It is always well to look over implements before the season arrives when they
will be needed, and see that they are in order before they are wanted for use.
I used to know aman who had a habit of taking bolts out of his wagon in
winter to fix his sleigh, and in summer he robbed his sleigh to repair his wagon ;
and in his barnyard and lane was a motley collection of these old relics of his
make-shift policy. As arule implements or machines that are designed for
several kinds of work, fail to accomplish either as well as those intended for a
specific purpose and for that only; and yet I am aware that there may possibly
be some rare exceptions. We find it even so in utilizing hand labor. I re-
member when but a small boy, that one day a raw Irishman, fresh from the
‘old bog,’’ came along and applied for work. He was asked ‘‘ What can you
do?’ Pat's reply was, ‘‘I can plow and I can sow; I can reap and I can
mow; I can skim the pot, and lick the paddle; bedad! I can do iverything. ’”
He was considered most too smart, and got a free pass to the next house. I
would not in the least deprecate the Yankee style of general adaptation, or
the ingenuity which would lighten our labor or enable us to do more and do it
better, in this short life, than we could without these praise-worthy efforts.
