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Page 10
But the match of to-day has a story more interesting than that of the
old-fashioned match. As we have said, much of the timber used in the
manufacture comes from the immense tracts of forest in the Hudson Bay
Territory. It is floated down the water-courses to the lakes, through
which it is towed in great log-rafts. These rafts are divided; some
parts are pulled through the canals, and some by other means are taken
to market. When well through the seasoning process, which occupies from
one to two years, the pine is cut up into blocks twice as long as a
match, and about eight inches wide by two inches thick. These blocks
are passed through a machine which cuts them up into "splints," round
or square, of just the thickness of a match, but twice its length. This
machine is capable, as we are told, of making about 2,000,000 splints
in a day. This number seems immense when compared with the most that
could be made in the old way--by hand. The splints are then taken to
the "setting" machine, and this rolls them into bundles about eighteen
inches in diameter, every splint separated from its neighbors by little
spaces, so that there may be no sticking together after the "dipping."
In the operation of "setting," a ribbon of coarse stuff about an inch
and a half wide, and an eighth of an inch thick, is rolled up, the
splints being laid across the ribbon between each two courses, leaving
about a quarter of an inch between adjoining splints. From the
"setting" machine the bundles go to the "dipping" room.
After the ends of the splints have been pounded down to make them even,
the bundles are dipped--both ends---into the molten sulphur and then
into the phosphorus solution, which is spread over a large iron plate.
Next they are hung in a frame to dry. When dried they are placed in a
machine which, as it unrolls the ribbon, cuts the sticks in two across
the middle, thus making two complete matches of each splint.
The match is made. The towering pine which listened to the whisper of
the south wind and swayed in the cold northern blast, has been so
divided that we can take it bit by bit and lightly twirl it between two
fingers. But what it has lost in size it has gained in use. The little
flame it carries, and which looks so harmless, flashing into brief
existence, has a latent power more terrible than the whirlwind which
perhaps sent the tall pine-tree crashing to the ground.
But the story is not yet closed. From the machine which completed the
matches they are taken to the "boxers"--mostly girls and women--who
place them in little boxes. The speed with which this is done is
surprising. With one hand they pick up an empty case and remove the
cover, while with the other they seize just a sufficient number of
matches, and by a peculiar shuffling motion arrange them evenly,
then--'t is done!
The little packages of sleeping fire are taken to another room, where
on each one is placed a stamp certifying the payment to the government
of one cent revenue tax. Equipped with these passes the boxes are
placed in larger ones, and these again in wooden cases, which are to be
shipped to all parts of the country, and over seas.
All this trouble over such little things as matches! Yet on these
fire-tipped bits of wood millions of people depend for warmth, cooked
food and light. They have become a necessity, and the day of flint,
steel and tinder seems almost as far away in the past as are the bow
and fire-stick of the Indian.
Some idea of the number of matches used in North America during a year
may be gained from the fact that it is estimated by competent judges
that, on an average, six matches are used every day by each inhabitant;
this gives a grand total of 87,400,000,000 matches, without counting
those that are exported. Now, this would make a single line, were the
matches placed end to end, more than 2,750,000 miles in length! It
would take a railroad train almost eight years to go from one end to
the other, running forty miles an hour all the time.
How apt to our subject is that almost worn-out Latin phrase, "_multum
in parvo_"--much in little! Much labor, much skill, and much
usefulness, all in a little piece of wood scarcely one-eighth of an
inch through and about two inches long!
[Illustration: Finis]
[Illustration: WHERE AUNT ANN HID THE SUGAR]
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