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***Signpost***
Issue No. Three -- April 6, 2000
Contents:
- News
- Chairmaking Becomes an Industry
- The History of Tar and Feathers in Colonial America
- What If You Couldn't Fail? by Robert Knowlton
NEWS:
As I was finishing up this issue of Signpost, my internet provider was having technical difficulties which left me unable to send or receive email in all but the quietest parts of the day. So this is coming to you a little later than I had intended.
I also held off on starting my latest auction. But it's in progress now. This one is a continuous-arm, another chair that I have taken to lots of shows. Its in fine shape, so click here to take a look -- or go to my web site and click on the link on my main page.
The latest addition to my Custom Page is a chair I made this winter. It's a sack-back with an added comb. Many variations of this type of enhancement can be found among antique chairs. I hope you will take a look.
In this issue I look a little further into the state of the Windsor chair in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The chairs I make represent that period between the early Philadelphia chairs and the later "industrial" Windsors. Not coincidentally, I think that's the period -- and the styles -- people recognize most readily, the era of the sack-back, the bow-back and the continuous-arm.
Following that is a short history of a subject that may seem humorous, but perhaps only because we're not the ones swabbing ourselves with turpentine to clean off the tar. In any case, much of the purpose of "the punishment" was to make the victim look foolish -- to the amusement of onlookers. Today, we spare the tar and feathers and instead urge the subject to campaign for public office where the humiliation is generally self-imposed.
I conclude with an article that I hope will make you think a bit and maybe even inspire you. Something to clean off the tar, so to speak.
Sincerely,
Bob
Chairmaking Becomes an Industry
Before the American Revolution, Windsor chair-making was largely limited to custom work from small shops. But in the late 18th century specialization in the trades had become the norm, including a whole class of craftsmen dedicated to the production of Windsor chairs. By the 1790s Windsors exceeded all other seating. Philadelphia makers were especially prolific, producing for a true mass market which reached into the south through Charleston, SC, and as far away as the Caribbean. The creation of good, well-maintained turnpike roads in the 1790s encouraged distribution inland.
By the early 19th century the typical one-room shop was giving way to multistoried "manufactories." Though as early as 1775 Francis Trumble of Philadelphia advertised having on hand 1200 Windsor chairs, in 1801 James Hallet, Jr., of New York boasted that he had "For Sale 5000 Windsor chairs of various patterns...."
This new level of production had a dramatic affect on the work force. No longer would an apprentice learn to make an entire chair. He would become a specialist within a specialized field, destined to perform the same operation his entire working life. Women and boys were also brought into the work force, one Baltimore shop reporting 30 men, 25 women and 13 boys in its employ. The journeyman, the step between apprentice and master, began to disappear as master-merchants preferred the lower cost of less skilled workers. Thus the apprentice lost the steppingstone that might make him a master someday. Furthermore, the master himself became a businessman, no longer working in the shop.
Stepped up production also led to simplification. By the end of the 18th century, turned work had been reduced to little more than tapered sticks with painted bamboo rings. And while earlier chairs had been typically painted a single color, usually green, color and decoration were now used to compensate for plain design. Some shops even advertised repainting: "...will paint them green or any fancy color, in the best manner," or "Old Chairs repainted in Fancy Colors...." It is not uncommon today to find these old chairs, repainted and decorated in this later fashion, an original coat of green in evidence underneath.
Finally, as the 19th century proceeded, water and steam power were introduced, leading to new technologies such as circular saws, drilling and mortising machines and power lathes. Windsor chair-making had become a true industry.
The History of Tar and Feathers in Colonial America
In the 1760s, tarring and feathering, a punishment that dates back to the days of the Crusades, began to appear in New England seaports. It was most often applied by patriot mobs against British tax collectors and loyalists (loyal to Britain, that is). The mere threat of it insured that by November 1, 1765, the day the Stamp Act was to go into effect, there was not a single stamp commissioner left in the colonies to collect the new tax.
In the Spring of 1766 John Gilchrist, a Norfolk merchant and ship-owner, came to believe that Captain William Smith had reported his smuggling activities to British authorities. Gilchrist and several accomplices, including the mayor of Norfolk, captured Smith to apply punishment. They "dawbed my body and face all over with tar and afterwards threw feathers on me," Smith reported. Then they carted him "through every street in town" and tossed him into the sea.
By March, 1770, at least thirteen people had been tarred and feathered in the American colonies. In every case, the tar brush was applied to customs inspectors and informers, persons responsible for enforcing the Townsend duties. The campaign was very successful. Townsend duties revenues soon fell below the costs of enforcement, and the British government repealed the taxes on all imports but tea.
"I am not a Virginian, but an American"
Patrick Henry
"I am willing to love all mankind except an American"
Samuel Johnson
At that point tarring and feathering of these loathed individuals came to a virtual halt. But feathering had proved such an effective deterrent that patriot leaders quickly devised a new use for it. When Whig merchants created a series of nonimportation agreements, they used the threat of tar and feathers to enforce it. Boston mobs even took to feathering one's property, one crowd even taking the tar brush to an uncooperative merchant's horse.
After 1773, the punishment that had once been reserved for tax collectors was increasingly being applied to any suspected "enemy to the rights of America."
In August 1774 Virginians were urged to sign pledges of loyalty to the Continental Congress and to stop the export of tobacco until all taxes on imported goods were repealed. As an alternative to the pledges they were offered tar and feathers.
Even women took part in the patriotic ritual. In one instance, the members of a quilting bee seized a youth who dared to speak out against the Continental Congress. But the boy might have considered himself fortunate, for instead of tar and feathers he got molasses and "the downy tops of the flags that grew in the meadow."
Patriot organizers soon recognized the injustice of persecuting people who had not committed any crimes against the colonies and began to urge the American people to put aside the practice. Despite their misgivings, however, it continued throughout the Revolution and even afterwards.
A modern use of the punishment? Following Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura's suggestion on David Letterman that the streets of St. Paul had been laid out by drunken Irishmen, St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman arrived at the Capitol with a basket of goodies, including tar, feathers and a street map of St. Paul.
The following is reprinted with permission from Robert Knowlton, SuccessOptions.com
What If You Couldn't Fail?
Failure is defined as "falling short of hitting the target."
What if you couldn't fail? How differently might you approach
challenging situations if you knew you could be successful?
To look at "failure" we need to look at two aspects. First, the
targets we set and second, our definition of success. For
example, I'm a retailer who sets a sales target of 10 widgets. I
only sell 9. Am I a failure or did I succeed 9 times and run out of
time? To get one sale I may have had to speak to 10 people. If
my product did not meet the needs of 9 of these people I spoke
to, did I fail? Was each "no" a failure or a stepping stone to
success?
Baseball, and especially last year's homerun quest by Mark
McGuire and Sammy Sosa, is a great example of failure. Both
these men swung at the ball and missed it or hit it the wrong way
about 100 times more often than they hit it the way they wanted.
The average "professional" baseball player who earns $1 million
per year fails to get on base 75% of the time. Seven times out of
ten at bats, he walks back to the dugout having been
unsuccessful at his job. Or was he? Baseball is a game of
statistics and so is life.
If we take one, two, three or ten setbacks as evidence of failure,
how would we progress? Thomas Edison is known to have tried
to create the electric light bulb more than 10,000 different ways.
One of his financial backers is said to have asked, "Tom, why
don't you quit? Can't you see this idea of yours is a failure?"
Edison's response was, "Every time it did not work I got feedback
on how to make it better. I have now eliminated 10,000 ways it
does not work and I get closer and closer to success." Every
failure moved him toward his goal.
Thomas Edison, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, all had one thing in
common. They looked at their results as feedback which helped
them adjust their actions and move toward greater and greater
chances for success. They learned from their mistakes. They
took missing the mark as feedback to fine-tune their efforts until
the results matched their target.
Many of us are easily dissuaded and discouraged by not
succeeding the first time we try something new. The learning
experience of "falling short of hitting the target" can bruise the
ego. The projected pain of not looking good or feeling inadequate
has stopped many efforts to even try to hit the mark.
Why not turn a missed target into a new learning opportunity?
Step back from the situation and ask yourself, "What adjustments
would bring me closer to my target?" Keep your eye on the ball
and keep swinging!
Thank goodness Thomas Edison kept trying and did not quit when
he fell short of hitting the target in his early attempts to create
the electric light bulb. Otherwise I might have had to write this by
candlelight!
(c) 1999, Options Success Coaching and Training
Robert Knowlton is an Executive Coach.
Coaching in leadership development, advanced communications
strategies, and realizing your purpose and personal vision.
For coaching tips and success strategies, subscribe to
his free e-newsletter, ON PURPOSE. Go to
http://www.SuccessOptions.com/ezine.htm?06
or
send an email to mailto:purpose98-subscribe@listbot.com
Options Success Coaching and Training
http://www.SuccessOptions.com
mailto:Coach@SuccessOptions.com
613.478.6786
Sources
- American Windsor Chairs, Nancy Goyne Evans, Hudson Hills Press, 1996
- The Windsor Style in America, Charles Santore, Courage Books, 1997
- Tar and Feathers in Revolutionary America
- The Stamp Act Riots and Tarring and Feathering
- The Alternative Of Williams-Burg
- Channel 4000 - Coleman, Ventura Exchange 'Truce' Gifts
- SuccessOptions.com
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