NAILS AND NAILS
Sm,—Surely Mr. Henry Strauss has overlooked that " hitting the nail on the head" implies hitting it there to good effect. The bigger the nail, the harder you must batter it to make it go in, and the easier to miss it. Tapping in one-inch nails with a light hammer is child's play—literally, so that I have to hide my share of the small nails on a high shelf. But let me take a six-inch nail, and swing an engineer's hammer fiercely at it, and the blow will fall on a nail I grew myself, or on a knobbly knuckle. This is a subject—the only one—on which I am an acknowledged expert. I therefore venture to applaud you, Sir, for applauding Mr. Wilson when he " hit the biggest nail on the head." Doubtless the weight of his blow and degree of his skill were at least in proportion to the size of the nail.—Yours respectfully,
C. J. GREGORY.
Cow Cottage, Woodham Walter, Maldon, Essex.
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