Gazette Of The United States, & Philadelphia Daily Advertiser

History of a big Mill, and of a Miller that
would not grind without water.

Once upon a time a good natured sort
of a man, in passing through a district of
the country, observed several streams of
water, which though individually small,
were nevertheless brisk and lively. But,
in the whole district, he could not hear of
a single mill for the conveniency of the in-
habitants in manufacturing their grain. He
pitied the poor souls when he saw them
every day pounding their corn, and break-
ing it with much labor in a mortar, whereby
they made out to procure a sorry sort of
'bread, hardly fit for a dog to eat. He
determined therefore in his own mind, to
build a mill for their accommodation.
With much labor, expense and difficulty,
he effected a junction of a considerable
number of these small streams, that by
flowing unitedly into his pond, should raise
a sufficient head of water to carry on busi-
ness. He next erected his mill-dam, and
when the whole was completed, advertised
that he was ready to grind for the neigh-
bourhood. Now the mill soon went mer-
rily round, and every one saw the advan-
tage of carrying his grist there. To en-
courage them, the man of the mill took
but very small toll, so in fact as hardly to
support the expenses of the manufacture.
After some time grinding, he began to
perceive that the mill took more water to
make her go round than came into the pond
from the several sluices; however, he went
on with his work till the pond was become
so low that the mill-wheel fairly stopped of
itself, and the whole internal machinery at
the same time became motionless. He
therefore shut down the gate to let the wa-
ter rise again and fill the pond. 'Now be-
gan grumbling. The neighbourhood were
vexed with the man and his mill for its stop-
ping, and accused him of being an unsteady
sort of a devilish fellow, inasmuch as he did
not keep the mill steadily going round,
without interruption. Gentlemen, said he,
make the streams that come in equal to the
stream that goes out, and the mill shall
grind without ceasing, I'll warrant you.
If you cannot or will not do that, you
must e'en wait till the water rises again!