The Boy Mechanic, vol. 2, page 196
A very simple way to pull a staple is to use the claws of an ordinary carpenter's hammer and a nail, as shown in the sketch. The staple can be removed quickly without being bent, and no damage to the material into which it was driven will result.
“Let us urge forward our spirits, and make them approach the invisible world, and fix our mind upon immaterial things, till we clearly perceive that these are no dreams; nay, that all things are dreams and shadows besides them.”
–Henry Scougal, The Life of God in the Soul of Man