As a veritable Flood of Waggons continues to stir the Muck of our Thorough Fares, and the Traffick there of makes great Demand for the bespok’d Wheel, many a Lad is being tempt’d from the honest Heat of the Forge and Anvil to the licentious Cool of the Chop-Stump & Spoke-Shave by the Promise of ready Lucre. So testifi’d one Smith, Mr. Smith, as mighty as Hephaestus him Self, a Man who toils Day & Night under the spreading Chest Nut Tree, who, when inform’d that his own Son, verily wean’d on a Pair of Tongs, was lured away from his Duties as Bellows-Monkey upon learning he could earn as much as one Buck Skin Dollar a Year, rais’d a sinewy Fore Arm to the Heavens, and condemn’d the Wheel Wright Profession as errant Wool Gathering; for the Waggon Wheel is but a cheap jack Novelty, a Passing Fancy soon on its way Out, where as Horses, Mules, Asses, &c.; are in great Abundance, and are e’er in Need of Shoes, Bits, & Stirrup-Pins, &c.;
Correspondence from Mssrs. Cooper, Farrior, Carpenter, & Farmer, employ’d as a Cooper, Farrior, Carpenter, & Farmer, respectively, stated unanimously that, had they known, when their Sons were but Babes-in-Arms, that their young ones would one Day devote their Lives in Service of the Waggon, they would have cast them from the House with out Hesitation, Swaddling & All, and bid them grow to stunt’d Man Hood as mere Colliers, and to haul Coal for the Duration of their Lives.
