If a man may be judged by his appearance, much more may a workman be judged by his tools.

In these days of strong competition the man in any-trade or profession who does not provide himself with the best tools, the most efficient appliances obtainable, for executing his work expeditiously and efficiently, does himself a great injustice.

It is true that some men may become so skilled in their work that they can do what they want to do - can execute their work - with very poor instruments; can, in fact, do better work with poor tools than unskilled men can do with good tools: but no inexperienced man, no improver, no student-plumber, should remain content with his kit - his bag of tools - until it contains a perfect tool for any and every piece of work he may be called upon to execute.

Many a piece of work has been wanting in finish - in execution - quite as much from want of proper tools as from lack of skill in the use of them.

For executing difficult and important pieces of work a man may show almost as much skill and intelligence in the selection of his tools as in the execution of the work.

To face p. 1.

Apart from the pleasure of working with the tool best suited for the work, there is the great economy of labour attending it; hence men indifferent to the tools they use often work much harder and take longer time over their work than the men who select their tools with intelligence.

To possess a perfect tool for any and every piece of work a poor plumber may be called upon to execute in the course of his life-labour would indeed mean a large kit; but it does not mean that he should daily burden his shoulders with a bag too heavy to be borne. The tools, the full kit,1 up to the amount of his knowledge and experience,

1 How the public are amused when "Punch" or the Press try to " show up " the British Workman! But I fancy the B. W. gets the larger fun out of such caricaturing. What an ass the public is! The man who writes the skit from his easy chair only wants pen and ink to do his pretty piece of work; but the poor plumber, or the poor carpenter, for their work, may want any one of a kit or a chest of tools that would raise a sore on the back of a donkey to carry them, and would need the air to be scented with carrots to get him along. And yet plumbers and carpenters are often sent for by intelligent householders to come and remedy some defect in the house, without giving them the smallest clue for what they are wanted. And so directly they present themselves, prepared to do any one of half-a-dozen things, they find they have not equipped themselves for the work required; and, to the astonishment of the householder (and their friends the caricaturists), the B. W. has to return to his shop again for tools or things which he could easily have brought with him at first, if only he had been properly told why he was sent for. The other day the author heard of a plumber having been sent for "to repair a service-pipe," and when he arrived upon the scene, and could find no leakage in any of the pipes, he was told that there must be "something wrong with the servicecan be kept at his house or at his lodgings, and his bag made to contain the tools necessary for the work in hand.

Not only should a plumber possess a full and complete set of tools, but he should become thoroughly accustomed to the use of each one of them, for his dexterity in their use will greatly depend upon the way he handles them.

It is only necessary for the skilled in any art to see how a man handles his tools to at once gauge the ability of that man.

The man who takes pride in his tools - who at some trouble keeps them clean and nice - is almost certain to take pride in his work; and, taking pride in his work, he is never likely to rest contented with himself until he can execute it with efficiency.

Instead of illustrating a tool here and a tool there throughout the many pages of this work, they are chiefly shown on Plates I. and II. And in order to give a faithful representation of the many and various tools used by a plumber, I asked one of my intelligent foremen to arrange his bag of tools on a board, or on two boards, and get them photographed; and I think the reader will agree with the writer, that only a plumber could have arranged and grouped such tools with so much artistic merit.

On looking at the plates I notice one omission, viz., the plumbers' bag. The big hammer is there, but not the bag! He has been a foreman so long that he does not now care to carry the bag about with him ; or perhaps the bag has only been omitted from want of space.

pipes, as the gaslights jumped up and down dreadfully, and the water must somehow have got into the gas-pipe "; for some friends had told them that the jumping light was caused by water.