
 Forester, " to see that you don t get into any 
 difficulty." 
 
 " There is no danger of any difficulty," said 
 Marco. " But still I should like to have you 
 
 g" 
 
 " Well, " said Forester, " go on. I ll follow 
 you." 
 
 So Forester and Marco rose from their seats 
 and prepared to go. Forester held his news 
 paper in one hand, keeping his eyes still fixed 
 upon it, so as to continue his reading, and he 
 took another cake in the other hand, so as to 
 go on with his luncheon by the way. As for 
 Marco, he took two cakes, so as to be sure of 
 an abundant supply. Thus provided, Marco 
 ran down through the garden, while Forester 
 slowly followed, reading by the way.. 
 
 A winding pathway led down from the lower 
 garden gate through a wild scene of rocks and 
 trees, down to the banks of the stream. The 
 scenery was so wild and picturesque, that For 
 ester s attention was, for a time, wholly taken 
 off from his reading by it. He looked at the 
 water which came roaring and foaming along 
 over its rocky bed. He looked at the precipices 
 which overhung the stream, and at the mosses 
 and lichens which enriched the rocks, and the 
 
88 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Marco s remarks. Robbing birds -uests. Forester s story. 
 
 climbing plants which hung suspended from 
 them in beautiful festoons. He stood a few 
 minutes admiring all this beauty and neglecting 
 his newspaper, when Marco interrupted his 
 reverie by saying, 
 
 " I wish I could get over to the other side." 
 
 11 Why ?" asked Forester. 
 
 " To run about in the woods over there," re 
 plied Marco. " I don t believe but that there 
 are birds -nests in those woods." 
 
 " And what should you do with the birds - 
 nests," said Forester, " if you should find them ?" 
 
 " Oh, nothing," said Marco ; " only climb up 
 and look in to see the eggs. I would not rob 
 the nests on any account. It is wicked to rob 
 birds -nests ; don t you think it is ?" 
 
 " I think it is generally wrong." 
 
 " Generally ?" repeated Marco. " It is al 
 ways wrong, I am sure." 
 
 " That depends upon what you mean by rob 
 bing the nests." 
 
 " Why, taking the eggs," said Marco, " and 
 carrying them away." 
 
 " Well," said Forester, " I know a farmer s 
 boy in Vermont and a very excellent boy he 
 was, too, who used to go out every morning 
 
ARCHERY. 89 
 
 Surprise of Marco. Forester s explanation. 
 
 and get the eggs out of ever so many birds - 
 nests." 
 
 " And what did he do with them ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 " Why, he would carry them home, and af 
 terward the girls in the house used to break 
 them up." 
 
 " Hoh ! what girls !" said Marco. 
 
 " And I think they did perfectly right," said 
 Forester. 
 
 So saying, Forester turned away and walked 
 toward some large square stones which lay near 
 the bank of the stream, and sitting down upon 
 them, began to read his paper, leaving Marco 
 overwhelmed with astonishment. 
 
 " Perhaps I ought to mention, however," con 
 tinued Forester, raising his eyes from the paper 
 a moment as he spoke, " that the birds were 
 hens, and the nests that this boy went to were 
 all in his father s barn. The girls broke the 
 eggs up to make puddings and pies." 
 
 Marco laughed aloud at this termination of 
 the story, and at first he insisted that hens were 
 not birds. He was, however, soon obliged to 
 relinquish this point, and he went down to the 
 shore of the stream, and began to pick up small 
 stones, and try to see if he could throw them 
 
90 
 
 T H E S P R [ \ G FIELD ARM O R Y . 
 
 Projectiles. 
 
 across the stream. He found that he could. 
 The stones that he threw struck against the 
 precipice on the other side with great force, 
 and rebounded into the water. 
 
 " I can throw stones very swift," said Marco, 
 talking to himself. " I wonder if a bullet goes 
 swifter out of a gun. 
 
 "Forester," said Marco, "just look here a 
 minute. Do you suppose that a bullet out of a 
 gun goes a great deal swifter than that ? 
 
ARCHERY. 91 
 
 Marco s questions. A lecture promised. 
 
 As Marco pronounced the word that, he 
 lanched the stone through the air with all its 
 force. It flew across the stream and went far 
 in among the trees on the opposite bank. 
 
 " I don t know," said Forester, still reading. 
 
 " Or an arrow," continued Marco. " I wonder 
 how much swifter a bullet goes than an arrow." 
 
 " Cousin Forester," said Marco. 
 
 Forester did not answer. 
 
 " Cousin Forester," repeated Marco. 
 
 "What?" said Forester. 
 
 " How swift does an arrow go ?" said Marco. 
 
 Forester did not answer, but went on with his 
 reading. 
 
 " Does not an arrow go as swift as a bullet, 
 nearly ?" continued Marco. 
 
 " An arrow !" repeated Forester. " I am busy 
 now, reading, Marco. If you will leave me in 
 peace until I have finished this article, I will tell 
 you all about arrows and archery. I will deliver 
 you a regular lecture." 
 
 " Well," said Marco. 
 
 Marco had laid his two cakes down upon a 
 flat stone while he had been throwing pebbles 
 across the brook ; but now he took them up 
 again, and began to eat them. After a short 
 time Forester finished his reading, and then 
 
92 THE SPUING FIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Forester commences his lecture. Archery ; definition of it. 
 
 gave notice to Marco that he was ready to at 
 tend to him. 
 
 So Marco walked along toward Forester, 
 saying, 
 
 " Now, cousin Forester, for the lecture on ar 
 chery that you promised me." 
 
 " Well," said Forester, " take your seat on 
 that stone, and be the audience, and I will de 
 liver you a lecture." 
 
 So Marco sat down upon the stone that For 
 ester pointed out, which was nearly opposite 
 to where Forester himself was sitting; and be- 
 
 O 
 
 gan to compose himself to listen. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen !" said Forester. 
 
 Here Marco smiled. 
 
 " The audience is expected to keep sober/ 
 said Forester. 
 
 At this Marco laughed outright, but in a mo 
 ment more he recovered his gravity, and For 
 ester proceeded as follows : 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen ; The subject of this 
 lecture is Archery. Archery is the art of 
 using the bow and arrow. Before the in 
 vention of gunpowder, the bow and arrow 
 were used as instruments of war. Since 
 that invention, archery is no longer em 
 ployed in the warfare of civilized nations. 
 
ARCHERY. 93 
 
 Missiles. Philosophical explanations. 
 
 The North American Indians, and savage na 
 tions, still use the bow and arrow in their wars, 
 and in the pursuit of game. These instruments 
 were of very ancient use, and are mentioned 
 *n the Bible. The principles on which the bow 
 and arrow are made, will be seen from their 
 structure and design. An arrow is a kind of 
 missile. Missiles are those weapons which are 
 designed to be thrown through the air, by the 
 strength of the combatant who uses them. 
 The dart, the lance, and the arrow, are missiles, 
 but the sword and the dagger are not. Stones 
 are often used as missiles. A spear, when it is 
 thrown, is a missile, but when retained in the 
 hands and used only to give thrusts, it is not. 
 The harpoon thrown at a whale is a missile." 
 
 Forester said all this in a very grave and se 
 rious way, as if he were really delivering a lec 
 ture. Marco was at first inclined to laugh, but 
 he gradually became interested in what Fores 
 ter was saying, and at length began to listen 
 quite attentively. 
 
 " A man, with his naked strength," contin 
 ued Forester, " can give a missile a greater or 
 less velocity, according to its weight. If he 
 takes up a ball of iron, weighing ten pounds, 
 apd throws it with all his strength, he can only 
 
94 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The lecturer interrupted. The lecture suddenly terminated. 
 
 give it a slow motion, and this motion will car 
 ry it but a very little way. If now he takes a 
 five-pound ball and makes an effort as great as 
 before, he will give it a quicker motion. The 
 velocity of his arm through the air with a five- 
 pound ball, may be about twice as great as 
 when it is loaded with a ten-pound ball. The 
 rnan produces the same amount of motion in 
 the two cases. In the first, he gives a great 
 quantity of matter a small motion. In the lat 
 ter, he gives a small quantity of matter a great 
 motion. The whole amount of the moving 
 effect is the same." 
 
 "I don t understand that very well," said 
 Marco. 
 
 " The audience are requested not to interrupt 
 the lecture," said Forester. 
 
 Marco smiled, and Forester went on. 
 
 " If a boy," he continued, "throws a great 
 stone, as far as he can, perhaps it would only 
 go a single rod. If he makes the same effort to 
 throw a small stone, it will go eight or ten rods; 
 that is, if the small stone were only one eighth 
 or one tenth as large as the other." 
 
 Just at this point Forester interrupted him 
 self to say that it was time for them to go back, 
 or the woman at the house would wonder what 
 
A R C II E R Y. 95 
 
 Essential difference between a gun and a bow. Power. 
 
 had become of them. She might imagine, he 
 said, that they had eaten her cakes, and drank 
 her milk, and had now gone away without pay 
 ing for them. 
 
 If Forester had not thus felt obliged to go 
 back to the house, and if he had found that 
 Marco had been able to understand his lecture, 
 he would have gone on to state some very cu 
 rious principles in respect to the operation of 
 the bow and arrow. There is an essential dif 
 ference between a gun and a bow in this re 
 spect, that a gun is an instrument for creating 
 power by means of the explosion of the powder 
 contained within it ; while a bow is only an in 
 strument for changing power, already existing, 
 into speed. The force with which a man pulls 
 a trigger has nothing to do with the velocity of 
 the bullet ; but the force with which a man 
 draws the bow, is the sole cause that determines 
 the velocity of the arrow. 
 
 What Forester had been intending to say to 
 Marco, when speaking of the power which a 
 man has to throw a small stone faster and far 
 ther than a large one, was this : that by di 
 minishing the weight of the ball or stone, he 
 would be able to increase the velocity with 
 which he could throw it up. to a certain limit. 
 
96 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Limit of velocity in throwing with the arm. 
 
 The limit would be the utmost degree of swift 
 ness that he could give to the motion of his 
 arm. Suppose, for example, that a man could 
 throw a missile weighing three ounces, one hun 
 dred yards. That would be equivalent to 
 throwing one of one ounce, three hundred 
 yards. If now he has power to do the former, 
 he will have power enough to do the latter, but 
 he can not make this power available, inasmuch 
 as he can not give his arm swiftness of motion 
 enough ; for the missile will pass through the 
 air, only with the same velocity that it is mov 
 ing in, when leaving his hand. But with the 
 bow he may accomplish it. For the bow, if it 
 is perfectly elastic, may be drawn up with a 
 slow motion, but it will straighten itself with a 
 quick motion, according to the lightness of the 
 arrow with which it is loaded. Thus the bow 
 and arrow is not a contrivance to increase a 
 man s power of throwing a missile, but only to 
 enable him to expend the power which he has, 
 in giving a greater velocity to missiles of small 
 weight. There is as much motion given in 
 throwing a three ounce missile one hundred 
 yards, which the man could do by his own 
 strength, as in throwing the one ounce missile 
 three hundred yards, which he does by bow and 
 
ARCHERY. 97 
 
 The bow creates no power. Materials of which bows are made. 
 
 arrow. But the latter is much more useful in 
 hunting and in war, for the marksmen wish to 
 reach the object at the greatest possible dis 
 tance. A bow, therefore, must not be consid 
 ered as exercising any force of its own, but only 
 as expending in a peculiar manner, the force 
 which the archer applies to it, in drawing it. 
 There is, besides this, one other advantage in 
 using a bow rather than in throwing the missile 
 direct from the hand, and that is, that it can be 
 aimed better. Practiced archers acquire great 
 skill in hitting the object at which they aim. 
 
 The bow is usually made of some kind of 
 tough and elastic wood. The best strings are 
 made from the skins of wild animals. The ar 
 row consists of three parts the shaft, the head, 
 and the barb. The shaft in the best Indian ar 
 row, is about three feet long, slender, light, and 
 perfectly straight. The head is made of heavi 
 er wood, or is armed with a rudely carved 
 stone. The savage inhabitants of islands em 
 ploy for this purpose, the sharp teeth of some 
 kinds of fish. The barb consists of pieces of 
 feather, so attached to the end of the arrow 
 which is applied to the string, as to cause it to 
 pursue a steady and straight course in its flight 
 through the air. The feather end being more 
 
98 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMOUY. 
 
 Fiery arrows. Cross bows. Advantages of thgm. 
 
 resisted by the atmosphere, is kept back, and the 
 head being heavier, moves with greater momen 
 tum and is always forward. 
 
 The arrow has been found a very deadly 
 weapon in war. Warlike nations in ancient 
 times, acquired great dexterity and power in 
 its use. Scarcely any armor was sufficient pro 
 tection against it. Sometimes arrows were 
 poisoned. And not unfrequently the arrow was 
 employed as the Congreve Rocket now is, to 
 fire distant buildings by loading the head with 
 tow, or with some other combustible substance 
 that would communicate a spark or a flame. 
 They were accustomed, too, in former times, to 
 make a kind of arrow with holes through the 
 head of it, so as to produce a whistling sound 
 when they were discharged. These were called 
 whistling arrows. 
 
 The Cross-Bow, often spoken of in the 
 histories of former times, was substantially 
 the same instrument with the common bow. 
 It had in addition a kind of stock, attached 
 to the bow, by which the arrow was made 
 to pass along a groove, which served to give 
 more steadiness and certainty to the aim. 
 The most experienced archers, however, always 
 preferred the simple bow. In accounts of an- 
 
ARCHERY. 99 
 
 Forester and Marco go back to the house. The bill. 
 
 cient battles, frequent mention is made of arch 
 ers, as the most efficient part of the forces em 
 ployed in a war. Bullets, however, as dis 
 charged from guns, in modern warfare, are infi 
 nitely more deadly. 
 
 It is very probable that Forester would have 
 explained all these things to Marco, had he not 
 felt in haste to return and pay for the cakes and 
 milk that he and Marco had eaten. He need 
 not have been uneasy on this account, as the 
 woman at the house would not have suspected 
 that they had dishonestly gone away, if they had 
 remained playing about the stream an hour 
 so confident was she of the respectability and 
 trust-worthiness of her guests, from their ap 
 pearance and manners. 
 
 Forester and Marco, however, went back to 
 the house, and after sitting in the stoop a little 
 while longer, and drinking some more of the 
 milk, they went in and asked what there was to 
 pay. The woman said ninepence ; which For 
 ester said meant a New York shilling. They 
 paid her the money and then went away. 
 
100 THE SPRIN G-F-I E -L b .A R M DRY. 
 
 Rolling machinery. Turning. The lathe. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 TURNING AND BORING. 
 
 MARCO and Forester spent two or three 
 hours in rambling through the water 
 shops, and examining the various processes 
 which were going on in them. They saw the 
 place where the iron bars were rolled out, and 
 cut into lengths suitable for forming the barrels ; 
 and Marco was astonished to observe with what 
 facility the metal was worked, by the help of 
 the ponderous machinery. This was done at 
 the lowest of the three dams. Here was also 
 the " stocking shop," as the workmen called it, 
 where the stocks of the guns were turned. 
 Marco was very much interested in this pro 
 cess, as, in fact, all visitors are. Turning is 
 performed in an instrument called a Lithe. 
 The work to be turned is put into the lathe, and, 
 by means of wheels and machinery, is made to 
 revolve rapidly. While it is thus revolving, the 
 cutting tool is held against it, which cuts away 
 the wood, or other material, all around the work. 
 There is a part of the machine, made to steady 
 
101 
 
 iii^br#?3 and iron. Tlia Ciittmg^ tool. Engine lathes. 
 
 the toof upon, which "is called the rest. All 
 kinds of work, which are round in one direction, 
 such as round boxes, knobs, handles, &c., can 
 be fashioned in this manner much more easily, 
 and much more correctly, than they can be by 
 hand. Not only wood, but brass, iron, and 
 steel, can be turned in a lathe. The tools with 
 which the harder substances are turned, are 
 ground to a more obtuse angle, though equally 
 sharp at the edge ; and they are, of course, so 
 adjusted, as to cut off only a small shaving at a 
 time. Where the iron or brass work, which is 
 to be turned, is very heavy, not only must the 
 material be made to revolve by machinery, but 
 the tool must be screwed firmly into the rest, as 
 the strength of a man would not be sufficient to 
 hold it. The rest, with the tool screwed into 
 it, is made to move slowly along, so as to cut 
 the metal away regularly, from one end of the 
 work toward the other. Such a lathe as this, 
 is called an engine lathe. 
 
 Marco saw several engine lathes. There 
 were three or four in one room, for turning the 
 gun-barrels. Marco watched the tool, as it 
 moved slowly along the barrel, with a small 
 shaving of iron running out continually from its 
 edge, as the barrel turned over constantly 
 
102 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Cooling tho tool. Necessity for this. 
 
 against it. There was a little stream of cold 
 water, which fell all the time upon the point of 
 the tool. It came from a little pipe, suspended 
 over the work. The pipe was connected with 
 a small flexible tube, about three feet long, 
 which came down from a long metal pipe, which 
 passed across the room overhead, and contained 
 a constant supply of water. The water in this 
 pipe was raised, as Forester supposed, by a 
 pump from the mill-stream. The end of the 
 little pipe over the work was attached to the 
 machinery, so that it moved along with the rest, 
 and thus always delivered its little stream of 
 water directly upon the edge of the tool, and 
 upon the part of the iron which the tool was 
 cutting. The flexible tube, or hose, as the 
 workmen called it, allowed the pipe to be car 
 ried in this manner, along the barrel, from one 
 end to the other, so as to pour the water con 
 tinually upon the point where it was needed. 
 
 Marco wanted to know what the stream of 
 water was for ; and Forester told him that it 
 was to keep the edge of the tool cool. The 
 force of friction, produced by cutting so hard a 
 material as iron, would soon heat the tool, and 
 t?ke the temper out of the steel and then, the 
 edge, being softened, would be immediately 
 
TURNING AND BORING. 103 
 
 The iron shavings. Called turnings. 
 
 worn away. In fact, Marco observed, in many 
 other instances, that such streams of water were 
 made to fall upon the work, where the cutting 
 tool \vas exposed to heavy friction, in order to 
 keep it cool. 
 
 The shavings cut off at each of the lathes 
 where the barrels were turned, fell into a box 
 beneath. The workmen told Forester that 
 these turnings were all worked up into solid iron 
 again, and used for making more barrels. 
 
 " I shouldn t think that would be worth 
 while," said Marco. 
 
 " Why not ?" asked Forester. 
 
 " Because," said Marco, " they can only make 
 a very little iron, such thin shavings." 
 
 " We call them turnings," said the workman. 
 " They amount to a great quantity. In fact, in 
 finishing a gun-barrel, we take off more than 
 we leave ; so that if the trimmings and scraps 
 were thrown away, more than one half the iron 
 would be wasted." 
 
 Forester, as well as Marco, was surprised to 
 hear this statement^but, on more particular in 
 quiry, they were told that the barrel, in the 
 rough form, weighed about ten pounds and a 
 half, and that, when finished, it weighed only 
 four pounds ; so that considerably more than 
 
104 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Grinding the barrels. Monstrous grindstone. 
 
 one half the quantity of material was cut away 
 in the process of finishing. 
 
 One of the most interesting processes which 
 Marco saw, was the grinding of the barrels after 
 shey had been turned. It seems that although 
 the tool by which the barrel is turned, is held 
 and moved by machinery, which machinery 
 remains precisely the same for a great many 
 different barrels still the barrels are not pre 
 cisely alike when they come from the lathe. 
 Some will be a very little thicker or thinner in 
 some parts than others. Then, besides, the tool 
 does not leave the iron perfectly smooth, for, as 
 it moves slowly along at the same time that the 
 iron revolves, it cuts in a spiral direction, lound 
 and round the iron, and leaves the work marked 
 with a sort of spiral depression, left by the form 
 of the edge of the tool This has to be ground 
 away, in order to make the surface of the barrel 
 smooth and uniform throughout. 
 
 Now the manner in which it is effected, is 
 this. An enormous grindstone, five or six feet 
 in diameter, is made to revolve with great ve 
 locity, and a stream of water pours constantly 
 upon it from a pipe above. This water would 
 fly in all directions from the stone, on account 
 of what is called the centrifugal force, produced 
 
TURNING AND BORING. 105 
 
 Contrivances. Mode of holding the barrel on the stone. 
 
 by the rapid revolution of the stone, were it not 
 prevented by inclosing the stone in a box, which 
 confines the water. In front of the stone, and 
 opposite the middle of it, there is a small open 
 ing through the box, large enough to admit the 
 gun-barrel, and when it is in, there is a lever 
 which may be pressed against it, to crowd it 
 hard against the stone. The end of this lever, 
 which is a smooth iron bar, passes out in such 
 a direction, as to come behind the workman, as 
 he stands in the proper position for holding the 
 barrel ; and thus, while he holds the barrel in 
 his hands, he can lean against this lever, and 
 press the barrel with great force against the 
 stone. 
 
 It is very evident, however, that if the barrel 
 was held at rest in this position, while the stone 
 was rapidly revolving, that it would only grind 
 off a portion of it from one side, thus spoiling, 
 instead of improving its form. In order to pre 
 vent this, and to grind it on all sides alike, the 
 workman has an iron rod, with a crank handle 
 upon one end of it. This rod he runs into the 
 barrel before he applies it to the stone, and 
 drives it in hard ; and as the rod is made to fit 
 the barrel, it holds it firmly by the friction. 
 Then, by means of the crank at the end, he can 
 
106 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Velocity of the stone. Sparks. 
 
 turn the rod, and with it the barrel, and thus 
 bring all parts of the barrel, in rapid succession, 
 in contact with the stone. Thus, while the 
 grinder was crowding back upon the lever, in 
 order to press the barrel against the stone, he 
 was at the same time turning the barrel con 
 stantly, by means of the crank, and thus the 
 superfluous metal was ground off equally from 
 all sides of the barrel. 
 
 So great was the velocity of the wheel, and 
 the force with which the barrel was pressed 
 against it, that Marco could see, by looking in 
 at the place where the bar was inserted, that 
 long sparks and streams of fire, struck out by 
 the violence of the friction, were continually 
 darting down among the streams of water, which 
 were descending all the time from the stone. 
 It required but a very few minutes to grind the 
 barrel to its proper shape. The workman had 
 a gage, or instrument for measuring the size 
 of the barrel, at short distances, along its whole 
 length. While grinding it he frequently drew 
 it out to apply his gage, until he had reduced 
 it to the proper size at every part. 
 
 In the same room with this machinery, there 
 was another grindstone, with grooves in the 
 circumference. This was used for grinding 
 
TURNING AND BORING. 107 
 
 Grinding bayonets. 
 
 bayonets. The edges of the bayonets fitted 
 into these grooves. The man who ground 
 them, sat on a seat at one end, and held the 
 bayonet which he was grinding against the 
 stone. It appeared to be hard and disagree 
 able work. The stone revolved with great 
 velocity, and so great was the friction, that a 
 long stream of sparks flew out from the bayo 
 net, wherever it was applied to the stone, al 
 though a stream of cold water from above was 
 kept constantly pouring upon the place. The 
 workman said that these monstrous stones, 
 were very dangerous. In the first place, the 
 stones themselves, in their original structure, 
 are not very strong, and in order to fasten 
 them securely upon their axles, they are wedg 
 ed up very tightly. The effect of this is to 
 strain them a great deal, so as to make them 
 almost ready to burst before they are put in 
 motion. Then when the water comes to be 
 poured on, the stone is softened and weak 
 ened still more by the action of it, for the 
 stone must be kept deluged with water, while 
 they are grinding with it, in order to pre 
 vent the friction from heating the steel, and 
 taking the temper out. 
 
 Thus it happened, they said, that the stones not 
 
108 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Bursting of the stoues. Mode of preventing this. Polishing. 
 
 unfrequently flew in pieces, on account of the 
 swiftness of the rotary motion, and, in that case, 
 some of the fragments would be sometimes 
 driven through the roof of the building, or, per 
 haps, kill the workman seated at it. He said, 
 however, that they had now an improved mode 
 of securing the grindstone to the axle, by which 
 this danger was very much lessened. In for 
 mer times, they would put the stone upon the 
 axle, and then secure it in its place, by driving 
 wedges in between the axle and the stone, 
 which, of course, tended to split the stone, or, 
 at least, to aid the centrifugal force in splitting 
 it. But now the stone was secured by large 
 plates of iron on each side, which were forced, 
 by means of wedges, against the sides of the 
 stone, thus securing the stone in a manner rath 
 er calculated to bind it together, than to force 
 it open. 
 
 From the grinding room, they went into the 
 boring and polishing room, though they found 
 that the boring of the barrels, in fact, preceded 
 the turning ; and in order, therefore, to have 
 seen the processes in their regular order, they 
 should have seen the boring first, then the turn 
 ing, and, finally, the polishing. When Marco 
 
TURNING AND BORING. 109 
 
 Boring. Machinery for boring. 
 
 saw the boring machinery, and was told what 
 it was for, he said, 
 
 " But I thought that the barrels were made 
 hollow at the forge." 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, "they are hollow, but 
 they are necessarily left in a rough state, at the 
 forge. The interior has to be bored out and 
 polished, so as to make it smooth and true 
 throughout." 
 
 Marco advanced with Forester to the ma 
 chinery by which the barrels were bored. They 
 found that there was a solid iron frame, like a 
 bedstead, a little more than twice as long as the 
 barrel, on which were bars, and wheels, and 
 rods, and systems of rack-work, too complica 
 ted for Marco to understand. In the -midst of 
 all the machinery, there were one or two bar 
 rels, writhing, as if in pain, but neither revolv 
 ing nor advancing. A long rod issued from 
 each, and these rods were attached to wheels at 
 the top of the frame. Marco perceived that 
 these rods were revolving, and that the same 
 machinery which caused them to revolve, was 
 drawing them forward out of the barrel. He 
 watched one of them until it came out, when he 
 perceived that there was a sort of auger upon 
 the end of it, by which it had bored its way 
 
110 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The auger. Forester and Marco look throxigh a barrel. 
 
 through. The man then took another similar 
 
 o 
 
 rod, with an auger upon the end of it, like the 
 first, only it was a little larger ; and, running it 
 through the barrel, he attached the end of it to 
 the proper machinery, at the head of the frame, 
 and then set the works in motion again, by 
 which the auger was drawn through slowly, but 
 with great force, turning round and round all 
 the time, so as to bore its way through, -the 
 barrel writhing under the operation as before. 
 
 On another frame, at a little distance from 
 this, other barrels were placed, and a different 
 instrument, being of the form of a square steel 
 rod, with sharp edges, was drawn through it, 
 revolving swiftly all the time. This smoothed 
 the interior, and removed all the marks left by 
 the auger. Near these works there were some 
 of the barrels that were finished, that is, so far 
 as the bore was concerned, and the workman 
 held up one of them for Forester to look through. 
 Forester seemed much pleased with the appear 
 ance of it, and held it for Marco. Marco 
 found, to his astonishment, that the interior was 
 highly polished, reflecting a high luster, and ex 
 hibiting a curious succession of concentric 
 rings of great brightness. This resulted from 
 some optical illusion, which even Forester said 
 
TURNING AND BORING. Ill 
 
 Appearance. They work from within out. 
 
 he could not explain. The workman said he did 
 not know what caused the appearance of rings, 
 as there was nothing, in reality, corresponding 
 to them in the barrels the bore being perfectly 
 uniform and smooth throughout the interior. 
 The outsides of these barrels were black and 
 rough, just as they came from the forge. They 
 had not yet been turned and ground. 
 
 Marco wished to know why they finished the 
 inside first. 
 
 " That is a general principle, in turning," 
 said Forester, " I believe, to work from the 
 inside outward. If they should first turn and 
 polish the outside, and then undertake to bore it 
 out, it would be very difficult to get the bore 
 exactly in the center." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " and suppose it were 
 not exactly in the center ?" 
 
 " Then," said Forester, " the barrel would be 
 of greater thickness on one side than on the 
 other, and it would be in danger of bursting on 
 the thinnest side." 
 
 " But," said Marco, " they might make it so 
 thick, that even the thinnest side would be 
 strong enough." 
 
 " True," replied Forester, " but then all the 
 extra thickness on the other side would he of no 
 
THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Guns thicker at the breech. Explanation. 
 
 use. It would only add to the weight of the 
 gun, without being of any service ; for the gun 
 could riot be charged any more heavily than 
 the strength of the thinnest part would bear. 
 Therefore, to combine lightness with strength, 
 in the greatest degree, it is necessary to have 
 the thickness of the barrel the same all around, 
 and to have this thickness diminish toward the 
 muzzle, exactly in proportion to the diminution 
 in the force of the gunpowder, as the ball moves 
 along from one end to the other. Then the 
 barrel would be equally strong throughout, and 
 not more likely to burst in one place than in 
 another." 
 
 " Very well," said Marco, " I admit that ; but 
 I don t see why they can not finish the outside 
 first, and then make the bore to correspond with 
 that, as well as to finish the bore first, and 
 then turn the outside to correspond with the 
 bore." 
 
 "It is because," said Forester, " they can t 
 control the boring as well as they can the turn 
 ing. The boring tool must be long and slen 
 der, in order to be passed through the barrel, 
 and of course it will easily spring, and yield 
 somewhat. If the outside of a cylinder were to 
 be turned true, and fixed precisely in the center 
 
TURNING AND BORING. 
 
 The drill. Forester s recoiling. 
 
 of the motion of the lathe, and then if a drill 
 could be made absolutely inflexible, it would 
 run through the center. But it is impossible to 
 realize these conditions." 
 
 " I don t know what you mean by realizing 
 conditions," said Marco. 
 
 " Why, making the circumstances such as 
 I have supposed. The drill will yield and 
 spring a little, especially if the cylinder is al 
 ready hollow, and is only to be bored out more, 
 and made true. The inequalities in the interi 
 or will force the drill or auger to one side or 
 the other, and thus render it impossible to con 
 trol the boring. But after the boring is fin 
 ished, then the barrel may be set in the lathe, 
 and chocked by the bore." 
 
 " Chocked by the bore ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, "that is, the pivots on 
 which it turns may pass into the bore, and as 
 the pivots are precisely in the center of the 
 motion of the lathe, the bore will be so too, and 
 then the outside can be turned to correspond. 
 Because you see that on the outside there is 
 plenty of room, and the tool can be made very 
 massive and solid, so as to have no sensible 
 spring. The reason why the boring tool can 
 not. be made inflexible, is, that it must be long 
 
114 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMOKY. 
 
 Curious machinery. Curious and complicated motion, 
 
 and slender in order to pass into the bore. 
 There is not room for metal enough to make it 
 firm and unyielding. Therefore, in turning, it 
 is generally best to finish the hollow part first, 
 and then to make the exterior to conform to it." 
 At this moment Marco s attention was at 
 tracted by a curious appearance at one end of 
 t he room, and he advanced with Forester to see 
 what it was. It proved to be the machinery 
 for polishing the outsides of the barrels after they 
 were ground. It appeared that the barrels af 
 ter being bored, as Marco had seen, were carried 
 into the other shop to be turned and ground on 
 the outside, and were then brought back to be 
 polished in this shop again. There were two 
 machines for polishing, and each had four gun- 
 barrels in it. The form of the machine was an 
 upright iron frame, and the barrels were placed 
 in it in a perpendicular position. The upper 
 ends were attached to wheels, by which they 
 were kept in constant revolution, and these 
 wheels were also attached to a beam which as 
 cended and descended continually, like the 
 beam over the piston rod of a steam-engine, or 
 that which carries the saw in a saw-mill. Thus 
 the barrels were alternately drawn up and 
 pushed down, continually revolving at the same 
 
TURNING AND BORING. 115 
 
 Polishing the screws. 
 
 time. They passed in this manner between a 
 set of leather cushions, covered with oil and 
 emery, a fine powder used for polishing. 
 These cushions were pressed together by 
 springs, with the barrels between them, and 
 thus all the roughness of the iron, left by the 
 grindstone, was gradually worn away, and the 
 barrels came out at last highly polished. 
 
 The smaller parts of the musket, such as the 
 screws, bands, and parts of the lock, were pol 
 ished in a different manner, by holding them 
 one by one against wheels, revolving with great 
 velocity, as Forester had said. There were a 
 great many of these wheels in one of the rooms, 
 with workmen seated before them polishing 
 small pieces of steel work. One of the work 
 men said that the wheels revolved from twelve 
 to fifteen hundred times per minute. This 
 would be about twenty times in a second. 
 Marco tried to whirl his hand around in the air 
 as swiftly as he could, but he thought that he 
 did not succeed in making more than two or 
 three in a second. Long streams of sparks 
 issued from the emery wheels when the steel 
 was brought in contact with them. 
 
116 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Testing the work. Taking a sui. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 INSPECTION. 
 
 IN an apartment connected with one of the 
 water shops, Marco and Forester saw an 
 operation going on which was different, in its 
 very nature, from all which they had seen be 
 fore. It was the operation of testing the work 
 after it was finished. The testing which they 
 saw, was that of the bayonet. A pile of bay 
 onets lay before a workman on a bench, and he 
 was trying them, to see whether they were of 
 the proper temper and strength. 
 
 The manner in which he tested the bayonets, 
 was this. He put them, one by one, upon a 
 gun, and then, striking the point a little into the 
 floor, he would spring it forcibly one way and 
 the other, to see if it would bear the necessary 
 strain. By this operation, the bayonet was 
 bent a little to one side or to the other. This 
 was called taJnng a set. A piece of steel, or 
 iron, or brass, or any similar metal, may be bent 
 a little out of its natural position, and it will 
 spring back again, so as to take precisely the 
 
NSPECTION. 117 
 
 Elasticity. Tempering saws. 
 
 form which it had before. If it is bent, how 
 ever, a little too far, it will not come entirely 
 back, but will remain bent. This is called 
 taking a set. Steel, highly tempered, may be 
 bent much more, without taking a set, than 
 brass or iron. This makes it suitable for 
 springs. Its elasticity is so great, that it will 
 restore itself entirely from a very considerable 
 flexion. 
 
 The more highly tempered steel is, the less 
 easy it is to make it set, but then, the more 
 brittle it becomes. A file is very highly tem 
 pered, and it can not be set at all. If sprung a 
 very little from its proper position, it will spring 
 back again entirely. If sprung more, it will 
 break, but it can not be bent so as to remain 
 bent. 
 
 A saw, on the other hand, is not tempered so 
 highly, and it may accordingly be bent so as to 
 take a set. Saws often get so bent, by being 
 carelessly used, and thus they become crooked. 
 But by being thus tempered not so high, they 
 can not be so easily broken. A saw will not 
 snap off suddenly like a file, but, bent beyond 
 the point from which the steel is capable of re 
 storing itself, the particles will yield a little, and 
 thus it will take a set. Now, though it is an 
 
118 THE SPKINGPIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The proper temper for a bayonet. 
 
 evil for a saw to take a set, since it makes it 
 crooked, it is a greater evil for it to break in 
 two, and therefore it is tempered in such a 
 manner as to bend a little, rather than break. 
 
 It is the same with the bayonet. It is desir 
 able to have it elastic, but then it must not be 
 brittle. The workman tested the strength of 
 the bayonet, by springing it forcibly with the 
 point upon the floor, in the manner which has 
 been already explained. He tested its elasticity 
 in another way, which seemed to Marco very 
 
 ingenious. There 
 was a place fitted 
 at the end of the 
 bench, where he 
 could rest the neck 
 of the bayonet up- 
 ft^riLLll on a solid support, 
 which was used as 
 a sort of fulcrum. 
 The point of the 
 bayonet was then 
 inserted into a loop 
 formed at the upper 
 end of a wire, which 
 
 had attached to the lower end of it a heavy 
 weight of lead. Then, by bearing down upon 
 
 TESTING. THE BAYONETS. 
 
INSPECTION. 119 
 
 The test. A fracture. Flaw in the iron. 
 
 the end of the gun, the lead was lifted, the whole 
 weight of it resting upon the point of the bay 
 onet. This weight was so heavy that it bent 
 the bayonet down an inch or two, and when it 
 was let down again, the bayonet would spring 
 back nearly into its place, but not quite. It set 
 about a quarter of an inch. The man who was 
 examining the bayonets, said, that if they did 
 not set more than a quarter of an inch in lifting 
 such a weight, they were considered as passing 
 a satisfactory trial in respect to their elasticity. 
 After watching the process of testing the 
 bayonets in this manner, for some time, the 
 workman opened a box which was under the 
 bench, and showed them some which had been 
 condemned. One was broken in two in the 
 middle, not having had strength sufficient to 
 bear the violent strain which the workman had 
 given it, with the point upon the floor. Marco 
 took up the fragments and examined the frac 
 tured surface, to see if he could discover the 
 cause of its breaking. There was a small dis 
 colored spot, visible near one edge, which was 
 caused by a flaw in the iron. Another bayonet 
 was whole, and Marco could not see why it 
 was condemned. The workman, however, 
 pointed out to him an imperfection in the cor- 
 
120 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Work by the piece. Paying by the time, 
 
 ner, where the blade of the bayonet joins the 
 neck. 
 
 " Whose loss is it," said Forester, " if the 
 blade is condemned ?" 
 
 " If it is owing to the workmanship/ 3 said the 
 man, "it is the loss of the man who made it. 
 But if it arises from any flaw in the iron, he 
 does not lose it." 
 
 "And is most of the work done by the 
 piece ?" said Forester. 
 
 " Yes," replied the man ; " and if it does not 
 stand inspection, the man loses it." 
 
 Marco did not understand this conversation 
 very well, and he asked an explanation of For 
 ester after they had left the shop. Forester 
 told him that paying by the piece, was paying 
 in proportion to the work done. " For instance, 
 if a man is forging bayonets," said he, "paying 
 him by the piece, is giving him a certain sum 
 for every bayonet he makes." 
 
 " And what other way is there ?" said Marco. 
 
 " Why, they can be paid by the time," said 
 Forester, " so much for a day s work, for ex 
 ample, whether they accomplish more or less." 
 
 " I think it is better to pay by the piece," said 
 Marco. 
 
 " Certainly," replied Forester, " when the 
 
INSPECTION. 121 
 
 Measurement of work. Mode of paying workmen. 
 
 work is of such a kind that it can be accurately 
 measured." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " and can not all work 
 be accurately measured ?" 
 
 " No," replied Forester ; " for instance, 
 mending the roads in the spring, after they have 
 been washed by the rains, can not be measured. 
 There will be much more injury done in some 
 places than in others, and the facilities for get 
 ting materials and repairing the injuries, will 
 vary much in different parts of the road. Then, 
 besides, there would be no way of deciding 
 when the work was properly done. A very 
 accurate test of the elasticity of a bayonet can 
 be applied, by requiring that it should lift a cer 
 tain weight, without setting more than a quarter 
 of an inch. But there would be no mode of 
 ascertaining precisely how much should be done 
 to the road. Therefore, persons employed in 
 mending the roads, must always be paid by 
 time. 
 
 " In almost all kinds of manufacturing estab 
 lishments, however," continued Forester, " they 
 can estimate most of the work exactly, and, ac 
 cordingly, they contract with the laborers to 
 pay in proportion to the work done. This is 
 altogether the best mode, and they always en- 
 
122 THE SPRENGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Government works. 
 
 deavor to adopt it, especially in all great estab 
 lishments, where the men would be very likely 
 to be idle if they were paid by the time. It 
 would be so more particularly in a government 
 establishment, like the Springfield armory." 
 
 " Is the Springfield armory a government 
 establishment ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Yes," replied Forester, " it all belongs to 
 the government of the United States. It is in 
 tended solely for manufacturing muskets for 
 their armies. The government have built the 
 shops, and put in the machinery, and they em 
 ploy the workmen to do the work, and pay them 
 all according to the work they do, provided it 
 is done so well as to pass inspection." 
 
 " Why is it more important," asked Marco, 
 " for a government to employ its men to work 
 in this way, than for a private individual ?" 
 
 " Because," replied Forester, " if a private 
 individual employs persons to work for him, and 
 is going to pay them by the time, he can over 
 see them himself, and know whether they are 
 industrious or not. But a government can not 
 do this. It can not be present itself, but must 
 act through agents ; and agents are never so 
 faithful as principals. Therefore, governments 
 and corporations always avoid paying men by 
 
INSPECTJON. 123 
 
 Corporations. Irregular work. 
 
 time, if it is possible to systematize the work so 
 as to measure it, and to pay in proportion to the 
 work done." 
 
 " What are corporations ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Where a large number of men combine to 
 carry on any great enterprise in common, they 
 form an association, called a corporation. Now 
 a corporation, like a government, can not be 
 present to oversee its work. They must depend 
 upon agents, and they, therefore, are very re 
 luctant to employ men and pay them by the 
 time. Railroads are commonly made by cor 
 porations, and the directors are very unwilling 
 to pay laborers by the time that they are em 
 ployed. A great deal of the work which the 
 laborers do, is grading the road, which is a very 
 difficult kind of work to measure, because it 
 consists of digging away, or filling up very 
 irregular pieces of ground ; still they take pains 
 to measure it, and employ men to do it, by pay 
 ing them so much per square yard for all that 
 they remove." 
 
 " Is there any other kind of work," said Mar 
 co, " which can not be estimated, so that people 
 have to pay by the time, as they do for mending 
 the roads ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, " all kinds of farm 
 
124 THE SPRINGFIELD AKMOKY. 
 
 Farmers work. 
 
 Irregularity of i arming work. 
 
 work. If a farmer hires men to work upon his 
 farm, he pays them by the time they labor, by 
 the day, the month, or the year. He can not 
 pay by the work done, for the work is so ir 
 regular and variable, that it can not be measured 
 or estimated. 
 
 " Why, he might pay them so much," said 
 Marco, " for hoeing so many rows of corn, or 
 for plowing so much land." 
 
 " No," said Forester, " for the work of hoeing 
 and plowing will vary exceedingly, according 
 as the ground is hard or mellow, or more or less 
 encumbered with stones and weeds. Then a 
 great proportion of the other work on a farm, it 
 
 would be still more 
 difficult to meas 
 ure ; for instance, 
 digging out great 
 stones to clear a 
 field. A farmer 
 might set his hands 
 at work to dig out 
 a stone without 
 knowing at all 
 whether it would 
 take an hour or 
 three to accom- 
 
 FARMER S WORK. 
 
INSPECTION. 
 
 Farmer^ management. Cost of machinery. 
 
 plish it. Therefore, a farmer, if he hires a la 
 borer, must pay by the time. This is one rea 
 son why men can not well carry on a farm to 
 advantage by hired labor. They can not meas 
 ure the labor, and pay for it, according to the 
 amount of work which is done. Still, the far 
 mer has one great advantage, which the corpo 
 ration has not. He can work with his men and 
 oversee them all the time ; and when working 
 with him, in his presence, they are much more 
 industrious and faithful. But if a man under 
 takes to manage a farm by hired laborers, with 
 out laboring with them himself, the difficulty 
 becomes very great. He almost always fails in 
 his experiment." 
 
 " I saw one man," said Marco, " in one of the 
 shops, who was making little screws. They 
 were the little screws used in making the lock. 
 He said there were seven different operations 
 to be performed on each screw, and that each 
 one had a separate machine for performing it ; 
 so that it took seven engines to make one little 
 screw." 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, " and not unlikely each 
 engine may have cost a hundred dollars." 
 
 " And there was the forging, besides," said 
 Marco. 
 
126 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Advantage of uniformity. 
 
 " Yes," said Forester ; so that, perhaps, five 
 hundred or a thousand dollars may be invested 
 in machinery, all of which is necessary to make 
 one screw. This would be an expensive way 
 if only one screw was required, but when 
 they have so many to make, it is the cheapest 
 way, because, by means of all this machinery, 
 they can make them very fast. And that is not 
 the only advantage. They can not only make 
 them fast, but by being made in machines, they 
 are all precisely alike. This is a great advan 
 tage ; for they can send some spare screws with 
 muskets when they go into the army, and then, 
 if one gets lost or broken in any lock, they can 
 at once replace it. Any one of the spare screws 
 will exactly fit the place of the lost one." 
 
 " Or if two locks get broken," said Marco, 
 " in different places, they can put the parts of 
 one with those of the other, and so get one good 
 lock out of the two." 
 
 " Yes," said Forester. " There is, however, 
 one inconvenience in having machinery to make 
 all these parts of the musket, and that is, that 
 they can not make any change in the pattern of 
 the musket, without a great expense ; for all 
 machinery which was adapted to making the 
 parts according to the old pattern, becomes 
 
INSPECTION. 
 
 The finishing shops. 
 
 useless, and they must construct new and ex 
 pensive engines to correspond with the new 
 pattern. So it becomes a great work to intro 
 duce any new and improved modes of construc 
 tion." 
 
 During this conversation, Marco and Fores 
 ter had been walking slowly along toward the 
 high land, where the finishing shops of the ar 
 mory and the storehouses were, around the 
 great square, on the plain above Springfield, as 
 explained in the third chapter. By this time 
 these buildings appeared in sight, and our two 
 travelers advanced toward them, much inter 
 ested to know what new objects of curiosity 
 they were to find in this part of the establish- 
 ment. 
 
TIM: SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The forging shops. Curious anvils. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE ARSENAL. 
 
 THE first building to which Forester con 
 ducted Marco, at this part of the works, 
 was near the north-west corner of the square. 
 On entering it, they found a very long, spacious 
 apartment, with a double row of forges extend 
 ing through the middle of it. The floor was 
 paved with flat stones. The walls and ceiling 
 were neatly whitewashed. Over each forge 
 was a pair of blacksmith s bellows. There were 
 men working at several of the forges, and For 
 ester and Marco advanced to see what they 
 were doing. 
 
 Instead of the simple anvil and hammer, used 
 by blacksmiths for common work, they found 
 that much more complicated apparatus was 
 used here. There was at each forge a large 
 anvil, but the surface, instead of being flat and 
 level, as usual with anvils, had upon it a varie 
 ty of depressions and perforations ; and there 
 were also by the side of each, what Marco was 
 disposed to call little anvils, but which the 
 
THE ARSE N A K. 1 V J ( J 
 
 Ht;ikes. Operations. The jumper. 
 
 workmen told him were called stakes. These 
 stakes had excavations and depressions sunk in 
 them, of various irregular forms, the use of 
 which Marco did not at first understand. 
 
 At the first forge to which Marco approached, 
 a workman was heating the end of a long iron 
 rod. When it was heated, he put it over one 
 of these stakes, in such a manner that the hot 
 iron would lie in one of the depressions. There 
 was another piece of steel placed over the stake, 
 and supported in a peculiar manner, which 
 could be struck with a hammer from above, 
 and driven down upon the stake. This was 
 called a jumper ; for it would jump up in a cu 
 rious way after it was driven down. Now 
 there was a depression in the under side of the 
 jumper, corresponding to the one on the upper 
 side of the stake, in such a manner that when 
 the two were brought together, a cavity was 
 left between them, of such a form as that the 
 piece which they were going to forge would 
 exactly fit into. By this contrivance, it was 
 easy to forge the most irregular parts of the 
 gun-lock. They had only to heat the end of 
 the iron rod, and insert it while hot, between 
 the stake and the jumper. Then by striking 
 repeated blows upon the jumper with the ham- 
 I 
 
130 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Various forgings. Other shops. Gun-stocks. 
 
 mer, the hot metal would be forced into the 
 cavity between them, in such a manner as to 
 take its exact form. 
 
 In some cases it was necessary to perform 
 more than one operation upon the same piece. 
 One part would be formed between one stake 
 and jumper, and then it would be heated again, 
 and the other part fashioned by another. The 
 stakes, and jumpers, and other similar appara 
 tus, were, of course, all different at the different 
 forges ; each forge being designed for some par 
 ticular part of the lock. At some forges the 
 work to be performed was making screws ; at 
 others springs ; at another, what was called the 
 tumbler, which is a part of the lock, of a very 
 irregular shape. Marco was very much inter 
 ested to see how easily all these various forms 
 were produced by means of this contrivance 
 of a stake and jumper. 
 
 From this forging shop Marco and Forester 
 went to other large buildings where various ope 
 rations, connected with finishing the locks and 
 guns were going on. In one room men were 
 employed in smoothing over the gun-stocks, tak 
 ing them as they came from the lathes in the 
 stocking-shop. Others were fitting the locks to 
 the stocks, or rather cutting away the wood in 
 
THE ARSENAL. 
 
 131 
 
 Pnttarus. 
 
 Making the locks. 
 
 such a manner as that the locks would fit. 
 They went into one long chamber which had 
 benches all around it, where workmen were 
 employed in filing and finishing the small parts 
 of the lock which they had seen forged in the 
 forging shop. 
 
 In this apartment, Marco observed that each 
 bench seemed to be fitted for one particular 
 branch of work ; and it had its vice, its tools, 
 and its patterns, adapted to that, and to that 
 alone. The patterns were made of steel, and 
 the workmen filed the wojk to correspond with 
 them exactly. Here each man was employed 
 in finishing a great many pieces of the same 
 kind, and he made 
 them all as exactly 
 alike as possible. 
 
 In one part of 
 this room a man 
 was engaged in 
 putting these pieces 
 together, to make 
 the locks complete. 
 He had a long box 
 before him, divided 
 into many com 
 partments. These MAKING UP TEE :. 
 
1 32 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Division of labor. Advantage of it. 
 
 compartments had the several parts of the 
 lock in them, a great many of one kind being 
 in each part. The workman would take up 
 one piece of each kind, and put them together, 
 to make a lock. In doing this, he had to file 
 them down a little sometimes, to fit them 
 exactly to their places. If the holes which 
 the screws were to go into, w r ere not quite 
 large enough, he would bore them out larger, 
 and Marco was astonished to see how easi 
 ly he would cut and bore the solid brass and 
 iron. It took but a very short time to put one 
 set of the parts together to make a lock. 
 
 As they walked away from this place. Fores 
 ter said that it afforded a very fine example 
 of what was called division of labor. 
 
 " What is meant by that ?" said Marco. 
 
 " Why, you see," replied Forester, " that in 
 making a lock, they divide the work into a great 
 many parts, and give each man only one small 
 part to do. They construct tools and instru 
 ments expressly for that part, and as the man 
 has nothing else to do, he acquires great expert- 
 ness in doing the particular thing assigned to 
 him. The other plan would be to let each man 
 be employed in making a whole lock. In that 
 case the work would be done to great disad- 
 
THE A R s E N A L. 133 
 
 Natural talent. Forester s explanations. 
 
 vantage ; for, in the first place, each man must 
 have a complete set of fixtures and tools for all 
 the different kinds of work, and then he must 
 constantly change from one kind of work to 
 another, and thus lose time. Besides, by having 
 to learn a great many different kinds of work, 
 he could not be so skillful in any. But, on this 
 plan, each man has only to learn one or two 
 operations, and these he learns perfectly, and 
 he naturally falls into such operations as he has 
 the most natural talent for." 
 
 " I never heard of natural talent for work," 
 said Marco. 
 
 " There is talent for work," said Forester. 
 " Men have different talents or capacities for 
 different kinds of mechanical works. One man 
 has excellent success, for example, in tempering 
 edge tools. He has a certain nice power of 
 perception, which enables him to regulate the 
 process exactly, and temper the steel at precisely 
 the right heat. Another has not that peculiar 
 quickness of eye for this, but has a good capa 
 city for judging of form ; and so he makes a 
 good filer. He will file a piece into the true 
 shape, in a much shorter time, perhaps, than 
 the one who is so skillful in tempering. There 
 is as much variety in the bodily system as there 
 
134 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Compos! lora. Mode of composing. 
 
 is in the mental, and it makes as great a differ 
 ence in the powers and capacities of men, in 
 regard to their fitness for different mechanical 
 pursuits, as the difference in intellectual genius 
 makes in their fitness for the professions, or 
 other mental employments. I have heard it 
 said, by printers, that some men can never make 
 rapid compositors." 
 
 " What are compositors ?" asked M -i-rco. 
 
 " Those that set up the types," said Forester, 
 " Composing, is setting types. The compositor 
 has the copy before him, and a box inclined 
 toward him, like a desk, with small partitions in 
 it, and each compartment has one kind of type. 
 Now the compositor looks at a word, notices 
 the letters, and then takes the types up one by 
 one from the various compartments. The 
 philosophy of it is this. The image of a letter 
 in his eye produces an effect on the nerve, 
 which is communicated to the brain, and thence 
 to his mind. Then there arises in his mind an 
 idea of the compartment where that letter be 
 longs, and the nerve leading to the arm pro 
 duces the proper motion to carry the hand to 
 the proper compartment. You see it is, in fact, 
 quite a complicated process. partly bodily and 
 partly mental. Now this process is completed 
 
THE ARSENAL. 135 
 
 "vitural differences among men. The central building. 
 
 much quickei with some persons than with 
 others. It is owing to some peculiar and hid 
 den difference in the nerves, or brain, or mus 
 cles, by which the mechanism in some cases 
 acts quickly, and in others more slowly. But 
 those persons in whom these nervous commu 
 nications are made more slowly, are not neces 
 sarily inferior to the others, for they may have 
 the advantage in some other power of body or 
 mind, which more than counterbalances this. 
 For instance, one person may hear or see 
 quicker than another ; but the second may hear 
 more correctly than the first. One may have 
 such a bodily ^constitution, that his sense of 
 touch is very nice another has correct ideas 
 of form, another of sounds, and thus all vary. 
 Thus, different workmen are fitted to different 
 processes and employments ; and by adopting 
 the system of division of labor, each after a time 
 falls into the one which is most adapted to his 
 powers ; and so he works to the greatest ad 
 vantage in doing always what he can do easiest 
 and best/ 
 
 Not long after this, Forester and Marco went 
 into the central building, on the main front of 
 the square, which Forester said was the office 
 and counting-house, and asked a gentleman, 
 
136 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The arsenal. Interior of the room. 
 
 who was there at a desk, if they could go into 
 the arsenal. The arsenal was one of the large 
 buildings where the muskets were stored after 
 they were finished. They had been told by 
 some of the workmen that the arsenal was 
 locked, but that if they went to the office, a 
 gentleman would go with them, and let them 
 see it. As there was nobody at work in the 
 arsenal, it was customary to keep it locked. 
 The gentleman in the office said he would go 
 with them ; so taking a key, and putting on his 
 hat, he followed them out. 
 
 He conducted them along a gravel walk, 
 which led between two rows of trees, toward 
 the center of the square, and after advancing 
 for some distance in that direction, he turned at 
 right angles into another walk, which conducted 
 them across that part of the square, toward the 
 front door of the arsenal. 
 
 He unlocked the door, and ushered Forester 
 and Marco into the apartment. They were 
 both struck with astonishment at the imposing 
 spectacle which was presented to their view. 
 Except the necessary space for passages, the 
 room was entirely filled with muskets. The 
 muskets were arranged, with the most perfect 
 precision and svrnmefrv, in an uDriVht position, 
 
THE ARSENAL 137 
 
 The guns and bayonets. Symmetrical arrangement. 
 
 the butts resting in frames made for the pur 
 pose, and raised at a little distance from the 
 floor. The tops of the bayonets reached nearly 
 to the ceiling. The dark and glossy brown 
 color of the stocks, with the highly polished 
 luster of the bayonets, and other metallic parts, 
 gave to each individual gun a very beautiful 
 appearance ; but, in addition to this, there was 
 a most surprising effect produced by the im 
 mense numbers and admirable arrangement of 
 the whole. The rows of bayonets glittered in a 
 long perspective. Even the locks, and the ram 
 rods, and the sights upon the barrels, and, in 
 fact, every single part of the gun, were pre 
 sented to the eye, in long ranges, extending up 
 and down the room. The guns were placed on 
 the frames only about half an inch apart, and 
 yet so precise was the arrangement, that, by 
 standing at one end of the room, and looking 
 through, Marco could see the window at the 
 other end, through any one of these crevices, at 
 a hundred and twenty feet distance, which was 
 the length of the room. The room was a hun 
 dred and twenty feet long, and forty feet wide ; 
 and there was another in the second story, of 
 the same dimensions, and filled in the same 
 manner. 
 
138 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 A hundred thousand muskets. To the hotel. 
 
 Forester asked the gentleman who conducted 
 them to the arsenal, how many muskets there 
 were in the building ; he said, nearly a hundred 
 thousand. These were all ready for use. They 
 had to be taken down and oiled, he said, every 
 few years, to keep the bright parts from rusting. 
 They could be very easily taken out of their 
 places, as they were not fastened in in any way. 
 The gentleman took one of them out, to show 
 how easily it could be removed. 
 
 After admiring this beautiful spectacle a few 
 minutes, Forester and Marco thanked the gen 
 tleman for his kindness, and went away. As 
 they had now completed their survey of all the 
 shops and buildings, they left the grounds, and 
 went down into the village of Springfield to 
 their hotel. 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 139 
 
 Going to Boston. The carriage. They reach tho station. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 
 
 T"THEN Forester and Marco had finished 
 their examination of the armory, Mar 
 co began to consider, in pursuance of the plan 
 which Forester had adopted of allowing him to 
 have the whole direction of the journey, what 
 arrangements he should make for going to Bos 
 ton. He decided, at once, to go by the western 
 railroad. He knew very well that the great 
 western railroad from Boston to Albany, passed 
 through Springfield ; and he very naturally in 
 ferred, that he could take that railroad, and go 
 directly to Boston. He asked what time the 
 cars came in, and they told him about noon. 
 He accordingly made arrangements to have a 
 carriage take them to the depot at that time. 
 
 There was one thing very excellent in Mar 
 co s traveling arrangements, and that was, the 
 principle of always being in ample season. On 
 this occasion, they reached the depot about 
 twenty minutes before the usual time for the 
 cars to arrive, arid while they were waiting 
 
140 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Marco talks. Forester is silent. 
 
 there, seated upon a settee in the gentlemen s 
 room, they spent the time in conversation. 
 
 Marco had been very much interested in the 
 admirable system and order which prevailed in 
 all parts of the armory ; and he had been as 
 tonished at the vast accumulation of arms, which 
 he saw must exist in the arsenals. After con 
 versing with Forester on various other topics, 
 he began to talk about this ; but Forester did 
 not appear to take much notice of what he said. 
 
 " It must cost a great deal of money," said 
 he, " to make such an immense number of 
 muskets." 
 
 Forester did not answer. 
 
 " And it must take a great deal of time and 
 trouble to keep them all safe and in order." 
 
 Forester said, " Yes," faintly ; but yet he 
 seemed to be thinking of something else. 
 
 " But I think it is an excellent plan," said 
 Marco, " notwithstanding ; don t you, cousin 
 Forester ?" 
 
 " Cousin Forester !" repeated Marco, when 
 he found that his cousin did not answer ; "don t 
 you think it is a good plan to make all these 
 muskets ? and then when the enemy comes to 
 fight us, we shall be ready for them." 
 
 " Why, to tell the truth," said Forester, " I 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 141 
 
 The railway station. 
 
 was thinking of something else. Let me see 
 your tickets." Marco had gone, when they 
 first got to the office, and bought two Boston 
 tickets, one for himself, and one for Forester. 
 Marco handed these tickets to Forester. In 
 the mean time, the bustle in the great house, 
 close adjoining the office, had been for some 
 minutes rapidly increasing. Heavy trains of 
 cars moved slowly one way or the other ; some 
 times pushed by men, and sometimes drawn by 
 a locomotive. Passengers were coining and 
 
 RAILWAY STATI 
 
THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Mystery. Marco has made a mistake. 
 
 going in considerable numbers, and at this mo 
 ment a bell was heard to ring. A conductor 
 also came to them, and asked them which way 
 they were going. 
 
 "On the western railroad," said Marco, 
 promptly. 
 
 " The western cars are ready/ said the con 
 ductor. 
 
 So Marco and Forester rose, and Marco led 
 the way toward the cars Forester and the con 
 ductor following. Marco heard them talking 
 together about something, on the way, but he 
 could not tell what, on account of the noise and 
 bustle which surrounded them ; and presently 
 they took their seats comfortably in the cars. 
 
 Now Marco unfortunately forgot, that, though 
 the railroad between Boston and Albany is all 
 called the western railroad, at Boston, yet at 
 Springfield, a part of it extends toward the east 
 ward, and it was this eastern part which he 
 ought to have taken, in order to be conducted 
 to Boston. But as Marco said that he was go 
 ing on the western railroad, the conductor sup 
 posed that they were going to Albany, and he 
 put them into the western cars accordingly ; so 
 that as soon as the train began to get fairly un 
 der way, Marco was carrying the party under 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 143 
 
 Con versation resumed. Going armed. 
 
 his charge, at the rate of twenty miles an hour, 
 in a direction exactly contrary to the one in 
 which they wanted to go. 
 
 Forester understood all this, but made no ex 
 planation, and so they went on. After a few 
 minutes pause, he said, 
 
 " You were asking me, Marco, about the wis 
 dom of manufacturing all these muskets." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " so as to have them 
 ready." 
 
 " I don t know myself," replied Forester, 
 whether it is a good plan or not. It takes a 
 statesman to judge safely about measures for 
 the defense of nations. But as far as I can see 
 into the subject, I should think there was some 
 doubt about it." 
 
 " Why ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " It generally makes men quarrelsome to go 
 armed," said Forester ; " and I did not know 
 but that it might possibly have the same effect 
 among nations. In some countries it is the cus 
 tom for almost every gentleman to carry some 
 deadly weapon about him as a little dirk or 
 dagger, or a pistol ; and in such countries, quar 
 rels, and murders, and assassinations, are gene 
 rally very frequent." 
 
 " What countries are they ? asked Marco. 
 
144 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Effect of the practice of going armed. A supposition, 
 
 " Why, this was the practice in almost all 
 countries, a century or two ago, I believe," re 
 plied Forester ; " and the custom continues to 
 this day, in some places ; and wherever it does 
 continue, a great many quarrels, duels, and 
 murders, take place. Where persons wear 
 dirks, or bowie-knives, or pistols, ready to pull 
 out at a moment s warning, it is apt to make 
 them fierce in spirit, boastful and revengeful." 
 
 " But then," said Marco, " they know that 
 every body else is armed, and I should think 
 that that would make them keep civil." 
 
 " No," replied Forester, " it does not have 
 that effect. Each one has an exaggerated idea 
 of his own skill and power, and thinks that, in a 
 fight, he should come off conqueror ; and so he 
 is always ready to give provocation and to re 
 sent provocation. But where nobody goes 
 armed, serious quarrels are very rare. 
 
 " You can easily see how it must be," con 
 tinued Forester, " by the case of boys. Sup 
 pose fifty boys were amusing themselves upon 
 a green ; and while they were engaged in play 
 ing ball, or some other peaceable sport, suppose 
 that a pedler should come along with a bundle 
 of little whips, fifty in the bundle, and the boys 
 should each buy one, and then go back to their 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 145 
 
 Whips in the hands of boys. Pistols. 
 
 play ; it is very easy to see that there would 
 probably soon be difficulty." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, "I suppose there would." 
 
 " The boys," continued Forester, " would run 
 about, snapping and brandishing their whips at 
 one another, in a threatening manner. In fact, 
 the very possession of a whip would produce a 
 sort of instinctive desire to use it, and it would 
 be very likely that although they might all 
 have been very peaceable and harmonious be 
 fore, there would several serious quarrels arise 
 out of this unlucky arming of themselves with 
 whips." 
 
 Yes," said Marco ; " whips are very apt to 
 make difficulty among boys." 
 
 " Now it is somewhat so with men," rejoined 
 Forester. " When a man gets a new patent 
 revolving pistol, which will discharge six bul 
 lets in as many seconds, the possession of it 
 awakens a sort of desire to try it. There/ 
 says he to himself, I should like to see a robber 
 attack me now ; or if any body wishes to in 
 sult me now, let him come on. Thus his mind 
 assumes a belligerent attitude, ready to take of 
 fense at any provocation." 
 
 " What is belligerent ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Warlike," replied Forester. 
 K 
 
146 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY, 
 
 The arming of nations. The argument in favor of it, 
 
 " Now I think it probable/ continued Fores 
 ter, " that it is somewhat so with nations. If a 
 government has just finished some very superi 
 or ships of war, or has got an immense army all 
 finely organized and armed, I should think it 
 likely it would not be quite so patient and for 
 bearing as if it were unarmed. At any rate, I 
 am quite sure that if all the nations would dis 
 band their armies, and destroy their stores of 
 arms and ammunition, reserving only an amount 
 of physical power sufficient to preserve internal 
 order, the peace of the world would be much 
 more secure than it is now. Every body ad 
 mits this ; but then they say that the nations 
 generally will not do this, and that it is not safe 
 for any one to go defenseless while the rest 
 are armed." 
 
 " So I should think," said Marco. 
 
 I am not certain about that myself," said 
 Forester. " If a peaceful traveler goes to a 
 country where people are generally armed, he 
 does not arm himself, but passes to and fro 
 among the dirks and bowie-knives, as safe as 
 any of those that are armed. He is not as safe 
 as he is at home, but he is safe as any man can 
 be in a community where he is so surrounded 
 with deadly weapons. 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 147 
 
 Marco s opinion. Objections to shooting at robbers. 
 
 " If I were going to travel among robbers," 
 said Marco, " I should certainly get some pis 
 tols." 
 
 " Why, even that would be doubtful," said 
 Forester. " If you were attacked, it is very 
 likely that pistols would do you more harm than 
 good." 
 
 " How ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, not being used to fights and firings, 
 you would feel a kind of excitement and trepi 
 dation, and would not act coolly enough. Per 
 haps you would fire too quick before you had 
 proper aim ; or else you would wait so long, 
 that, while you were aiming, the robber, seeing 
 that you were going to try to shoot him, would 
 shoot you, or cut you down with a sword ; 
 whereas, if you had offered no resistance, he 
 would probably only have robbed you, without 
 taking your life. To shoot a defenseless man, 
 is very easy, but to shoot a robber, who comes 
 up to attack you, completely armed himself, 
 and on the alert, is very difficult. It requires 
 great coolness, steadiness, and precision, to act 
 in such a case exactly right, and exactly at the 
 right instant. And then, if you exercise all this 
 coolness and firmness, and act exactly right, 
 and shoot one robber, ten to one there will be 
 
148 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Marco s argument. The killing a man always dreadful 
 
 another, or a gang of them, who will immedi 
 ately kill you in revenge ; whereas, if you had 
 been unarmed, they would probably have only 
 taken your money, and let you go." 
 
 " No," said Marco ; " I think they would kill 
 
 me." 
 
 " I think not," said Forester. " Robbers sel 
 dom murder those whom they rob, unless they 
 think they are compelled to do it on account 
 of the resistance they make, or for some other 
 cause." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " I suppose if there was 
 a gang of them, it wouldn t be of any use ; but 
 if there was only one, I think I could shoot 
 him." 
 
 " You might possibly," said Forester ; " but 
 even that would injure you more than it would 
 him ; for if you should succeed in wounding 
 him badly, it would be a horrid sight to see a 
 wretched man writhing in convulsions on the 
 ground, and biting the dust in agony ; and it 
 would be a great many years before you could 
 get it out of your mind. It would make you 
 gloomy and miserable while aw r ake, and visions 
 of it would terrify you in your dreams. The 
 indignation and anger which you felt when you 
 shot at him, would be changed into pity and 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 149 
 
 Painful thoughts. Marco convinced. 
 
 compassion for him when you saw him in 
 misery. Perhaps he would linger several days 
 in extreme suffering, and you would watch him 
 and inquire after "him day after day, and wish 
 that death would come and put an end to his 
 pain. You would begin to imagine excuses for 
 him. You would think that perhaps he had 
 been neglected when a boy, and had never been 
 taught to be honest and true, or that he had a 
 wife and children perishing for food, and that 
 he had no way of earning a supply for them. 
 These thoughts would add to your anguish ; 
 and you would perhaps wish that you had given 
 up double the sum that he would have taken 
 from you, rather than to have shot him. Even 
 if your sense of his guilt remained unchanged, 
 and you were satisfied that he deserved to die, 
 you would wish that you had left it to somebody 
 else to be his executioner." 
 
 Marco said nothing in reply to these remarks. 
 The view of the subject, which Forester thus 
 presented, was new and unexpected to him. 
 He saw, however, very plainly, that it was a 
 correct one, and he was rather inclined to come 
 to the conclusion, that if a traveler was so un 
 fortunate as to be compelled to choose between 
 the two evils of suffering a robbery or commit- 
 
150 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Case of a nation. Important difference. 
 
 ting a homicide, it would be best, on the whole, 
 to submit to the former. At any rate, he saw 
 very clearly that Forester would rather be rob 
 bed than shoot a robber. 
 
 " However," said Forester, at length, " to re 
 turn to the subject ; I think it is best for an 
 individual to go unarmed, whether other people 
 do or not. But in regard to a nation, the case 
 is very different, in one respect, at least ; and 
 so I don t decide that question." 
 
 " In what respect is it different ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 " Why, when an unarmed individual is 
 among others that are armed," said Forester, 
 " he has the laws of the country to protect him. 
 There are courts and officers of justice, which 
 have all the individuals in the community under 
 their control, whether armed or unarmed ; and 
 these powers of government preserve the peace 
 and protect the defenseless. If a defenseless 
 man is attacked in the street in such a country, 
 he has only to call out watch/ and there are 
 plenty of men ready to run to his rescue, fully 
 empowered to protect him, if it is possible to do 
 it. But nations have no such system of general 
 law and government over them. There is a 
 general system of law, commonly recognized 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 151 
 
 Immense expense of public armaments. 
 
 and acknowledged, called the law of nations ; 
 but there is no government to execute it. 
 Every nation has to execute the law of nations 
 for itself. If a man in a country where people 
 generally go armed, concludes no longer to go 
 armed, and throws his pistol away, he does not, 
 by any means, throw away all the physical pro 
 tection he has. He still reserves his claim to 
 the force of the police and the officers of justice, 
 who stand always ready. But if a nation were 
 to disband its armies, and destroy its arms and 
 ammunition, it would give up the whole for 
 there is no power above it to afford protection. 
 This makes the case of nations essentially dif 
 ferent ; and I don t know enough about it to 
 judge what the effect would be of a nation giv 
 ing up its defenses in time of peace. One thing 
 I know, and that is, it would save an enormous 
 expense by doing so, and it seems to me that 
 what it would save in time of peace, would be 
 of more use in money, in case a war should 
 break out, than what was left of the preparations 
 they had been making ; for a great deal of the 
 amount expended is lost and consumed year by 
 year, and does no good. Then the way of con 
 structing arms, and ships, and forts, changes 
 from time to time, and thus many expensive 
 
152 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Forester in doubt. Marco alarmed. Distance to Worcester. 
 
 preparations become useless, by being super 
 seded, before they can be used. If I could meet 
 with some intelligent politician, I would ask 
 him what amount our government has expended 
 for warlike preparations, since the last war, and 
 what it is all worth now." 
 
 Marco said that he should like to know very 
 much, and then asked Forester what time he 
 thought that they should get to Worcester. He 
 knew that Worcester was between Springfield 
 and Boston, as any of our readers can see by 
 looking upon a map. 
 
 " I don t know," said Forester. " I think it 
 is very doubtful when we shall see Worcester 
 again." 
 
 " Why, how far is it to Worcester ?" said 
 Marco. 
 
 " From here," said Forester, (i arid in the way 
 we are going ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Marco. 
 
 " If we keep on always in the same course by 
 the compass, it may be about fifteen thousand 
 miles ; but if we go in a straight line, about 
 twenty-four thousand. It would be just once 
 round the world, minus fifty miles !" 
 
 " Round the world !" exclaimed Marco, in 
 astonishment. 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 153 
 
 The explanation. Corporations. Irregular work. 
 
 " Yes/ said Forester, coolly. " Worcester 
 is east from here, and we are going west. 
 These cars are going to Albany/ 
 
 Marco started up in amazement, and was 
 going to run to the conductor, to get him to stop 
 the train, but Forester advised him to sit down, 
 and keep quiet. He then explained to him the 
 cause of his mistake. 
 
 " And why did not you tell me before ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 " Because/ said Forester, " I thought it 
 would be a good joke, and that you wouldn t 
 care much. We can go to Vermont through 
 Albany, as well as through Boston. It was only 
 by mistake that we got into Massachusetts at 
 all, and now, by this second accident, we shall 
 get back again upon our original route." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " only my tickets won t 
 do ; 1 bought Boston tickets." So he began to 
 feel in his pockets for his tickets, but Forester 
 told him that he need not trouble himself about 
 them. 
 
 " When I saw," said he, " that you were 
 coming into these cars, I handed the tickets to 
 the conductor, before we got in, and he ex 
 changed them for me, and gave me checks, and 
 here they are." 
 
154 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Navigation mysteries. 
 
 After Marco had in some measure recovered 
 from his surprise, he asked Forester what he 
 meant by saying, " that if they went round the 
 world by the compass it would be fifteen thou 
 sand miles ; but if they went in a straight line, 
 it would be twenty-four thousand. I should 
 think," said he, " that going in the same course 
 by the compass, would be going in a straight 
 line." 
 
 " No," said Forester ; " going by the com 
 pass, is not going straight, except in some par 
 ticular cases. If we set out to go exactly west 
 from here, we should go round the world on a 
 parallel of latitude, keeping always at the same 
 distance from the pole. But if we keep on in 
 the same absolute direction, we should go round 
 upon a great circle, and thus pass entirely round 
 the world." 
 
 " I don t understand it very well," said Marco. 
 
 " I can make it very plain," said Forester, 
 " with a globe. I will show you, when we have 
 an opportunity to see a globe." 
 
 Just then the cars began to go slower, and 
 presently they stopped at a little village, where 
 an orange girl came in with a basket of oranges 
 for sale. Forester bought two. one for Marco 
 and one for himself; and he made Marco s 
 
DANGER OF BEING ARMED. 1 55 
 
 Forester buys a model of the world. 
 
 which was the biggest, answer very \vell for a 
 globe, so far as was necessary to explain to him 
 the difference between going round the world 
 on the forty-second parallel of north latitude, 
 which is about the parallel that they were then 
 on, and going on a great circle. The one would 
 keep them on the north side of the equator, all 
 the way, about equi-distant from the equator 
 and the pole, while the other would carry them 
 to the antipodes. 
 
 After this, the cars were soon in motion again, 
 and they went on their way. Marco met with 
 no farther mishaps till they reached the end of 
 their journey. 
 
156 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Various kinds of fire-arms. P orester s enumeration. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 ORDNANCE. 
 
 IN the course of their travels in going to Ver 
 mont, Marco and Forester fell into con 
 versation one day on the general subject of 
 arms and military engines. 
 
 " They don t seem to make any thing but 
 muskets at Springfield," said Marco, " but there 
 are a great many other kinds of weapons and 
 things used in war, are there not ?" 
 
 " Oh yes," said Forester, " a great many 
 kinds." 
 
 " What are they ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Oh," replied Forester, " they are almost in 
 numerable. There are cannons, and mortars, 
 and howitzers, and carronades, and bomb-shells, 
 and petards, and grenades, and Congreve rock 
 ets, and pistols, and crackers, and torpedos, and 
 squibs." 
 
 Marco laughed at this long enumeration of 
 the means of war, beginning so terribly and yet 
 ending with squibs. He asked Forester to ex- 
 
ORDNANCE. 157 
 
 Squibs. A mortar. The shell. The explosion. 
 
 plain the things to him, all except the squibs. 
 He knew what squibs were already, he said. 
 
 " And you know what cannon are ?" said 
 Forester. 
 
 " Yes," said Marco ; " but I don t know what 
 a mortar is." 
 
 " A mortar is something like a cannon," re 
 plied Forester, " only it is made to throw bomb 
 shells instead of solid balls." 
 
 " And what are bomb-shells ?" asked Marco ; 
 " you had better tell me what they are first." 
 
 " They are large iron balls," said Forester, 
 " some of them a great deal bigger than your 
 head, and hollow. The inside is rilled with 
 gunpowder, so as to explode and burst the ball 
 all to pieces. There is a hole through the iron, 
 where they put the powder in. When the shell 
 is filled with powder they stop up the hole, put 
 ting into it what they call a fuse, which com 
 municates with the powder within." 
 
 " That is to set the powder on fire, I sup 
 pose," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," said Forester. " And the fuse is 
 regulated to burn a certain number of seconds. 
 They fire the bomb-shell into the air, and it falls 
 down upon the town or fort that they are bom 
 barding. By the time that it comes down the 
 
158 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Blowing up houses. Women and children. 
 
 fuse has burned out, and the powder in the 
 bomb-shell explodes and bursts the shell all to 
 pieces. The pieces sometimes kill a great many 
 men/ 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " I should think they 
 would." 
 
 " If the bomb-shell falls upon a house," added 
 Forester, " it breaks through the roof and all 
 the floors, and goes down into the cellar, where 
 it bursts and tears the house all to pieces." 
 
 "Hi yi!" said Marco. "I should like to 
 see it." 
 
 " Perhaps the house belonged to some man," 
 said Forester, " who had been working all his 
 life to earn it, for a home for himself and his 
 children ; and perhaps he and his wife and 
 children were all in it when it was blown to 
 pieces." 
 
 " But why did he not go away ?" asked Mar 
 co, " before the bomb-shell came." 
 
 " Perhaps they would not allow him to go 
 away," replied Forester. " When an army 
 comes up to a town and summons the authorities 
 to surrender, the authorities sometimes refuse, 
 determining to defend themselves, and they ask 
 permission of the enemy to remove their wives 
 
ORDNANCE. 159 
 
 Women and children not allowed to go away. 
 
 and children before the attack begins. But the 
 enemy will not allow them to do so." 
 
 " Why not ?" asked Marco. He was much 
 surprised at this statement, for he could not 
 conceive that any generous enemy could wish 
 to murder helpless women and children. 
 
 " The reason why they will not allow the 
 w T omen and children to go away," replied For 
 ester, " is because they think that the men 
 would make a more obstinate resistance if their 
 families were in safety. So they refuse per 
 mission, and compel every body to remain, in 
 order that the inhabitants may be forced to sur 
 render by being unable to endure such a dread 
 ful destruction of their wives and children." 
 
 " / would not make them stay," said Marco. 
 " They should all go away wherever they 
 pleased, if the men did fight more obstinately 
 for it." 
 
 " Then you would be a very poor soldier," 
 said Forester. " A good soldier must have no 
 mercy, in such cases as that. If you should 
 lose an opportunity to take a town, out of your 
 pity for women and children, very likely you 
 would be cashiered." 
 
 " Cashiered," said Marco ; " what is that ?" 
 
160 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Murco does not wish to be a soldier. Music. 
 
 " Degraded from office," replied Forester, 
 " as unfit for a soldier." 
 
 " Then I would not be a soldier at all," said 
 Marco. 
 
 " Nor I," said Forester. " And yet there are 
 some things about military life that I like very 
 well." 
 
 " What ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " I like the regular and systematic manner in 
 which every thing is done," said Forester. " I 
 like to see a body of troops marshaled in order, 
 and all acting together like one man." 
 
 " So do I," said Marco. 
 
 " And I like the music," said Forester. 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " and I too." 
 
 " The drum and fife make very animating 
 music," said Forester. 
 
 " Yes," said Marco ; " and in New York the 
 companies generally have a band." 
 
 " There is one thing that I should particularly 
 dislike, if I were an officer in the army," said 
 Forester. 
 
 " What is that ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " The system that they go upon in engaging 
 the men. They do not pay the men wages 
 enough to make them contented with their 
 work, and desirous of retaining their places ; 
 
ORDNANCE. 101 
 
 Officers. Pay for officers. Pay for men. 
 
 but they defraud them into enlisting by offering 
 them bounties, or getting them intoxicated, and 
 afterward compel them to remain in the army 
 and do their duty by whipping them, or by 
 threatening to shoot them if they run away. 3 
 
 " Is that the plan ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Yes," replied Forester, " in all regular ar 
 mies, and in the navy too. The officers are all 
 paid well, both in the army and navy, so that 
 they are all desirous of keeping their places ; so 
 much so, in fact, that whenever, for any reason, 
 a government desires to diminish the number 
 of officers in the army it is always very hard to 
 get rid of those whom they do not need. They 
 always cling to their places in a very resolute 
 and determined manner." 
 
 " That is a sign that they pay them too 
 much," said Marco. 
 
 " It is a sign that they pay them enough," 
 replied Forester, " at any rate. And so when 
 ever there is a plan for increasing the army, 
 there is always a great multitude of applications 
 for the new offices that are to be created. 
 There are a great many more than can possibly 
 be received. The country seems to be full of 
 men who want to be colonels, and captains, and 
 generals." 
 
 L 
 
162 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Artifices in enlisting the men. 
 
 " And no soldiers ?" said Marco. 
 
 " No," replied Forester. " That is to say, 
 there would generally be very few if the gov 
 ernment adopted a fair and honest mode of 
 enlisting them. In any other business of life if 
 men want laborers they advertise for them and 
 engage those that apply, letting them understand 
 honestly beforehand what the work is to be that 
 they will have to do, and paying them when the 
 work is done. But in engaging men to serve 
 as soldiers in an army, they have to resort to a 
 great many artifices and much dexterous man 
 agement, in order to entrap the men and get 
 them to enlist. They conceal the nature of the 
 service as much as possible, and exhibit such 
 appearances before the recruits as to lead them 
 to expect that they are going to have a life of 
 ease and comfort in the army, instead of one of 
 hardship, exposure, and cruelty. Then they 
 tempt them by paying them a considerable sum 
 in advance, which they call bounty money. 
 The bounty is a sort of bait that they put upon 
 the hook to catch them with." 
 
 " Ho !" said Marco, " what a plan !" 
 
 " They justify this plan," said Forester, " by 
 pretending that the men need some money in 
 advance to pay their debts with, and wind up 
 
ORDNANCE. 163 
 
 Operation of it. Punishments. Forester s supposition. 
 
 their affairs, before they go away to serve in the 
 army. But the actual operation of it is, that 
 the men spend the bounty money in drinking 
 and dissipation, and then when it is all gone 
 they find themselves entrapped into an enlist 
 ment, and made miserable prisoners and slaves 
 for many years. The officers then keep them 
 by means of a system of coercion and punish 
 ment which would be thought intolerable in any 
 other employment." 
 
 <: What kind of punishments ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, scourging them dreadfully upon the 
 bare back," said Forester, " chaining them to 
 heavy weights, putting collars upon their necks 
 with sharp points inside, and making them wear 
 them for months. And then if the men, find 
 ing their misery intolerable, attempt to run 
 away, they are liable to be shot for desertion. 
 
 " Now one of the greatest objections I should 
 have to being a soldier," continued Forester, 
 " is that I should not like to have the responsi 
 bility of executing such a system as this." 
 
 " Nor I," said Marco. 
 
 " Suppose," continued Forester, " that such 
 a plan were adopted in any other business. Sup 
 pose that a man who had a large tract of wild 
 land to clear up should come into a city and tell 
 
164 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Clearing land. Supposition continued. A parallel , 
 
 all the poor miserable wretches that he could 
 find there, that if they would agree to work for 
 him three years, he would give them twenty 
 dollars apiece at once to spend as they liked, 
 and afterward that he would pay them wages, 
 naming, however, only about half what the 
 wages of laborers usually were. And suppose 
 that the men were tempted by the twenty dol 
 lars to agree to it. Perhaps he would get them 
 half intoxicated at first, and induce them to sign 
 the papers while they were in that state. Then 
 after they had spent their -money in dissipation 
 and carousing, he takes them off into the forests, 
 and sets them to work in the hardest and most 
 unhealthy labors. He exposes them to wet, and 
 cold, and hunger, and to every possible hard 
 ship, and if any of them, feeling dissatisfied with 
 their wages, neglect their work, he ties them up 
 to a tree and scourges them almost to death, or 
 chains them to a heavy weight, or fastens a col 
 lar upon their necks, with sharp points inside to 
 lacerate the flesh ; and then if any of them run 
 away, he catches them if he can, and shoots 
 them What a monster we should think such 
 a man was !" 
 
 " Yes," replied Marco. " We should, truly." 
 " And yet," added Forester, " that is pretty 
 
ORDNANCE. 165 
 
 Compulsion. Conscripts. Grand spectacles. 
 
 much the way that modern governments deal 
 with soldiers and sailors." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " I am sorry for them. 
 But they had no business to enlist." 
 
 " In time of war," said Forester, " when great 
 numbers of soldiers and sailors are required, 
 they can not generally get enough to enlist, 
 with all their artifices. Then they compel the 
 men to go. In France they have all the young 
 men that are of a suitable age to become sol 
 diers, registered, and then they draw lots to see 
 who shall go. Those to whom the lot falls have 
 to go, unless they can get a substitute." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " and can t they get a 
 substitute ?" 
 
 "The rich can, but the poor can not," re 
 plied Forester, " and so the poor are compelled 
 to go. It is often very hard for them, but they 
 are compelled to submit. 
 
 " However," continued Forester, after a short 
 pause, " there are some things about war that 
 I like." 
 
 " What, besides the order and system ?" 
 asked Marco. 
 
 " The grand spectacles," replied Forester. 
 " It must be a grand spectacle to see a fourteen 
 inch shell taking its flight in the night, soaring 
 
166 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Flight of a bomb-shell. T he fuse. The fuse must come behind. 
 
 into the air in a magnificent curve of two or 
 three miles extent, and then coming down upon 
 a town and tearing the houses to pieces with a 
 tremendous explosion." 
 
 " Yes/ said Marco, " but can they see the 
 shell when it is going through the air." 
 
 " They can not see the shell itself," replied 
 Forester, " for it is only a great black ball ; but 
 the fuse is burning all the way, and they can 
 see that. It makes a bright line of light in the 
 air." 
 
 " I should think that the wind would blow 
 the fuse out," said Marco. 
 
 " But there might not, be any wind," replied 
 Forester. 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " the shell would make 
 a wind, going so swift." 
 
 " That is true," replied Forester, " but I 
 presume that the fuse is made in such a way 
 that no wind whatever could put it out. Be 
 sides the fuse always keeps behind, while the 
 shell is going through the air, and so it is shel 
 tered." 
 
 " What makes it always keep behind ?" asked 
 Marco. 
 
 " Because the other end is the heaviest," re 
 plied Forester " And whenever any thing is 
 
ORDNANCE 167 
 
 Forester s illustrations and explanations. 
 
 thrown through the air, the heaviest end always 
 keeps foremost." 
 
 " What is the cause of that ?" asked Marco. 
 
 "Why, suppose," said Forester, " that you 
 throw a bullet, and a cork ball just as large as 
 the bullet, through the air, with all your force, 
 which would go the swiftest ?" 
 
 " The bullet would go the farthest, said 
 Marco. 
 
 " Yes, and it would go the swiftest," said For 
 ester. " It would go the farthest, because it 
 would go the swiftest. The reason would be 
 that the bullet would be less resisted and re 
 tarded by the air than the cork ball. 
 
 " Now," continued Furester, " suppose that 
 you should fasten a bullet and a cork ball to 
 gether, and throw them through the air." 
 
 "How could you fasten them together?" 
 asked Marco. 
 
 " Oh that is of no consequence," said Fores 
 ter ; " we can suppose it to be done. You 
 might fasten them together with sealing-wax. 
 Or you might bore a hole through them both 
 and pass a wire through, and then bend over 
 the ends of the wire. But no matter how it is 
 done. Suppose them to be fastened together 
 in any way, and thrown through the air. The 
 
168 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Ball with a hole in it. Momeutum. 
 
 bullet would tend to go faster than the cork, 
 and would keep ahead, pulling the cork along ; 
 while the cork would tend to go slower, and 
 would keep behind, holding the bullet back." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco. " I see that it would." 
 
 " In the same manner," continued Forester, 
 "if you were to make a wooden ball to be fired 
 out of a cannon, and were to bore a small hole 
 in at one side, and pour lead in and leave it 
 there, and then fire it from the cannon, the 
 loaded side of the ball, that is the side which 
 had the lead in it, would keep foremost all the 
 time, and would strike first ; or rather the ball 
 would strike the object with that side of it fore 
 most. 
 
 " Then again," continued Forester, " suppose 
 we were to take a second wooden ball, just like 
 the first, and bore a hole in it as before, only 
 instead of pouring lead into it, leave it empty ; 
 and then fire it from the cannon. Now the side 
 of the ball that was not bored will be the 
 heaviest, for that side is solid wood ; whereas 
 the other side has a hole in it, which makes it 
 lighter. Of course the solid part of the ball will 
 keep ahead, and bring the other along after it." 
 
 " That is very curious," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," replied Forester. " Now it is very 
 
ORDNANCE. 169 
 
 Original mode of making shells. 
 
 important in firing a bomb-shell that the fuse 
 should be kept behind, especially when the 
 shell strikes ; because although the fuse might 
 not have been put out by the wind while it was 
 passing through the air, it would be very likely 
 to be put out on striking the ground, if the shell 
 were to strike fuse foremost. When shells were 
 first made it was the custom to have the iron 
 cast thicker on the side opposite to the fuse, so 
 as to make that end the heaviest. This was to 
 make it sure that the shell would fall with the 
 fuse uppermost. It was found, however, at last, 
 that this was not necessary ; for the shell would 
 always go with the solid part foremost, even if 
 that part was not any thicker than the other. 
 The reason was, that the hole left for the fuse 
 made that side of the shell so much lighter than 
 the other, that it would go right without any 
 difference of thickness in the sides of the shell. 
 " It is very important, you see," continued 
 Forester, " that the fuse should be uppermost, 
 for when the shell falls, it comes down with 
 prodigious force. If it strikes the ground it 
 buries itself in the earth, out of sight. Some 
 times it goes down several feet, and when it 
 bursts there, it throws up the earth and makes 
 
170 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Hand grenades. Objection to them. 
 
 an enormous hole, big enough sometimes to 
 swallow up a cart and oxen." 
 
 " I should like to see it," said Marco. 
 
 " You could not be near enough," replied For 
 ester, " to see it well without being in great dan 
 ger. In old times they used to have very small 
 shells, such as a man could hold in his hand, and 
 throw among the enemy upon the field of battle ; 
 but they found that this plan did not work very 
 well." 
 
 " Why not ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, the men could not throw them very 
 far," said Forester ; " and then, besides, acci 
 dents would often happen. You see the men 
 were obliged to light the fuse with a match, and 
 then throw the shell quick, so as to be sure to 
 get it off before it should explode." 
 
 Well," said Marco, " there is no difficulty 
 in that. That is the way we fire India crack 
 ers." 
 
 " Yes," rejoined Forester ; " and does not the 
 cracker sometimes go off suddenly in the boy s 
 hands ?" 
 
 " No," replied Marco, " not unless he is care- 
 
 " True," replied Forester ; " but boys will be 
 careless sometimes, and so will soldiers. Then 
 
ORDNANCE. 171 
 
 What a, mortar is. Shot and shells. Aim. 
 
 besides, the fuse might burn too quick, or the 
 man who held the grenade might be shot down 
 after he had lighted it, and before he had time 
 to throw it. 3 
 
 " Grenade ? 3 repeated Marco. " Do they 
 call these small shells grenades ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Forester ; " and the men that 
 throw them were called grenadiers. But they 
 don t use grenades now." 
 
 There was a short pause in the conversation 
 after this, when at length Marco remembered 
 that Forester had not explained to him exactly 
 what a mortar was. 
 
 " You told me/ 3 said he, " that a mortar was 
 to fire bomb-shells with. Why don t they fire 
 them out of cannons ?" 
 
 " One reason is, 33 replied Forester, " that they 
 wish to throw shells in a different direction from 
 balls. Balls are aimed directly at the object 
 which the gunner wishes to strike, or rather a 
 little above it ; and they wish to have them go 
 through the air in as straight a line as possible ; 
 so they point the guns a little above the mark." 
 
 " What is that for ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, the weight of the ball, 33 said Forester, 
 " keeps it falling all the time while it is passing 
 through the air ; and so if they were to aim 
 
172 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Gunnery. Calculations. Mortars ; large but short. 
 
 directly at the object, the ball would have fallen 
 below it, before it came to strike. So they 
 point it above. But it requires a nice calcula 
 tion or a great deal of practice, to know how 
 far above to point it." 
 
 " I don t see how they can make any calcu 
 lation," said Marco. 
 
 " They can," replied Forester. " They can 
 make a very exact calculation. They know 
 exactly the curve that a ball or any thing else 
 thrown in the air, makes in moving. Then 
 they know how far off the object is which they 
 mean to strike, and how much gunpowder they 
 put in, and how strong it is ; and they have 
 rules by which they can determine how high 
 the gun must be elevated to throw the ball to 
 the right point. It is quite a science." 
 
 " I should think it was," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," replied Forester ; " to be a good gun 
 ner, a man must be a good mathematician. 
 Schools of artillery are schools of mathematics." 
 
 " Well," said Marco, " and now about mor 
 tars ?" 
 
 " Mortars," said Forester, " must be larger 
 than cannon, because the shells which they are 
 intended to throw are larger than the balls 
 
ORDNANCE. 173 
 
 Direction of shells. Origin of the name. 
 
 which the cannon are intended to throw ; but 
 they need not be so long." 
 
 " Why not ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Because it is not necessary that the shells 
 should be thrown with so much force. They 
 are to be thrown up into the air in order that 
 they may fall down upon the object which they 
 are intended to destroy, and lodge there before 
 they explode. If they were to be thrown 
 straight through the air, like a ball, they would 
 perhaps pass entirely by the object before ex 
 ploding, and so do no harm." 
 
 " Oh yes," said Marco, " they would do a 
 great deal of harm, by tearing through it." 
 
 " That is true," replied Forester, " though 
 they would do much less harm than they would 
 do by lodging and exploding on the spot. 
 
 " The mortar, accordingly," continued For 
 ester, " is made short and large, and it stands in 
 almost an upright position ; so that instead of 
 looking like a common cannon, it resembles 
 somewhat an apothecary s mortar. That is the 
 way it gets its name." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco ; " I recollect now that I 
 have seen them in the Navy Yard at Brooklyn." 
 
 " There is another thing peculiar about a 
 mortar/ said Forester. 
 
174 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMOR 
 
 Y. 
 
 The recoil of guns. The recoil of mortars. The mortar-bod. 
 
 " What is that ?" asked Marco. 
 
 The mortar bed," said Forester. " When a 
 gun is fired or a cannon, there is a recoil ; that 
 is, the gun is thrown back at the same instant 
 that the ball is thrown forward. Now all heavy 
 guns are mounted upon very strong carriages, 
 and the force of the recoil is expended in 
 trundling the carriages back a little way. But 
 as the mortar is pointed up into the air, the re 
 coil tends to drive the mortar itself down into 
 the ground ; and consequently, if the frame that 
 it rested upon was not very heavy and strong, 
 it would be broken all to pieces by the force of 
 the explosion." 
 
 " They need not have any frame at all," said 
 Marco. " They might put the mortar directly 
 upon the ground." 
 
 " Then," said Forester, " they could not move 
 it so as to point it in different directions." 
 
 " Oh no," said Marco. 
 
 " You see," continued Forester, " it is neces 
 sary sometimes to elevate or depress the mortar 
 more or less, and also to move it a little to the 
 right or left, according to the position of the 
 object which they wish to strike. Therefore it 
 must be regularly mounted, and the frame which 
 it is mounted upon must be very heavy and 
 
ORDNANCE. 175 
 
 Mortars at sea. Bomb-ketches. Marco s plan. 
 
 solid, so as to resist the recoil. And it must be 
 made so as to turn round upon a pivot. 
 
 " Sometimes," continued Forester, " they use 
 mortars at sea. In this case they place them 
 upon vessels of a peculiar kind called bomb- 
 ketches. These vessels are made very strong. 
 The builders use very heavy timbers in the 
 construction of them, and strengthen them with 
 a great many braces. If they were not to do 
 this, the vessels would be soon shattered to 
 pieces by the force of the explosions." 
 
 After Forester had said this, there was quite 
 a pause. Marco seemed to be musing upon 
 what he had heard. At last he said, 
 
 " Cousin Forester, when I get to Vermont I 
 mean to borrow an iron mortar and fire it." 
 
 " Oh, you can not fire a common mortar," 
 said Forester. 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " I can tie up the gun 
 powder in a paper, for a cartridge, and put it in 
 the bottom of the mortar, and then put in a 
 round stone, as big as will go in, for a bomb 
 shell." 
 
 " And then," said Forester, " how can you 
 fire it ? there is no touch-hole." 
 
 " I know that," said Marco, " but I could 
 make a fuse and pass it into the mortar along 
 
176 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 He contrives a mortar. 
 
 by the side of the stone, and so light the outer 
 end of it." 
 
 " Well," said Forester, " perhaps you would 
 succeed in getting it off, but it would be a very 
 dangerous experiment ; for the stone would be 
 as likely to come down upon your head, as upon 
 any thing else of the same bigness." 
 
THE BREAKING UP 177 
 
 State of the roads in Vermont. Drifts. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE BREAKING UP. 
 
 A LTHOUGH the snow had nearly disap- 
 ~t*- peared from Connecticut, and even Mas 
 sachusetts, when Forester and Marco Paul 
 passed through those states on their visit to the 
 armory, yet they found, when they reached 
 Vermont, vast stores of it still remained. The 
 route which they took required them to make a 
 day s journey by land, at last, to reach Mr. 
 Forester s. This day s ride, which they took 
 in the stage, would have carried them home 
 if the traveling had been tolerable; but the 
 state of the roads, caused by the breaking up 
 of the winter, was such that they went on very 
 slowly. 
 
 In some places the wheels of the coach ran 
 along very easily upon the thin stratum of ice 
 which remained upon the road and kept it hard. 
 At other times they plowed their way along 
 through deep patches of snow, extending for 
 miles, the remains of the great drifts of the 
 winter ; and sometimes these drifts were so deep 
 M 
 
178 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The snow. Long hill. Speculations. 
 
 that the wheels of the coach would set fast in 
 them. In such cases the passengers would 
 have to get out, and then the driver would urge 
 the horses to draw out the empty carriage to 
 the land beyond,-. At other places still, the sur 
 face of the ground seemed broken, containing 
 patches of a hard crust, with deep holes filled 
 with soft mud between them. The horses hoofs 
 would break through in such cases, and some- 
 limes the wheels would sink in up to the hubs, 
 making it almost impossible to get along at all. 
 
 In one such place as this, at the foot of a 
 long hill, the passengers had to get out, in order 
 to make it possible for the horses to go on ; and 
 after they were out, and the horses had drawn 
 the coach out of the worst of the slough, they 
 called out to the driver to drive along, saying, 
 that they would walk up the hill. There was 
 a bank at the side of the road, where they could 
 walk on the grass all the way up ; and, though 
 it rained, they all had umbrellas. They walked 
 two and two, and Marco and Forester walked 
 together. 
 
 " Marco," said Forester, after they had com 
 menced making this ascent, " I don t believe 
 you know what makes it so muddy." 
 
 " Yes," said Marco ; " the rain." 
 
THE BREAKING UP. 179 
 
 Operation of the frost. Freezing of the ground. 
 
 " No," said Forester. 
 
 " Then it is the melting of the snow," said 
 Marco. 
 
 " No," said Forester. 
 
 " What is it, then ?" said Marco. 
 
 " It is the frost," said Forester. " The frost 
 operates very curiously, in a manner that few 
 persons fully understand. I will explain it to 
 you. 
 
 " What water there is in the ground, in the 
 fall of the year," continued Forester, "freezes 
 and swells. It of course swells the ground up 
 with it." 
 
 " I never knew that before," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, " that is the case. You 
 knew that water always expanded in freezing, 
 didn t you ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Marco. 
 
 " And, of course," said Forester, " it causes 
 the ground to swell, unless the ground is com 
 posed of sand or some porous material which 
 enables the water to swell into the pores, with 
 out raising the ground itself. In all common 
 soils it swells the land, and raises it." 
 
 " How much ?" said Marco. 
 
 " O, an inch or two," replied Forester ; 
 " sometimes more. Did you never observe, 
 
180 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Frost the great tiller of the ground. 
 
 where a large stone peeps out of the ground, 
 that when the ground freezes there is an inden 
 tation all around the stone, as if it had set 
 tled ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Marco, " I ve seen the stones 
 so in the pasture. I thought they really set 
 tled." 
 
 " No," said Forester, " they remain as they 
 are ; but the land rises, being swollen by the 
 frozen water that is in it. The whole surface 
 of the ground is raised in this way every win 
 ter, and then, in the spring, when the ground 
 thaws, it lays up light, all ready for roots to ex 
 tend themselves in every direction into it. 
 Thus the frost is the great natural pulverizer 
 of the fields. All summer, in the fields and in 
 the woods, the roots are pushing themselves 
 forth in every direction, and filling up the earth, 
 and the loose particles are washed into the in 
 terstices, and men and animals tread it down 
 so that it becomes quite hard ; and then the 
 frost comes in the fall and winter, and swells it 
 all up again, so as to separate the particles of 
 earth from each other a little ; and then, when 
 the water thaws in the spring, it leaves them 
 so, all ready for the roots to take a fresh 
 growth." 
 
THE BREAKING UP. 181 
 
 Effects of the expansion. 
 
 " What an excellent plan," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, " it saves the farmer a 
 vast deal of labor ; but there are some inconve 
 niences that arise from it." 
 
 " What are they ?" asked Marco. 
 
 Why, there are two principal ones," said 
 Forester. " First, when the ground rises in 
 this manner it lifts up every thing upon it ; 
 buildings, fences, and every thing else." 
 
 " Not the houses," said Marco. 
 
 " Yes," said Forester, " if they rest upon it ; 
 that is, upon the upper part of the ground, 
 which is the part lifted. To prevent this, men 
 dig down and lay the foundations upon the 
 lower part of the ground, which remains at 
 rest because it is so far below the cold air, 
 that the water in it doesn t get frozen. But 
 fences can not well be protected ; for the sur 
 face of the earth will freeze around the posts, 
 and thus when it rises, it heaves them up a lit 
 tle way. The next year they get hove up a 
 little^ higher, and so, finally, sometimes out of 
 the ground." 
 
 " Entirely ?" asked Marco. 
 
 " Why, so far that they fall over," said For 
 ester. " But the greatest of the inconveniences 
 produced by the swelling of the land, is on the 
 
182 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The roads spoiled. The top of the hill. Forester concludes to stop. 
 
 roads. In the spring of the year, when the roads 
 thaw, the water which is in the gravel shrinks 
 in thawing, and leaves the gravel not only wet, 
 but lying loosely as if it had been plowed and 
 harrowed. This is what makes the road so 
 soft. It isn t the rain, or the melting snow ; for 
 you know, in summer, after a long rain, though 
 the road is as wet as it can be, it is not so soft 
 as it is now." 
 
 Forester would have explained the subject 
 more fully to Marco, but they now arrived at 
 the top of the hill, and got into the coach again. 
 They rode on until nearly night, and were then 
 more than twenty miles from home. Now For 
 ester had an uncle who lived in the part of the 
 country where they were passing ; and as they 
 were tired, and Forester thought there would 
 be some danger of upsetting in riding in the 
 night, they concluded to stop there and to take 
 the next stage home. 
 
 " When will the next stage come along ?" 
 asked Marco. 
 
 " Day after to-morrow," said Forester. " The 
 stage goes one day and comes the next." 
 
 Marco anticipated some pleasure in calling to 
 see this uncle. He lived in a solitary place 
 among the Green Mountains, upon his farm. 
 
THE BREAKING UP. 183 
 
 Forester s uncle sick. Marco is to go for Mr. Forester. The letter. 
 
 Their pleasure was, however, very much marred 
 on their arrival, at learning that their uncle 
 was sick. Forester watched with him that 
 night, and the next morning he was worse. 
 They wanted to send to Mr. Forester to come 
 and see him, as the physician considered him 
 in danger. There was nobody to send but 
 Marco ; for Forester was unwilling to leave his 
 uncle, and the family were also very unwilling 
 that he should go. Marco volunteered to take 
 a wagon, and go for his uncle Forester. It was 
 only twenty miles, he said, and he could drive 
 twenty miles very easily. Forester was very 
 much at a loss to know what to do. He was 
 unwilling to send Marco alone, on such an ex 
 pedition, but there seemed to be no alternative. 
 So the horse was harnessed into a light wagon, 
 the next morning, and Marco took his seat in 
 it. Forester wrote a letter to his father, describ 
 ing the circumstances of his uncle s sickness, 
 and he gave Marco many charges to drive 
 slowly, to walk the horse nearly all the way, 
 and to keep well up on the highest side of the 
 wagon in going over the drifts of snow ; and, 
 finally, if he got into any difficulty, or found 
 that he could not get along, to stop at any 
 
184 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Land overflowed. Marco s difficulties. The traveler,, 
 
 house, and hire a man to go the rest of the way 
 with him. 
 
 Marco was very much pleased at being in 
 trusted with so important an enterprise. He 
 went on ten miles without any special hin 
 drance. The road was lonely, conducting him 
 through glens and forests, and among swamps 
 and streams swelled to overflowing with the 
 rains and the melted snows. These streams, 
 however, had all bridges, and there were cause 
 ways across the swamps, so that Marco found 
 no difficulty with them until, at last, when he 
 was within about ten miles of home, he came 
 to a place where he saw the water standing in 
 the road, apparently quite deep, for a long dis 
 tance before him. There were great swamps 
 on each side, which were also full to overflow 
 ing with water, and about at the middle of the 
 inundated part of the road a strong current was 
 setting across the road, with a large cake of ice 
 floating down upon it, exactly in his way. 
 
 Marco judged that the water was not very 
 deep, however, in the road, from the height at 
 which it stood at an old brush fence which ex 
 tended along on one side of the road. While 
 he was hesitating, however, what to do, he saw 
 a pedestrian traveler advancing along the road, 
 
THE BREAKING UP. 185 
 
 Marco perplexed. The traveler s proposal. 
 
 on the other side of the water. He had a 
 bundle on his back. He stopped, like Marco, 
 as soon as he reached the water. 
 
 Marco called out to him, in a loud voice, 
 " Can I come along through this water ?" 
 
 " I don t know," said the man ; " I suppose 
 so." 
 
 Marco hesitated a moment in doubt. He 
 perceived, however, that the water could not 
 be very deep ; so that if he should fall in, he 
 would only get a wetting. Then that man was 
 there, ready to come to his aid if any accident 
 should happen. Besides, he could not turn 
 round very well, where he was, to get back 
 again, even if he had wished to turn hack ; so 
 he boldly pushed on. The horse waded along 
 the road, the wagon following him, and tipping 
 to one side or to the other, according to the in 
 equalities of the snow and ice which yet re 
 mained under the water on the track. When 
 Marco got to the middle, he had to wait a min 
 ute or two for a cake of ice to float by ; then 
 he went on, and the horse soon came out upon 
 the firm ground his limbs dripping with the 
 water. 
 
 The traveler then wanted Marco to turn 
 round and carry him across the water, and of- 
 
186 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 The pond. Bridge goiio. 
 
 fered to pay him well for it if he would. But 
 Marco did not see how he could turn safely ; 
 so he declined this proposition, advising the man 
 to clamber along as well as he could on the 
 brush fence. Marco sat in the wagon looking 
 back for a few minutes, laughing at the comical 
 figure which the man made, with his bundle on 
 his back, clambering along on this unusual sort 
 of bridge. He said to himself that the man 
 looked like a hump-backed monkey climbing 
 trees. After he saw that the man got safely 
 over, he rode on. 
 
 He however soon encountered a more serious 
 difficulty than this. He came to a large pond. 
 The road passed around the end of it. A large 
 stream issued from the pond at this place, and 
 the road had crossed this stream just by the 
 edge of the pond, on a bridge. The water was, 
 however, so high, that the bridge was not in 
 sight ; but Marco supposed it was there, and 
 that he could ride over it, through the water. 
 There was a small house near the edge of the 
 woods, a short distance back, and just as Marco 
 was going to drive forward, a man came out 
 from behind some piles of lumber near it, and 
 called out to Marco, telling him that the bridge 
 had been carried away. 
 
THE BREAKING UP. 187 
 
 Marco and the farmer. Marco s plan. 
 
 " Then how shall I get across ?" said Marco. 
 
 " You can t get across at all," said the man. 
 
 " But I must go," said Marco. 
 
 " Well," said the man, " if you must go, and 
 can t go, I don t know how you ll settle it." So 
 saying, he turned around and disappeared. 
 
 Marco got out of the wagon, fastened the 
 horse, and went back to the house. The man 
 was at work under a shed, making a cart-body. 
 He kept on with his work, but in answer to 
 Marco s questions, he told him that it was im 
 possible to get across there till the water went 
 down, and the bridge was repaired ; and that 
 there was no road by which he could go around 
 the difficulty, except by a circuit of fifteen miles. 
 Marco sat down upon a log lying in the yard, 
 in a state of great perplexity. After some min 
 utes, he looked up, and said, 
 
 " Could you work for me, sir ?" 
 
 " Work for you ?" repeated the man. 
 
 " Yes," said Marco. " I will pay you for it 
 at the rate of a dollar a day." Marco had heard 
 that this was pretty high wages for that part of 
 the country at that time. 
 
 " I don t believe you have got any money," 
 said the man. 
 
 " Yes," said Marco ; and so saying he took 
 
188 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Negotiations. Plan for a raft. The raft began, 
 
 out one half a dollar from his pocket, and showed 
 it to the man. 
 
 t{ What do you want me to do ? 
 
 To help me "build a raft, to raft my horse 
 and wagon over this water." 
 
 " O, you can t raft them over," said the man. 
 
 " Yes," said Marco ; " you must fell me some 
 small trees, and cut them into lengths, and roll 
 them into the water. Then I shall want to 
 buy some of your boards to cover it with." 
 
 " O, no," said the man ; " we could not make 
 a raft in that way big enough to float your horse 
 and wagon." 
 
 " No," said Marco, " but we could raft the 
 horse over first, and then the wagon." 
 
 " Well," said the man, " I ll try it for half a 
 dollar." 
 
 " No," said Marco ; " I ll pay you at the rate 
 of a dollar a day for the time it takes." 
 
 " Very well," said the man, " any way to suit 
 you. I don t know but that you will get over." 
 
 So the man went with Marco down to the 
 shore of the pond, and began to cut down some 
 trees. He told Marco which were the lightest 
 and most suitable, and when about twelve of 
 the lengths had been prepared, he and Marco 
 rolled them into the water, and placed a board 
 
THE BREAKING UP. 
 
 189 
 
 Plans. 
 
 across them to hold them together. The man 
 then walked out upon the board, and with an 
 auger bored holes down through it into the logs, 
 and pinned it down. There was one pin driven 
 into each log. Several other boards were 
 placed alongside of the first, until the raft was 
 floored over. The man then cut a long pole to 
 push with. They were going to push the raft 
 across at the end of the pond, just above where 
 the outlet issued from it. They led the horse 
 carefully on to the raft, and Marco held him 
 
190 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Success of the plans. Marco offers his raft for sale. 
 
 while the man pushed over. They accomplished 
 the passage safely, and then came back for the 
 wagon. The transportation of the wagon was 
 effected without difficulty, and the horse har 
 nessed into it again, and Marco was once more 
 able to proceed. The man estimated his work 
 at one fourth of a day, and the boards and logs 
 he considered to be worth twenty-five cents. 
 So Marco paid him half a dollar, and was just 
 going to get into his wagon, when the stage 
 appeared in sight, coming toward him. " Now," 
 said Marco, " I ll sell my raft to the driver of 
 this stage." 
 
 When the driver saw the condition of the 
 road, he exclaimed, 
 
 " What ! is this bridge carried away ?" 
 
 " Yes," said the man, "it went off last night. 
 
 " And how then am I to get over ?" 
 
 " I don t know," said Marco, " unless you buy 
 my raft." 
 
 " Your raft ?" said the driver ; " is that your 
 raft ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Marco ; " I ve just paid for it, 
 labor and materials. It has cost me half a dol 
 lar, besides all the planning of it. You may 
 have it for the same." 
 
 The driver looked at the raft a moment, with 
 
THE BREAKING UP. 191 
 
 The driver buys it. 
 
 a smile on his countenance, and then said, 
 " But I need not pay you for it. There the raft 
 is. I ve only to take it and use it, if I ve a mind 
 to." 
 
 " But I forbid you to use it," said Marco, 
 " unless you pay me for it." 
 
 " What good will your forbidding do?" said 
 the driver. " I happen to be the strongest." 
 
 " O, yes," said Marco ; " you can rob me of 
 it, I know. If I am so unlucky as to get rob 
 bed here in this solitary place, I suppose I must 
 submit to it ; that s all." 
 
 The driver did not quite like this aspect of 
 the subject, and besides, his passengers began 
 to put their heads out of the windows of the 
 coach, and told him that he had better buy the 
 raft. So he gave Marco half a dollar, saying, 
 at the same time, that it would cost him one 
 quarter of a dollar more to make it big enough 
 to float his stage-coach ; but even that he ad 
 mitted would be better than to go fifteen miles 
 around. Thus Marco got across the water 
 without any other inconvenience than the de 
 lay. He arrived home safely. His uncle For 
 ester returned next day in the wagon to see his 
 sick brother. He crossed on the raft. He 
 found his brother better, and on the third day 
 
192 THE SPRINGFIELD ARMORY. 
 
 Forester gets home. 
 
 he and Forester returned in the stage, but by 
 this time the bridge had been repaired. 
 
 Marco remained at Forester s father s a long 
 time, and had various adventures there, but 
 they can not be described in this volume. 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
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