THRESHING.

"HAVE you seen the new machine with which they are threshing out the corn which they got in yesterday, Harry?"

"Yes, father; John shewed it me, last evening, and he explained how it worked. I was much pleased with it."

"But you saw many fine pieces of mechanism when you visited your cousin at Manchester, did you not? The perfection of machinery, I think, is at Manchester."

"Yes; I shall never forget the spinning jennies." "They are indeed exceedingly useful. Do you know whom they were invented by ?"

"No, father."

"You ought to have known this. I have often told you, that the way by which I have acquired much knowledge is, by making inquiries about every thing which I see. Never be afraid of asking questions; artists and workmen are pleased to answer them, because they think you feel an interest in their labours ; and thus you gain knowledge very cheaply and very

Who invented the spinning-jenny?

delightfully. James Hargreaves, a carpenter of Blackburn, constructed the first spinning-jenny in 1767; so that now a little girl will work one hundred and twenty spindles. To the indelible disgrace of his age and country, he died in a workhouse at Nottingham.

"When I was at Manchester, I gained very much knowledge on the subject of machinery, which delighted and astonished me. John Pollard, of that town, in 1792, spun on the mule, as it is called, no fewer than two hundred and seventy-eight hanks of yarn,' forming a thread of two hundred and thirty-three thousand five hundred and twenty yards; or upwards of, one hundred and thirty-two thousand five hundred and twenty yards; or upwards of one hundred and thirtytwo miles in length; and all this from a single pound of raw cotton !"

"How wonderful !"

"But don't you recollect any other machines which were shewn you, when at your cousin's ?"

"No, father, except the power looms."

"Except the power looms! Why, Harry, what would you wish to see? They are the most astonishing productions of all, Harry. Mr. Cartwright, a clergy

Where did he die? How much yarn was spun in Manchester in 1792 from one pound of raw cotton? Who invented the power loom, and in what year ?

man of Kent, invented the power-loom, or weavingmill, in 1787. The results of this machine are indeed amazing. But we will talk of British machinery more at large another time. Let us think of the threshingmachine."

"It is a new invention, father, is it not?"

"Yes; and this method of threshing forms a wonderful contrast to that which prevailed in the earlier ages of the world, and which is many times referred to in the Scriptures."

"Will you mention a passage or two, father?"

"Speaking of the husbandman, the Prophet Isaiah

says,

"For his God rightly instructeth him; he furnisheth him with knowledge;

"The dill is not beaten out with the corn-drag; "Nor is the wheel of the wain made to turn on the cummin ;

"But the dill is beaten out with the staff;

"And the cummin with the flail; but the breadcorn with the threshing-wain.

"But not for ever will he continue thus to thresh it; "Nor to vex it with the wheel of his wain ; "Nor to bruise it with the hoofs of his cattle.

Repeat some verses from Isaiah concerning the manner of threshing.

"This also proceedeth from Jehovah, God of

Hosts;

"He showeth himself wonderful in counsel, great in operation.'*

"Four methods,' says Bishop Lowth, ' of threshing are here mentioned by different instruments; the flail, the drag, the wain, and the treading of the cattle. The staff, or flail, was used for such grain as was too tender to be treated in the other methods. The drag consisted of a frame of strong planks, made rough at the bottom with hard stones or iron: it was drawn by horses or oxen over the corn-sheaves spread on the floor, the driver sitting upon it. The wain was much like the former, but had wheels with iron teeth, or edges like a saw; by which it should seem that the axle was armed with iron teeth or saw-like wheels throughout. Such a machine is used at present in Egypt for the same purpose: it moves upon three rollers, armed with iron teeth, or wheels, to cut the straw. In Syria, they make use of the drag, constructed in the very same manner as above described. This not only forced out the grain, but cut the straw in pieces for

How many methods of threshing are mentioned by Bishop Lowth? What is the staff or flail? What is the drag? What is the wain? What do they use in Syria ?

Lowth's Is. xxviii. 26-29.

fodder for the cattle; for, in the Eastern countries, they have no hay. This last method is well known from the Law of Moses, which forbids 'the ox to be muzzled when he treadeth out the corn.'

"Thus Isaiah uses this subject as he does every other which he touches, in the most striking manner. In his twenty-fifth chapter he says,

"For the hand of JEHOVAH shall give rest upon this mountain;

"And Moab shall be threshed in his place,

"As the straw is threshed under the wheels of the car.'

"That is, he will appear for the salvation and establishment of his people; but that he will utterly confound and destroy their enemies, even

"As the straw is threshed under the wheels of the car.'

“How striking and impressive is the comparison !" "You always praise Isaiah, father, whenever you quote him. I think you admire him more than any other writer in the Old Testament."

"You are right, Harry. In the Old Testament, you say; you imagine, then, that I have a favourite in the New also, I suppose ?"

Have they hay in the East? What does the Law of Moses forbid ? Repeat some verses from Isaiah.