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Updated: May 18, 2025
The custom of boring the ear is very old, mention of it being made in Exodus xxi., 5 and 6, in which we find that if a Hebrew servant served for six years, his freedom was optional, but if he plainly said that he loved his master, and his wife and children, and did not desire to leave their house, the master should bring him before the judges; and according to the passage in Exodus, "he shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever."
The object is to throw it in such a way as to catch one or more hoofs on the point of the awl, a feat which requires no little dexterity. Another is played with marked plum-stones in a bowl, which are thrown like dice and count according to the side that is turned uppermost. Winona's wooing is a typical one.
Even the cobbler's art was not out of place. Several old shoes were very decently repaired, and with waxed ends, an awl, and the top of an old boot, I made me quite a respectable sheath for my knife.
We went away free from any burden, while those poor miserables thought themselves happy to carry our equipage in the hope of getting a brass ring, or an awl, or a needle. . . . They admired our actions more than the fools of Paris their king. . . . They made a great noise, calling us gods and devils. We marched four days through the woods. The country was beautiful with clear parks.
It is firmly believed that boring insects will not injure bamboo cut at this time, and it is known that the dry period stalks are the strongest. The tools employed are a short knife or a miniature head-axe and an awl. With the former the operator scrapes the outer surface, and then splits the tube into strips of the desired width and thickness.
Under the Mosaic law a bondservant could only be held by his master for six years; in the seventh he was 'to go out free for nothing'. But if the servant came to his master, and said, 'I don't want to go; I love you; I will not go out free; I will serve you for ever', the master would reply, 'If you really mean that, let us have it settled, and settled in public'. The master would then bring the servant to the judges to register the agreement, and would also take him to the doorpost, and with an awl bore a hole through the man's ear, fastening him to the post.
They could be retained till the year of jubilee next ensuing. If, however, they chose to remain with their wives and children, the ear of the servant was bored with an awl to the door-post, and his servitude became perpetual. Hebrew servants might also, from love to their masters, in like manner and by the same ceremony, become servants forever.
Needles are made from the fibula of the emu or kangaroo, and are pointed at one end by being rubbed on a stone, they are used in sewing as we use a shoemaker's awl, the hole is bored and the thread put through with the hand; the thread is made of the sinews of the emu and kangaroo.
"I suppose you have some time to yourself, though, don't you?" "Precious little. I ought to be in the shop now. Father sent me down to the store for some awls, and he'll be fretting because I don't get back. I broke my awl on purpose," said Dick, laughing, "so as to get a chance to run out a little while."
Thompson worked quietly with knife and awl at his dilapidated shoes, and the pale, patient face beyond still gazed dreamily into the fire. There were old scenes, doubtless, in among those burning logs old familiar faces, dear memories of the past and weird fantastic visions pictured in the glowing coals.
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