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Carpentering

"All made out of my own head, And wood enough left for another." NOTHING is more useful to a youth than to be able to do a little carpentering. To be handy with a chisel and saw, a nail and a hammer, saves many a pound in the course of the year. If you call in a carpenter for a little work he is sure to spin out a "regular job." I remember once buying some oak saplings, which cost me eightpence a stick; and wanting to build a summer-house, I required eight of them to be sawn through, so I applied to a carpenter, and the sticks were cut, but to my astonishment, sixteen shillings was charged for this little "job," although the wood cost me only five shillings and fourpence. I found out afterwards that the proper price for sawing would have amounted to about four shillings, so that twelve shillings profit was clapped on for the benefit of my experience. I just mention this to show my young friends, that if they wish to make summer-houses for their gardens, cages for their birds, fowl-houses, rabbit-hutches, or boxes for their books, they must learn to make them for themselves. I shall therefore offer them a little advice upon "carpentering."