Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/430

 While it would be erroneous to say that as a general class the free mechanics of Virginia in the seventeenth century enjoyed even a moderate degree of prosperity from the mere pursuit of their trades, there are nevertheless many evidences that numerous individuals belonging to this class were men in possession of considerable wealth, derived, there is reason to think, as much from the cultivation of tobacco on their own account, as from the accumulation of the proceeds of their mechanical work in the service of their neighbors. The trade of the blacksmith was perhaps the least remunerative of all the callings of that general character, since, the roads being level and free from stones, it was the habit of the planters to allow their horses to go unshod. Iron was also in that age a costly metal, and as a rule quite probably was to be found only in small quantities in the smithies. The blacksmith seems to have performed sometimes the functions of a silversmith; he was also often engaged in mending guns which had been broken or injured in barrel or lock, or in restoring the temper of damaged swords. In 1691, a complaint was