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diff --git a/19875-8.txt b/19875-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f64e177 --- /dev/null +++ b/19875-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8572 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bobbin Boy, by William M. Thayer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Bobbin Boy + or, How Nat Got His learning + +Author: William M. Thayer + +Release Date: November 20, 2006 [EBook #19875] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOBBIN BOY *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE + + BOBBIN BOY; + + OR, + + HOW NAT GOT HIS LEARNING. + + AN EXAMPLE FOR YOUTH. + + + BY + + WILLIAM M. THAYER, + + AUTHOR OF "THE POOR BOY AND MERCHANT PRINCE," "THE POOR GIRL + AND TRUE WOMAN," "FROM POOR-HOUSE TO PULPIT," + "TALES FROM THE BIBLE," ETC., ETC. + + BOSTON: + J. E. TILTON AND COMPANY. + 1862. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress; in the year 1860, by + J. E. TILTON AND COMPANY, + + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of + Massachusetts. + + University Press, Cambridge: + Printed by Welch, Bigelow, and Company. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The design of this volume is to show the young how "odd moments" and +small opportunities may be used in the acquisition of knowledge. The +hero of the tale--NAT--is a living character, whose actual +boyhood and youth are here delineated--an unusual example of energy, +industry, perseverance, application, and enthusiasm in prosecuting a +life purpose. + +The conclusion of the story will convince the reader, that the group of +characters which surround Nat are not creations of the fancy, and that +each is the bearer of one or more important lessons to the young. While +some of them forcibly illustrate the consequences of idleness, +disobedience, tippling, and kindred vices, in youth, others are bright +examples of the manly virtues, that always command respect, and achieve +success. + + W. M. T. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + A GOOD BEGINNING. + + The patch of squashes--counting chickens before they are + hatched--ifs--ducks, and the bright side--explanation--hopeful + Nat--Nathaniel Bowditch--Sir Humphrey Davy--Buxton--benefit + of hopefulness--the squashes coming up--Frank Martin--"all + play and no work"--Ben Drake--scene when Nat was four + years old--"thinking on his own hook"--men of mark think + for themselves--"niggers' work"--great men not ashamed of + useful work--the harvest-day--Frank's surprise--Nat as a peddler--his + sister--his drawings--Samuel Budgett, Dr. Kitto, + and the rich merchant peddling--"creep before you can walk"--the + errand-boy and his success--what his culture of squashes + shows 1-17 + + + CHAPTER II. + + UPWARD AND ONWARD. + + Winter--in school--proposition to declaim--the dialogue, "Alexander + the Great and a Robber"--Nat is the robber--his reason--sympathy + for the poor and unfortunate--the dialogue learned + and spoken--Nat's eloquence--some boys who declaim poorly + at first make orators at last--Demosthenes--Daniel Webster--Nat + declaiming before visitors--the petition for shorter lessons--Nat + won't sign it--Sam Drake's predicament--the teacher hears + of the movement--his remarks about dull scholars--Newton, + Dr. Barrows, Adam Clarke, Chatterton, Napoleon, etc.--necessity + of application 17-27 + + + CHAPTER III. + + SATURDAY AFTERNOON. + + The bright summer-time--sport at Frank's--the dog "Trip" + playing hy-spy--the boys hiding--Trip finding them--the result + of the first game--the second game--the court scene--talk + about it with Sylvester Jones--Nat goes to court--the prisoners + are two of his schoolmates--his sympathy for them--examination + of witnesses--the remarks of the justice--Nat proposes to + plead their case--the sensation and result--what was said of + it--another instance of Nat's sympathy--what it + foreshadowed--Howard--Wilberforce--Buxton 28-37 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE WILD CHERRIES. + + The excursion--John's proposition--decision to go--the cherry-tree--is + it wild?--a discussion--filling their caps--surprised + by the owner--their escape--Nat's and Frank's caps left behind--the + owner carries them to the house--Nat's resolve to go to his + house--rapping at the door--his explanation and confession--the + caps restored with a plenty of cherries--the end thereof 38-47 + + + CHAPTER V. + + ATHLETIC SPORTS. + + Bathing--a passion for it--a particular swim--Nat the best + swimmer--swimming under water--a trial--a game of ball--Nat + the best player--the result of the game--remarks of spectators--the + fastest runner--a principle to be best--excelled in athletic + sports through same elements of character that made him excel in + school--the best shoe-black--Reynolds made every picture best--Buxton's + sports in boyhood, and Sir Walter Scott's--Wellington's + remark--Nat's remark twenty-five years after--Nat saving + a boy from drowning--his picture of the scene--how he used + his experience in athletic games 48-56 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A MISTAKE. + + Winter school again--the skating proposition--the proposed grammar + class--Nat does not accede--discussion on the way to the + pond--Nat the best skater--the palm yielded to him--home to + supper--teacher's remarks next day about grammar--advice to + Nat and Charlie--his reference to Benjamin Franklin and Patrick + Henry--Nat and Charlie join the class--conversation + among the boys, and with Nat in particular--Sam put into the + objective case, and his mischief-making propensity--tying a tin-pail + to a dog's tail--the delight of Sam--the sorrow of Nat, and + verdict of the boys--Sam an _im_proper noun--the end of + school 57-68 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + PROSPECT HILL. + + Proposed visit to Prospect Hill--a hundred churches--situation + and description of the hill--view from the top--Trip accompanies + them--meeting with Sam and Ben Drake--Sam's assault + upon Trip--Frank's feelings--Nat's love of nature--this + characterizes youth generally who become renowned--Sir Francis + Chantrey--Robert Burns--Hugh Miller--more hope of boys + who love the beautiful of nature and art--reaching the summit--a + fire in the city--Sam's anger--counting the churches--Sam + kicks Trip down the precipice--Frank and Nat crying--Sam's + ridicule--Sam and Ben leave--Nat tells a story--carrying + dead Trip home 69-82 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE END OF SCHOOL-DAYS. + + The agent of the factory wants Nat--picker-boy in Lowell a short + time--his home-sickness--a good sign for boys to love home, + and why--bad boys do not love home--the young man in + prison--such lads sneer at home-sickness--interview of Nat's + father and mother on the subject--their conclusion to put him into + the factory--end of school-days 83-89 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + OPENING THE SUBJECT. + + Nat coming home--telling the sad news to his mother--sifting + Sam Drake's character--going to Frank's to bury Trip--asking + permission of parents--how some take advantage--Frank's + arrangement for the burial--Trip's coffin--buried + in the garden--Nat's funeral oration--going to supper--the + difficult lesson in arithmetic--stunned by the announcement--his + objection--his mother suggested that the operatives had a + library--the result, and Nat's last thoughts at night 90-99 + + + CHAPTER X. + + THE NEW CALL. + + Monday morning--prompt boys--not a lazy bone in Nat--how + the bell called him--his first appearance at the factory--remark + of the overseer--meeting with Charlie Stone there--Charlie's + character--making use of knowledge acquired and difference in + boys--talk with the agent about the library--his advice about + spare moments--William Cobbett's account of his own privations + in early life--Nat's first noon-time--his work as bobbin boy--takes + the life of Dr. Franklin out of the library--meets with David + Sears--punctuality a cardinal virtue--how the factory bell cultivates + punctuality--here the beginning of his student life--read + through life of Franklin before Saturday night 100-112 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE LOFTY STUDY. + + Nat's proposition for systematic study--Charlie goes to his house--his + study in the attic--Dr. Kitto's study not so good--nor St. + Pierre's--they read and discuss Franklin and Patrick Henry--copy + of Franklin's rules--Patrick Henry's faculty of observation--Nat + like him--studying men and things--the case of Shakspeare--Nat + the best penman in the mill--choice between study + and the party--obliged to deny himself for the sake of study--some + disarrangements--thinks he can never know much--the + poor not so good a chance as the rich--wealth of character 113-123 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + THE DEDICATION. + + A hall to be dedicated--Nat's conversation with Frank about it, + and removal of the library--going to the dedication--the address + on Count Rumford--a sketch of the address to show why + Nat was so deeply interested--Count Rumford's origin, boyhood, + rise, learning, benevolence, and fame--conversation with his + mother about it--conversation with Charlie at the factory--a + life-long impression made on his mind by it 124-133 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + A SCHOOL SCENE. + + A difficulty with Sam Drake in school--Nat hears of it--a true + account--Sam writes a letter about the teacher--the teacher + discovers it--many words spelled incorrectly--a copy of the + letter--Sam called into the floor--made to spell the words he has + spelled wrong--spells Alpheus, Coombs, knife, bargain, + spectacles--merriment it occasioned in school--Sam refuses to spell + more--he is punished and conquered--spells again--then he is + ferruled--sent to his seat--advice to the school--a good teacher--his + case before the committee--expelled--what the incident + teaches 134-141 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + TAKING SIDES. + + The Federalist--Jefferson and the Democrat--the four votes--studied + with all his soul--Jefferson wrote the Declaration of + Independence--reading it--difference between Jefferson and Adams + --Jefferson's views of slavery--extract from his writings--another + extract--why Nat adopted these principles--his early sympathies--the + life of Jefferson made lasting impression on his + mind--case of Guido--Cotton Mather's "Essays to do Good"--Dr. + Franklin--Jeremy Bentham and greatest good to greatest + number--Alfieri and "Plutarch's Lives"--Loyola and "Lives + of the Saints"--a picture made--Dr. Guthrie 142-155 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + THREE IMPORTANT EVENTS. + + Frank in the factory--bad to be poor--worse to be mean--great + men generally poor--dispute with Dr. Franklin--intimate + friendship with Frank--the poor sympathize with each other--so + with the rich--influence of kindred occupation--the new + comer--his poverty--who Marcus was--the kind letter that + brought trial--proposition to leave home--talk with his mother--reminded + of Marcus--decision to leave home--departure and + new field--gone three years--his return 156-164 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + FINDING A LOST OPPORTUNITY. + + Odd moments at grammar--making up for a lost opportunity--confession + of an error--inquiry after Sam Drake--his bad + character--Ben Drake--mastering grammar alone--nothing + dry in which we are interested--Nat's literary pocket--Roger + Sherman's pocket--Napoleon's pocket--Hugh Miller's pocket--Elihu + Burritt's pocket--many boys carry only a jack-knife in + their pocket--value of one hour a day--ten years of study in + half a century--lost opportunities not found--the proposed debating + club--Marcus again 165-173 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + THE PURCHASE. + + A spare day--visit to Boston bookstores--shoe-leather cheap and + the proposed walk--conversation with Charlie and Frank--the + walk to Boston--what would attract some boys there--the book-stores + drew Nat--conversation with a bookseller--purchase of + "Locke's Essay on the Understanding"--his examination of + books--bits of knowledge--Dr. Kitto and the book-stall--homeward + bound--Monday morning with Charlie--influence of + Locke's Essay on him--its influence was such on Robert Burns, + Samuel Drew, and Mendelssohn--it aids the speaker to understand + the laws of human nature--more visits to Boston 174-182 + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + THE DEBATING SOCIETY. + + Plans carried out--its object--how it must be conducted--the + organization--rule to make it respectable--his desire to make + all things respectable--the fire company reformed--the first + discussion--the question--an evening without a question--how + they got over it--Nat's speech--curiosity to hear--tremendous + compliments--Nat wards them off--contends that a man may + become what he wants to be--this the view of Buxton and + others--influence of the debating society on Nat--a similar + society influenced Curran, the Irish orator--and a living American + statesman--Canning, the English statesman--and Henry + Clay--interesting account of a similar society in Boston 183-195 + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + COMING AND GOING. + + Ben Drake's visit--the welcome of Frank--Mrs. Martin's + questions--surprise at learning that Ben is a Christian--going + to the prayer-meeting--Frank surprised to hear Ben speak--goes to tell + Nat the next morning--their conversation--Ben calls around--announcement + that Webster would speak in Boston--Nat's resolve + to hear him--the walk to Boston--the speech--Nat's observation + and remarks--power of the human voice--hearing Edward + Everett--walks to hear other speakers--learned much of the use + of language and oratory by observation--so with Robert Bloomfield--the + charm of the voice 196-205 + + CHAPTER XX. + + GOSSIP. + + Talk which Nat created--scene in the sewing circle--use of spare + moments--boys who read their leisure moments not get into + mischief--old Mrs. Lane on education--her ideas about his + going to hear Webster and Everett and the book in his pocket--how + much time he saves a day for reading--wants more boys + like Nat--his going to the party--sympathy for the slighted--explanation + of the scene--waiting upon the slighted girls--the + effect of it--Nat's decision, independence, and kind-hearted + nature enabled him to do it--like Robert Burns in this + respect 206-213 + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + GOING TO THE THEATRE. + + Nat's desire to witness a tragedy played--resolve to go and hear + Booth--talk with his companions--what would be said--the + evening of his visit--the play--after conversation with his + companions--the bar--why vices connected with theatres--can they + be severed from it--Nat wants to hear more--at home at one + o'clock--outside remarks afterwards--his course criticized--went + a number of times thereafter--his object in going good--yet + it was not safe---the Roman youth at the amphitheatre--so + with theatre-goers--theatres always been schools of vice--acts + of Congress against--vain attempt to make theatres respectable + in Boston--the legend of Tertullian--the actor Macready exposed + the vice of theatres--Judge Bulstrode's charge--Sir + Matthew Hale's experience in boyhood--opinion of the infidel + Rousseau 214-225 + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + THE DRAMATIC SOCIETY. + + The proposition--how it was met--they undertake it--how the + theatre creates love of such amusement--the nephew who became + an actor by hearing--playing Macbeth--make their own scenery--Nat + wrote constitution--evening of the organization--evening + of the first play--a success--remarks of Mr Graves adverse + to such performances--talk in the village--remarks of old Mrs. + Lane--why Nat does it--conversation with Charlie--Nat opposed + to being an actor--desire to be a statesman 226-234 + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + THE SURPRISE. + + The news--discussion in the town lyceum--occasioned by the + dramatic society--the question "Are dramatical exhibitions beneficial + to society?"--the evening of the debate--Nat goes--Mr. + Bryant's remarks on the low origin of theatres--remarks of another + on the immorality of actors--of another on the profane and + vulgar parts of plays--seven thousand indecent sentences in + English plays--King James the First--Addison's view--the + class of persons who patronize theatres--Nat's excitement--Frank's + question--Nat's attention--rises to speak--the surprise + of the audience--his argument and eloquence astonished all--remark + of Dr. Holt--reminds us of Patrick Henry--description + of his first plea--his triumph--Charlie's view--Nat's argument + changed no one's view--his eloquence they admired--invited + to join town lyceum--the dramatic society dead 235-250 + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + ANOTHER STEP. + + Making a new study--conversation with Charlie--Nat's new plans--study + furniture--manual labor--Charlie's opinion--excessive + reading bad--using what is learned--Coleridge's description of + readers--difference between Nat and Charlie--Burke's Essay on + the Sublime and Beautiful--a bit of humor--using the library of + Harvard College--his walks thither--power of concentrating + thoughts--Hugh Miller fighting imaginary battles with shells--Cary + made a missionary by reading voyages of Captain Cook--Nat's + invincible purpose 251-259 + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + EULOGY BY JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. + + Working on the mill-dam--news of the eulogy on Madison--how + much he would sacrifice to hear him--general regard for personal + appearance--goes in his workshop dress--a view of him in the + crowd--talk in the machine-shop--Nat back again--his views + of the eulogy--conversation--his leading traits of character seen + here 260-265 + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + THE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. + + Beginning of the total abstinence movement--Nat espouses the + cause--talk with his companions about forming a society--James + Cole opposes--making a beast of one's self--the gutter + theory--customary for youth to drink then--drinking usages--the + decision to organize a society--preparations--evening of the + organization--Nat's speech and presentation of constitution--the + choice of officers--Frank Martin president, and Charlie Stone + secretary--important event for that time--sensation in the village--scene + in a grog-shop--signing away liberty--Nat invited + to give a lecture before the society--the decision and firmness + required then to advocate total abstinence 266-276 + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + THE TEMPERANCE LECTURE. + + News of the lecture flies--scene in Miles's grog-shop--the rumseller + resolves to go--a crowd to hear the lecture--"The Fifteen + Gallon Law" was his subject--portrayed the evils of intemperance--showed + that the proposed law would remove the evil + among the poor--showed that it introduced no new principle of + legislation--discussed other topics--the lecture gained him much + applause--the rumseller Miles was reached and resolved to quit + selling liquor--Johnson his customer attacking him next morning--their + battle of words--the result--delivered the lecture in + neighboring towns--delivered others at home 277-286 + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + + SPEECH-MAKING. + + Nat's position--worked for it--bobbin boy father of the orator--so + with other men--Sir James Mackintosh--Audubon--Benjamin + West--Eli Whitney, and what his sister said--poem of + Longfellow--interest in politics--urged to address political + bodies--conversation with Charlie--decides to speak--does so + at home and abroad--the adventure of a political committee, and + a good joke--Nat's speech and their arrangement 287-297 + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + + THE EARLY VICTIM. + + News that James Cole is frozen--Frank's version of the affair--made + drunk at a grog-shop--lay senseless in the street all night--his + previous character--his good abilities--all sorts of rumors + abroad--he revives, but is still very sick--what the physician + says--nearly three months pass--a funeral described--the last + of James Cole--the sexton's view--the youthful drunkard's + grave 298-304 + + + CHAPTER XXX. + + THE END. + + A quarter of a century passed--what and where is Nat and his + associates--the drunkard--Sam and Ben Drake in prison--power + of early vicious habits--Frank Martin at the head of a + public institution--Charlie Stone agent of one of the wealthiest + and best known manufacturing companies of New England--Marcus + Treat a highly distinguished lawyer in his adopted State--Nat + governor of the best State in the Union--the change--appeal + to youth 305-310 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A GOOD BEGINNING. + + +A little patch of ground enclosed by a fence, a few adjacent trees, Nat +with his hoe in hand, his father giving directions, on one of the +brightest May mornings that was ever greeted by the carol of birds, are +the scenes that open to our view. + +"There, Nat, if you plant and hoe your squashes with care, you will +raise a nice parcel of them on this piece of ground. It is good soil for +squashes." + +"How many seeds shall I put into a hill?" inquired Nat. + +"Seven or eight. It is well to put in enough, as some of them may not +come up, and when they get to growing well, pull up all but four in a +hill. You must not have your hills too near together,--they should be +five feet apart, and then the vines will cover the ground all over. I +should think there would be room for fifty hills on this patch of +ground." + +"How many squashes do you think I shall raise, father?" + +"Well," said his father, smiling, "that is hard telling. We won't count +the chickens before they are hatched. But if you are industrious, and +take very good care indeed of your vines, stir the ground often and keep +out all the weeds, and kill the bugs, I have little doubt that you will +get well paid for your labor." + +"If I have fifty hills," said Nat, "and four vines in each hill, I shall +have two hundred vines in all; and if there is one squash on each vine, +there will be two hundred squashes." + +"Yes; but there are so many _ifs_ about it that you may be disappointed +after all. Perhaps the bugs will destroy half your vines." + +"I can kill the bugs," said Nat. + +"Perhaps dry weather will wither them all up." + +"I can water them every day if they need it." + +"That is certainly having good courage, Nat," added his father, "but if +you conquer the bugs, and get around the dry weather, it may be too wet +and blast your vines, or there may be such a hail storm as I have known +several times in my life, and cut them to pieces." + +"I don't think there will be such a hail storm this year; there never +was one like it since I can remember." + +"I hope there won't be," replied his father. "It is well to look on the +bright side, and hope for the best for it keeps the courage up. It is +also well to look out for disappointment. I know a gentleman who thought +he would raise some ducks. So he obtained a dozen eggs, and put them +under a hen, and then he hired a man, to make a small artificial pond in +his garden, which he could fill from his well, for the young ducks to +swim in. The time came for the ducks to appear, but not one of the eggs +hatched, and it caused much merriment among the neighbors, and the man +has never heard the last of _counting ducks before they are hatched_. I +have heard people in the streets and stores say, when some one was +undertaking a doubtful enterprise, 'he is counting ducks.' Now, +possibly, your squashes may turn out like the gentleman's ducks, though +I do not really think it will be so. I speak of it that you may think of +these things." + +A sly sort of smile played over Nat's expressive countenance at this +mention of the ducks, but it did not shake his confidence in the art of +raising squashes. He had become a thorough believer in squashes,--they +were now a part of his creed. He could see them on the vines before the +seeds were planted. Some of them were very large,--as big as a +water-pail, and his glowing imagination set him to work already, rolling +them into a wheelbarrow. He cared little for the bugs, though they +should come in a great army, he could conquer them, infantry, artillery, +and all. + +This scene was enacted about thirty-five years ago, not a thousand miles +from Boston, when Nat was about ten years old, a bright, active, +energetic, efficient, hopeful little fellow. His father gave him the use +of a piece of ground for raising squashes, and the boy was to have the +proceeds of the crop with which to line his new purse. Nat was wont to +look on the bright side of things, and it was generally fair weather +with him. For this reason, he expected a good crop of squashes, +notwithstanding his father's adverse hints. It was fortunate for him +that he was so hopeful, for it inspired him with zeal and earnestness, +and made him more successful than he otherwise would have been. All +hopeful persons are not successful, but nearly all the successful ones, +in the various callings of life, were hopeful from the beginning. This +was true of Nathaniel Bowditch, the great mathematician, who was a poor +boy when he commenced his studies. He said that whenever he undertook +any thing "it never occurred to him for a moment that he could fail." +This quality thus encouraged him to press on from one success to +another. Hence, in later life, his counsel to youth was, "Never +undertake any thing but with the feeling that you can and will do it. +With that feeling success is certain, and without it failure is +unavoidable." He once said that it had been an invariable rule with him, +"to do one thing at a time, and to _finish_ whatever he began." The +same was true of Sir Humphrey Davy. His biographer says that he never +made any provision for failures, "that he undertook every experiment as +if success were certain." This put life and soul into his acts; for when +a man believes that he shall certainly succeed in a given work, his +success is half secured. Grave doubts about it diminish energy, and +relax the force of the will. Buxton, the distinguished English +philanthropist, is another example of this quality. He was just as +confident that his efforts in behalf of the oppressed would succeed, as +he was of his own existence. He knew that God and truth were on his +side, and therefore he expected to triumph,--and he did. We shall see +that Nat was often helped by his hopefulness. + +It was a happy day to Nat when he saw his squashes coming forth to seek +the genial light. Frank Martin was with him when the discovery was made, +and it brightened Nat's hope considerably, if it be possible to make a +bright thing brighter. + +"Here, Frank, they are coming. There is one--two--three--" + +"Sure enough," answered Frank, "they will all show themselves soon. You +will raise a lot of squashes on this patch of ground. You will have to +drive a team to Boston market to carry them, likely as not." + +"I hardly think father expects to see any squashes of _my_ raising," +said Nat. + +"Why not?" inquired Frank. + +"Oh, he is expecting the bugs will eat them up, or that it will be too +wet or too dry, or that a hail storm will cut them to pieces, or +something else will destroy them; I hardly know what." + +"You will fare as well as other folks, I guess," added Frank. "If +anybody has squashes this year, you will have them; I am certain of +that. But it will take most of your time out of school to hoe them, and +keep the weeds out." + +"I don't care for that, though I think I can take care of them mornings +by getting up early, and then I can play after school." + +"Then you mean to play some yet?" + +"Of course I do. I shouldn't be a boy if I didn't play, though father +says I shouldn't believe in all play and no work." + +"You don't. If you work in the morning and play at night, that is +believing in both, and I think it is about fair." + +"Ben Drake was along here when I was planting my squashes," said Nat, +"and he told me that I was a fool to worry myself over a lot of squash +vines, and have no time to play. He said he wouldn't do it for a +cart-load of squashes." + +"And what did you tell him?" asked Frank. + +"I told him that father thought it was better for boys to work some, and +form the habit of being industrious, and learn how to do things; for +then they would be more successful when they became men." + +"What did Ben say to that?" + +"'Just like an old man!' he said. 'It is time enough to work when we get +to be men. I should like to see myself taking care of a garden when the +other boys are playing.' By this time," continued Nat, "I thought I +would put in a word, so I told him that it would be good for _him_ to +work part of the time, and I had heard a number of people say so. He was +quite angry at this, and said, 'it was nobody's business, he should work +when he pleased.' 'So shall I,' I replied, 'and I please to work on +these squashes part of my time, whether Ben Drake thinks well of it or +not.'" + +We shall see hereafter what kind of a boy this Ben was (everybody called +him Ben instead of Benjamin), and what kind of a man he made. + +Nat expressed his opinion rather bluntly, although he was not a forward, +unmannerly boy. But he usually had an opinion of his own, and was rather +distinguished for "thinking (as a person said of him since) on his own +hook." When he was only four years old, and was learning to read little +words of two letters, he came across one about which he had quite a +dispute with his teacher. It was INN. + +"What is that?" asked his teacher. + +"I-double n," he answered. + +"What does i-double n spell?" + +"Tavern," was his quick reply. + +The teacher smiled, and said, "No; it spells INN. Now read it +again." + +"I-double n--tavern," said he. + +"I told you that it did not spell tavern, it spells INN. Now +pronounce it correctly." + +"It _do_ spell tavern," said he. + +The teacher was finally obliged to give it up, and let him enjoy his own +opinion. She probably called him obstinate, although there was nothing +of the kind about him, as we shall see. His mother took up the matter at +home, but failed to convince him that i-double n did not spell tavern. +It was not until some time after, that he changed his opinion on this +important subject. + +That this incident was no evidence of obstinacy in Nat, but only of a +disposition to think "on his own hook," is evident from the following +circumstances. There was a picture of a public-house in his book against +the word INN, with the old-fashioned sign-post in front, on which a sign +was swinging. Near his father's, also, stood a public-house, which +everybody called a _tavern_, with a tall post and sign in front of it, +exactly like that in his book; and Nat said within himself, if Mr. +Morse's house (the landlord) is a tavern, then this is a tavern in my +book. He cared little how it was spelled; if it did not spell tavern, +"_it ought to_," he thought. Children believe what they _see_, more than +what they hear. What they lack in reason and judgment, they make up in +eyes. So Nat had seen the _tavern_ near his father's house, again and +again, and he had stopped to look at the sign in front of it a great +many times, and his eyes told him it was just like that in the book; +therefore it was his deliberate opinion that i-double n spelt tavern, +and he was not to be beaten out of an opinion that was based on such +clear evidence. It was a good sign in Nat. It is a characteristic of +nearly every person who lives to make a mark upon the world. It was true +of the three men, to whom we have just referred, Bowditch, Davy, and +Buxton. From their childhood they thought for themselves, so that when +they became men, they defended their opinions against imposing +opposition. True, a youth must not be too forward in advancing his +ideas, especially if they do not harmonize with those of older persons. +Self-esteem and self-confidence should be guarded against. Still, in +avoiding these evils, he is not obliged to believe any thing just +because he is told so. It is better for him to understand the reason of +things, and believe them on that account. + +But to return to Ben Drake. To Nat's last remark he replied, endeavoring +to ridicule him for undertaking an enterprise on so small a scale, + +"If I was going to work at all, I wouldn't putter over a few hills of +squashes, I can tell you. It is too small business. I'd do something or +nothing." + +"What great thing _would_ you do? asked Nat. + +"I would go into a store, and sell goods to ladies and gentlemen, and +wear nice clothes." + +"And be nothing but a waiter to everybody for awhile. Fred Jarvis is +only an errand-boy in Boston." + +"I know that, but _I_ wouldn't be a waiter for anybody, and do the +sweeping, making fires and carrying bundles; I don't believe in +'nigger's' work, though I think that is better than raising squashes." + +"I don't think it is small business at all to do what Fred Jarvis is +doing, or to raise squashes," replied Nat. "I didn't speak of Fred +because I thought he was doing something beneath him. I think that +'niggers' work is better than laziness;" and the last sentence was +uttered in a way that seemed rather personal to Ben. + +"Well," said Ben, as he cut short the conversation and hurried away, "if +you wish to be a bug-killer this summer, you may for all me, I shan't." + +Ben belonged to a class of boys who think it is beneath their dignity to +do some necessary and useful work. To carry bundles, work in a factory, +be nothing but a farmer's boy, or draw a hand-cart, is a compromise of +dignity, they think. Nat belonged to another class, who despise all such +ridiculous notions. He was willing to do any thing that was necessary, +though some people might think it was degrading. He did not feel above +useful employment, on the farm, or in the workshop and factory. And this +quality was a great help to him. For it is cousin to that hopefulness +which he possessed, and brother to his self-reliance and independence. +No man ever accomplished much who was afraid of doing work beneath his +dignity. Dr. Franklin was nothing but a soap-boiler when he commenced; +Roger Sherman was only a cobbler, and kept a book by his side on the +bench; Ben Jonson was a mason and worked at his trade, with a trowel in +one hand and a book in the other; John Hunter, the celebrated +physiologist, was once a carpenter, working at day labor; John Foster +was a weaver in his early life, and so was Dr. Livingstone, the +missionary traveller; an American President was a hewer of wood in his +youth, and hence he replied to a person who asked him what was his coat +of arms, "A pair of shirt sleeves;" Washington was a farmer's boy, not +ashamed to dirty his hands in cultivating the soil; John Opie, the +renowned English portrait painter, sawed wood for a living before he +became professor of painting in the Royal Academy; and hundreds of other +distinguished men commenced their career in business no more +respectable; but not one of them felt that dignity was compromised by +their humble vocation. They believed that honor crowned all the various +branches of industry, however discreditable they might appear to some, +and that disgrace would eventually attach to any one who did not act +well his part in the most popular pursuit. Like them, Nat was never +troubled with mortification on account of his poverty, or the humble +work he was called upon to do. His sympathies were rather inclined in +the other direction, and, other things being equal, the sons of the poor +and humble were full as likely to share his attentions. + +We are obliged to pass over much that belongs to the patch of +squashes--the many hours of hard toil that it cost Nat to bring the +plants to maturity,--the two-weeks' battle with the bugs when he showed +himself a thorough Napoleon to conquer the enemy,--the spicy compliments +he received for his industry and success in gardening,--the patient +waiting for the rain-drops to fall in dry weather, and for the sun to +shine forth in his glory when it was too wet,--the intimate acquaintance +he cultivated with every squash, knowing just their number and +size,--and many other things that show the boy. + +The harvest day arrived,--the squashes were ripe,--and a fine parcel of +them there was. Nat was satisfied with the fruit of his labor, as he +gathered them for the market. + +"What a pile of them!" exclaimed Frank, as he came over to see the +squashes after school. "You are a capital gardener, Nat; I don't believe +there is a finer lot of squashes in town." + +"Father says the bugs and dry weather couldn't hold out against my +perseverance," added Nat, laughing. "But the next thing is to sell +them." + +"Are you going to carry them to Boston?" asked Frank. + +"No; I shall sell them in the village. Next Saturday afternoon I shall +try my luck." + +"You will turn peddler then?" + +"Yes; but I don't think I shall like it so well as raising the squashes. +There is real satisfaction in seeing them grow." + +"If you can peddle as well as you can garden it, you will make a real +good hand at it; and such handsome squashes as those ought to go off +like hot cakes." + +Saturday afternoon came, and Nat started with his little cart full of +squashes. He was obliged to be his own horse, driver, and salesman, in +which threefold capacity he served with considerable ability. + +"Can I sell you some squashes to-day?" said Nat to the first neighbor on +whom he called. + +"Squashes! where did you find such fine squashes as those?" asked the +neighbor, coming up to the cart, and viewing the contents. + +"I raised them," said Nat; "and I have a good many more at home." + +"What! did you plant and hoe them, and take the whole care of them?" + +"Yes, sir; no one else struck a hoe into them, and I am to have all the +money they bring." + +"You deserve it, Nat, every cent of it. I declare, you beat me +completely; for the bugs eat mine all up, so that I did not raise a +decent squash. How did you keep the bugs off?" + +"I killed thousands of them," said Nat. "In the morning before I went to +school I looked over the vines; when I came home at noon I spent a few +moments in killing them, and again at night I did the same. They +troubled me only about two weeks." + +"Well, they troubled _me_ only two weeks," replied the neighbor, "and by +that time there was nothing left for them to trouble. But very few boys +like to work well enough to do what you have done, and very few have the +patience to do it either. With most of the boys it is all play and no +work. But what do you ask for your squashes?" + +Nat proceeded to answer: "That one is worth six cents; such a one as +that eight; that is ten; and a big one like that (holding up the +largest) is fifteen." + +The neighbor expressed his approval of the prices, and bought a number +of them, for which he paid him the money. Nat went on with his peddling +tour, calling at every house in his way; and he met with very good +success. Just as he turned the corner of a street on the north side of +the common, Ben Drake discovered him, and shouted, "Hurrah for the +squash-peddler! That is tall business, Nat; don't you feel grand? What +will you take for your horse?" + +[Illustration] + +Nat made no reply, but hastened on to the next house where he disposed +of all the squashes that he carried but two. He soon sold them, and +returned home to tell the story of his first peddling trip. Once or +twice afterwards he went on the same errand, and succeeded very well. +But he became weary of the business, for some reason, before he sold all +the squashes, and he hit upon this expedient to finish the work. + +"Sis," said he to a sister younger than himself, "I will give you one of +my pictures for every squash you will sell. You can carry three or four +at a time easy enough." + +Sis accepted the proposition with a good deal of pleasure; for she was +fond of drawings, and Nat had some very pretty ones. He possessed a +natural taste for drawing, and he had quite a collection of birds, +beasts, houses, trees, and other objects, drawn and laid away carefully +in a box. For a boy of his age, he was really quite an artist. His +squashes were not better than his drawings. His patience, perseverance, +industry, and self-reliance, made him successful both as a gardener and +artist. + +In a few days, "Sis" had sold the last squash, and received her pay, +according to the agreement. The sequel will show that peddling squashes +was the only enterprise which Nat undertook and failed to carry +through. His failure there is quite unaccountable, when you connect it +with every other part of his life. + +We are reminded that many men of mark commenced their career by +peddling. The great English merchant, Samuel Budgett, when he was about +ten years old, went out into the streets to sell a bird, in order that +he might get some funds to aid his poor mother. The first money that Dr. +Kitto obtained was the proceeds of the sale of _labels_, which he made +and peddled from shop to shop. One of the wealthiest men we know, a +Christian man distinguished for his large benevolence, commenced his +mercantile career by peddling goods that he carried in a band-box from +one milliner's shop to another. "You must creep before you can walk," is +an old maxim, and the lives of all distinguished men verify the proverb. +He who creeps well, will walk so much the better by and by; but he who +is ashamed to creep, must never expect to walk. We know a successful +merchant who commenced the work of an errand-boy in a large mercantile +house, when he was about twelve years old. He was not mortified to be +caught with a bundle in hand in the street, nor to be seen sweeping the +store. Not feeling above his business, he discharged his duties as well +as he could. When he swept he swept,--every nook and corner was +thoroughly cleaned out. When he carried a bundle, he carried +it,--nimbly, manfully, promptly, and politely he went and delivered it. +He performed these little things so well that he was soon promoted to a +more important post. Here, too, he was equally faithful and thorough, +and his employers saw that he possessed just the qualities to insure +success. They promoted him again; and before he was twenty years old he +was the head clerk of the establishment. He was not much past his +majority when he was admitted as a partner to the firm; and now he +stands at the head of the well-known house, a man of affluence, +intelligence, and distinction. Had he been ashamed to carry a bundle or +sweep a store when he was a boy, by this time his friends would have had +abundant reason to be ashamed of him. + +This chapter of Nat's early experience in squash culture, was quite +unimportant at the time. It is still only a memorial of _boyish_ days; +but it was a good beginning. It shows as clearly as the most +distinguished service he afterwards rendered to his fellow men, that +hopefulness, industry, perseverance, economy of time, self-reliance, and +other valuable traits, were elements of his character. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +UPWARD AND ONWARD. + + +It was winter,--about three months after the sale of the squashes. The +district school was in progress, and a male teacher presided over it. + +"Scholars," said the teacher one day, "it is both pleasant and +profitable to have an occasional declamation and dialogue spoken in +school. It will add interest, also, to our spelling-school exercises in +the evening. Now who would like to participate in these exercises?" + +Nat was on his feet in a moment; for he was always ready to declaim, or +perform his part of a dialogue. The teacher smiled to see such a little +fellow respond so readily, and he said to Nat, + +"Did you ever speak a piece?" + +"Yes, sir, a good many times." + +"Do you like to declaim?" + +"Yes, sir, and speak dialogues too." + +"What piece did you ever speak?" + +"'My voice is still for war,'" replied Nat. + +"A great many boys have spoken that," added the teacher, amused at Nat's +hearty approval of the plan. + +"Will you select a piece to-night, and show it to me to-morrow morning?" +he asked. + +"Yes, sir; and learn it too," answered Nat. + +Only four or five scholars responded to the teacher's proposition, and +Frank Martin was one, Nat's "right hand man" in all studies and games. +The teacher arranged with each one for a piece, and the school was +dismissed. As soon as school was out. + +"Frank," said Nat, "will you speak 'ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND A +ROBBER' with me?" + +"Yes, if the teacher is willing. Which part will you take?" + +"The 'robber,' if you are willing to be great Alexander." + +Frank agreed to the proposition, and as the dialogue was in Pierpont's +First Class Book, which was used in school, they turned to it, and +showed it to the teacher before he left the school-house. It was +arranged that they should speak it on the next day, provided they could +commit it in so short a time. + +"Going to speak a dialogue to-morrow," said Nat to his mother, as he +went into the house. + +"What are you going to speak?" + +"Alexander the Great and a Robber," replied Nat. "And I shall be the +robber, and Frank will be Alexander." + +"Why do you choose to be the robber?" inquired his mother. "I hope you +have no inclination that way." + +"I like that part," replied Nat, "because the robber shows that the king +is as much of a robber as himself. The king looks down upon him with +scorn, and calls him a robber; and then the robber tells the king that +he has made war upon people, and robbed them of their property, homes, +and wives and children, so that he is a worse robber than himself. The +king hardly knows what to say, and the last thing the robber says to him +is, 'I believe neither you nor I shall ever atone to the world for half +the mischief we have done it.' Then the king orders his chains to be +taken off, and says, 'Are we then so much alike? Alexander like a +robber?'" + +"That is a very good reason, I think, for liking that part," said his +mother. "Many people do not stop to think that the great can be guilty +of crimes. They honor a king or president whether he has any principle +or not." + +"That is what I like to see exposed in the dialogue," said Nat. "It is +just as bad for a king to rob a person of all he has, in war, as it is +for a robber to do it at midnight." + +Nat always felt strongly upon this point. He very early learned that +rich men, and those occupying posts of honor, were thought more of by +many people, whether they were deserving or not, and it seemed to him +wrong. He thought that one good boy ought to stand just as high as +another, though his parents were poor and humble, and that every man +should bear the guilt of his own deeds whether he be king or servant. +Out of this feeling grew his interest in the aforesaid dialogue, and he +was willing to take the place of the robber for the sake of the pleasure +of "showing up" the king. It was this kind of feeling that caused him to +sympathize, even when a boy, with objects of distress and suffering,--to +look with pity upon those who experienced misfortune, or suffered +reproach unjustly. It was not strange that he became a professed +Democrat in his youth, as we shall see; for how could such a democratic +little fellow be other than a true Jeffersonian Democrat? + +Nat's part of the dialogue was committed on that evening before eight +o'clock. He could commit a piece very quick, for he learned any thing +easily. He could repeat many of the lessons of his reading book, word +for word. His class had read them over a number of times, so that he +could repeat them readily. At the appointed time, on the next afternoon, +both Nat and Frank were ready to perform. + +"I have the pleasure this afternoon," said the teacher, "to announce a +dialogue by two of the boys who volunteered yesterday. Now if they shall +say it without being prompted, you will all concede that they have done +nobly to commit it so quickly Let us have it perfectly still. The title +of the dialogue is 'Alexander the Great and a Robber.' Now boys, we are +ready." + +Frank commenced in a loud, pompous, defiant tone, that was really +Alexander-like. It was evident from the time he uttered the first +sentence that, if he could not be "Alexander the Great," he could be +Alexander the Little. + +Nat responded, and performed his part with an earnestness of soul, a +power of imitation, and a degree of eloquence that surprised the +teacher. The scholars were not so much surprised because they had heard +him before, but it was the first time the teacher had seen him perform. + +"Very well done," said the teacher, as they took their seats. "There +could not be much improvement upon that. You may repeat the dialogue at +the spelling-school on Friday evening; and I hope both of you will have +declamations next week." + +"_I_ will, sir," said Nat. + +The teacher found a reluctance among the boys to speak, and one of them +said to him, + +"If I could speak as well as Nat, I would do it." + +This remark caused him to think that Nat's superiority in these +rhetorical exercises might dishearten some of his pupils; and the next +time he introduced the subject to the school, he took occasion to +remark, + +"Some of our best orators were very poor speakers when they began to +declaim in boyhood. It is not certain that a lad who does not acquit +himself very well in this exercise at first, will not make a good orator +at last. Demosthenes, who was the most gifted orator of antiquity, had +an impediment in his speech in early life. But he determined to overcome +it, and be an orator in spite of it. He tried various expedients, and +finally went to a cave daily, on the sea-shore, where, with +pebble-stones in his mouth, he declaimed, until the impediment was +removed. By patience and perseverance he became a renowned orator. It +was somewhat so, too, with Daniel Webster, whom you all know as the +greatest orator of our land and times. The first time he went upon the +stage to speak, he was so frightened that he could not recall the first +line of his piece. The second time he did not do much better; and it was +not until he had made several attempts, that he was able to get through +a piece tolerably well. But a strong determination and persevering +endeavors, finally gave him success." + +In the course of the winter Nat spoke a number of pieces, among which +were "Marco Bozzaris," "Speech of Catiline before the Roman Senate on +Hearing his Sentence of Banishment," and "Dialogue from Macbeth," in all +of which he gained himself honor. His taste seemed to prefer those +pieces in which strength and power unite. At ten and twelve years of +age, he selected such declamations and dialogues as boys generally do at +the age of sixteen or eighteen years. It was not unusual for the teacher +to say, when visitors were in school, + +"Come, Master ---- [Nat], can you give us a declamation?" and Nat was +never known to refuse. He always had one at his tongue's end, which +would roll off, at his bidding, as easily as thread unwinds from a +spool. + +About this time there was some complaint among the scholars in Nat's +arithmetic class, and Samuel Drake persuaded one of the older boys to +write a petition to the teacher for shorter lessons. This Samuel Drake +was a brother of Ben, a bad boy, as we shall see hereafter, known in the +community as Sam. When the petition was written, Sam signed it, and one +or two other boys did the same; but when he presented it to Nat, the +latter said, + +"What should I sign that for? The lessons are not so long as I should +like to have them. Do you study them any in the evening?" + +"Study in the evening!" exclaimed Sam. "I am not so big a fool as that. +It is bad enough to study in school." + +"I study evenings," added Nat, "and you are as able to study as I am. +The lessons would be too long for me if I didn't study any." + +"And so you don't mean to sign this petition?" inquired Sam. + +"Of course I don't," replied Nat. "If the lessons are not too long, +there is no reason why I should petition to have them shorter." + +"You can sign it for our sakes," pleaded Sam. + +"Not if I think you had better study them as they are." + +"Go to grass then," said Sam, becoming angry, "we can get along without +a squash peddler, I'd have you know. You think you are of mighty +consequence, and after you have killed a few more bugs perhaps you will +be." + +"I won't sign your petition," said Frank, touched to the quick by this +abuse of Nat. + +"Nor I," exclaimed Charlie Stone, another intimate associate of Nat's, +and a good scholar too. + +Nat was sensitive to ridicule when it proceeded from certain persons, +but he did not care much for it when its author was Sam Drake, a boy +whom every teacher found dull and troublesome. He replied, however, in a +pleasant though sarcastic manner, addressing his remark to Frank and +Charlie, + +"Sam is so brilliant that he expects to get along without study. He will +be governor yet." + +Sam did not relish this thrust very much, but before he had a chance to +reply, Frank added, "I suppose you will make a speech, Sam, when you +present your petition." All laughed heartily at this point, and turned +away, leaving Sam to bite his lips and cogitate. + +Sam was certainly in a predicament. He had several signers to his +petition, but they were all the lazy, backward scholars, and he knew it. +To send a petition to the teacher with these signatures alone, he knew +would be little less than an insult. If Nat, Frank, and Charlie, would +have signed it, he would not have hesitated. As it was, he did not dare +to present it, so the petition movement died because it couldn't live. + +The teacher, however, heard of the movement, and some days thereafter, +thinking that his dull scholars might need a word of encouragement, he +embraced a favorable opportunity to make the following remarks:-- + +"It is not always the case that the brightest scholars in boyhood make +the most useful or learned men. There are many examples of distinguished +men, who were very backward scholars in youth. The great philosopher +Newton was one of the dullest scholars in school when he was twelve +years old. Doctor Isaac Barrow was such a dull, pugnacious, stupid +fellow, that his father was heard to say, if it pleased God to remove +any one of his children by death, he hoped it would be Isaac. The father +of Doctor Adam Clarke, the commentator, called his boy 'a grievous +dunce.' Cortina, a renowned painter, was nicknamed, by his associates, +'Ass' Head,' on account of his stupidity, when a boy. When the mother of +Sheridan once went with him to the school-room, she told the teacher +that he was 'an incorrigible dunce,' and the latter was soon compelled +to believe her. One teacher sent Chatterton home to his mother as 'a +fool of whom nothing could be made.' Napoleon and Wellington were both +backward scholars. And Sir Walter Scott was named the 'The Great +Blockhead' at school. But some of these men, at a certain period of +youth, changed their course of living, and began to apply themselves +with great earnestness and assiduity to the acquisition of knowledge, +while others, though naturally dull, improved their opportunities from +the beginning, and all became renowned. No one of them advanced without +close application. It was by their own persevering efforts that they +finally triumphed over all difficulties. So it must be with yourselves. +The dullest scholar in this room may distinguish himself by application +and dint of perseverance, while the brightest may fail of success, by +wasting his time and trusting to his genius. The motto of every youth +should be 'UPWARD AND ONWARD.'" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SATURDAY AFTERNOON. + + +The bright summer-time had come again, when the sweet-scented blossoms +beautified the gardens, and the forming fruits gave promise of a rich +golden harvest. The school-bell sent out its merry call to the laughing +children, and scores of them daily went up to the temple of knowledge +for improvement. Saturday afternoon was a season of recreation, when the +pupils, released from school, engaged in various sports, or performed +some light labor for their parents. + +On a certain Saturday afternoon, Nat, Charlie, Frank, and one or two +other boys, arranged for a "good time" at the house of one of the +number. They were all there promptly at the appointed time, together +with Frank's little dog Trip--a genuine favorite with all the boys who +had any regard for dog-brightness and amiability. + +"Look here, Frank, has Trip forgot how to play hy-spy?" asked Charlie. + +"No; he will play it about as well as _you_ can. Let us try it." + +"You can't learn him to touch the goal, can you?" inquired another boy. + +"No," replied Frank; "but I expect he will before he takes his degree. +He is nothing but a Freshman now." + +"Did he ever petition you for shorter lessons?" asked Nat. + +Charlie and Frank laughed; for they thought of Sam Drake's petition at +the winter school. + +"Never," answered Frank; "but he has asked me for longer ones a great +many times. He never gets enough at any sport. He will play 'hide and +seek' or 'ball' as long as you will want to have him, and then wag his +tail for more." + +Trip sat by looking wistfully up into his little master's face as if he +perfectly understood the praise that was lavished upon him, and was +patiently waiting to give an exhibition of his skill in athletic games. + +"Let us try his skill," said Charlie. "Come, Frank, give him his post." + +"Here, Trip," said Frank, "come here; nice fellow,--does want to play +'hide and seek;' so he shall;" and he patted him on his head, for which +kindness Trip voted him thanks as well as he could. + +"Now, boys, we'll all run and hide, and Trip will find us in short +metre." + +Off they started, some round the barn and house, and some over the wall, +while Trip stood wagging his tail, in the spot assigned him. At length a +loud shrill "whoop," "whoop," "whoop," one after another, saluted Trip's +ears, and off he ran to find them. Bounding over the wall, he came right +upon Charlie, who laughed heartily at the result, while Trip extended +his researches round the barn, where he discovered Nat under a pile of +boards, and one or two of the other boys. When they all returned to the +goal, Trip perceived that his master was not found, and off he bounded a +second time. + +"Sure enough," exclaimed Charlie, "he knows that Frank is not here, and +he has gone to find him. Isn't he a knowing dog?" + +"I don't believe he will find him," said Nat, "for he is up on a beam in +the shed." + +Nat had scarcely uttered these words, before a shout from Frank and a +bark from Trip announced that the former was discovered. + +"There," said Frank, as he came up to the goal with Trip skipping and +jumping at his side, "wasn't that well done? I told you he would find +you, and none of us could do it quicker." + +"Let us try it again," said one of the boys, "I guess I'll puzzle him +this time." + +Again they all sought hiding-places, while Trip waited at the goal for +the well-known signal--"whoop;" "whoop;" "whoop." None of the boys knew +the meaning of this better than he, although he was only a dog. + +Soon the signal was given, and away went Trip in high glee. Over the +wall--around the barn--into the shed--back of the house--behind the +woodpile--under the boards--here and there--he ran until every boy was +found. Again and again the experiment was tried, and Trip won fresh +laurels every time. + +"You've torn your pants, Nat," said Frank. + +"I know it. I did it getting over the fence. I haven't done such a thing +before, I don't know when." + +While exhausting "hy-spy" of its fun, Sylvester Jones came along with a +bit of news. + +"Going to court, Nat?" he inquired. + +"Going where?" replied Nat, not understanding him. + +"_To court_! They have taken up Harry Gould and Tom Ryder, and the court +is coming off at the hall." + +"What have they taken Harry and Tom for?" asked Nat, becoming deeply +interested in the event. + +"I don't know exactly; but it is something about disturbing the +exhibition." + +The facts in the case were these. There was an exhibition in the hall +owned by the manufacturing company, and these two boys climbed up on the +piazza and looked into the window, thereby disturbing the exercises. An +action was brought against them, and they were to be tried before a +justice of the town. + +"It is too bad," replied Nat, "to take up such little boys for +_that_--they didn't know any better. What will be done with them, do you +expect?" + +"Perhaps they will send them to jail. Father says it is a serious matter +to disturb a meeting of any kind." + +"Yes," replied Nat, "it is a mean act in anybody, but I don't believe +that Harry and Tom understood it. It will be too bad to send them to +prison for that. Perhaps they would never do such a thing again." + +"Come," added Sylvester, "let us go to the trial and see. They have +begun before this time." + + +Nat's sympathies were intensely wrought upon by these tidings; for Harry +and Tom were among his school-fellows. The idea of trying such little +boys in a court of justice excited him very much. He forgot all about +the games projected and the rent in his pantaloons, and seizing his cap, +he said to Frank, + +"Will _you_ go?" + +"Yes, I've played about enough," answered Frank. "I would like to go to +a court." + +The boys hurried away to the hall; and they found that the court had +opened, and that the room was well filled with people. Nat edged his way +along through the crowd until he found himself directly in front of the +table where the justice sat. Sure enough, there the two young prisoners +were, Harry and Tom, looking as if they were half frightened out of +their wits. How Nat pitied them! It seemed strange to him that men could +deal thus with boys so small. He listened to the examination, of +witnesses with great emotion, and watched Harry and Tom so closely that +he could read their very thoughts. He knew just how badly they felt, and +that if they could get clear this time, they never would be caught in +such wrong-doing again. + +"Were you present at the exhibition?" inquired the justice of one of the +witnesses. + +"I was," he answered. + +"Did the prisoners disturb the exercise?" + +"They did." + +"How do you know that Harry and Tom were the boys?" + +"Because I went out to send them away, and found them on the piazza." + +"Did you speak to them, and call them by name, so that you could not be +mistaken?" + +"I did, and they responded to their names." + +"Then you can swear that these two boys, the prisoners, disturbed the +meeting?" + +"Yes, I am positive of it." + +Two or three other witnesses were examined, when the justice said, + +"It appears to be a clear case, boys, that you are guilty of the charges +alleged against you. You are very young to begin to disturb the public +peace. Even if it was nothing but thoughtlessness, boys are getting to +be so rude, that it is high time some check was put upon their mischief. +Now, boys, have you any thing to say for yourselves?" + +Harry and Tom were more frightened than ever, and Nat could see them +struggle to keep from crying outright. + +"Have you any one to speak for you?" asked the justice. + +Nat could withstand it no longer, and he stepped forward, with his cap +in his hand, his bright eyes beaming with sympathy for the prisoners, +and said, + +"Please, sir, I will speak for them, if you are willing," and without +waiting for the justice to reply, he proceeded: + +"Harry and Tom would never do the like again. They knew it was wrong for +them to disturb the exhibition, but they didn't think. They _will_ think +next time. I know they feel sorry now for what they have done, and will +try to be good boys hereafter. Can you not try them, if they will +promise? This is the first time they have done so, and they +will promise, I know they will (turning to the boys), won't you, Tom?" + +[Illustration] + +The boys both nodded assent, and the justice looked pleased, astonished, +and not a little puzzled. It was really a scene for the artist, Nat +standing before the court with cap in hand, and his pantaloons torn in +the play of the afternoon, his heart so moved with pity for the juvenile +offenders that he almost forgot where he was, making a touching plea for +the boys, as if their destiny depended upon his own exertions. The hall +was so still that the fall of a pin might be heard while Nat was +pleading the case. Everybody was taken by surprise. They could hardly +believe their senses. + +"Their brother," answered one man, in reply to the inquiry, "Who is that +lad?" He did not know himself, but he thought that possibly a brother +might plead thus for them. + +The justice was not long in deciding the case, after such a plea. He +simply reprimanded the two boys, gave them some wholesome counsel, and +discharged them, much to the gratification of Nat, and many others. + +"That was the youngest lawyer I ever heard plead a case," said Mr. +Payson, after the court adjourned. + +"The most impudent one, _I_ think," replied Mr. Sayles, to whom the +remark was addressed. "If I had been in the place of the justice, I +would have kicked him out of the hall. Little upstart! to come in there, +and presume to speak in behalf of two reckless boys!" + +"You misjudge the boy entirely, Mr. Sayles. There is nothing of the +'upstart' about Nat. He is a good boy, a good scholar, and very amiable +indeed. The neighbors will all tell you so. It was his sincere pity for +the boys that led him to plead for them. He did not mean to conceal +their guilt, but he thought, as _I_ do, that such small boys better be +reproved and tried again, before they suffer the penalty of the law." + +"I hope it is so," replied Mr. S. + +"I _know_ it is so," continued Mr. P. "Nat is very kind and +sympathizing, and he cannot endure to see a dog abused. It might seem +bold and unmannerly for him to address the court as he did, but Nat is +not such a boy. He is very mannerly for one of his age, and nothing but +his deep pity for Harry and Tom induced him to speak. The act has +elevated him considerably in my estimation, though I thought well of him +before." + +Mr. Payson took the right view of the matter. In addition to his +sympathy for his school-fellows, Nat felt that it was hardly right to +take those little boys before a court for the offence charged, since +they were not vagrants, and were not known as bad boys. If Ben and Sam +Drake had been there instead of Harry and Tom, he would not have +volunteered a plea to save them from the clutches of the law. But he +felt that it was dealing too severely with them, and this emboldened +him, so that when he witnessed the distress of the boys, and saw them +try to conceal their emotions, his heart overflowed with pity for them, +and forced him to speak. + +If we knew nothing more of Nat, this single act would lead us to +anticipate that, in later life, he would espouse the cause of the +oppressed in every land, and lift his voice and use his pen in defence +of human rights. At the age of ten or twelve years, John Howard, the +philanthropist, was not distinguished above the mass of boys around him, +except for the kindness of his heart, and boyish deeds of benevolence. +It was so with Wilberforce, whose efforts in the cause of British +emancipation gave him a world-wide fame. Every form of suffering, +misfortune, or injustice, touched his young heart, and called forth some +expression of tender interest. Carefully he would lay off his shoes at +the door of a sick chamber, and often divide a small coin, received as a +present, between his own wants and some poor child or man he chanced to +meet. And Buxton, whose self-sacrificing spirit in behalf of suffering +humanity is everywhere known, was early observed by his mother to +sympathize with the down-trodden and unfortunate, and she sought to +nurture and develop this feeling as a hopeful element of character. +When his fame was at its zenith, he wrote to his mother, "I constantly +feel, especially in action and exertion for others, the effects of +principles early implanted by you in my mind." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE WILD CHERRIES + + +Nat, Charlie, and Frank planned a pleasure excursion one Saturday +afternoon, when cherries were in their prime. They did not even think of +the cherries, however, when they planned the trip. They thought more of +the fields and forests through which they proposed to go. But just at +this point one of their associates came up, and said, + +"Let us go over beyond Capt. Pratt's and get some cherries. There is a +large tree there, and it hangs full." + +"Yes; and have the owner in your hair," answered Charlie. + +"No, no," replied John, the name of the boy who made the proposition. +"They are _wild_ cherries, a half a mile from any house, and of course +the owner considers them common property. I have got cherries there a +number of times." + +"That is no evidence you didn't steal them," said Nat, half laughing. + +"If you do no worse stealing than that," answered John, "you will not be +sent to jail this week." + +It was therefore agreed, that the cherry-tree should be visited, even if +they allowed the cherries to remain unmolested. Without further +discussion they proceeded to execute their purpose, and lost no time in +finding the famous tree. John's glowing description of the crop had +caused their mouths to water long before they came in sight of them. + +"John is hoaxing us," said Nat, smiling, before they were half way +there. "I don't believe as good cherries as he tells about ever grow +wild." + +"Wait and see," responded John. "If you won't believe _me_, I guess you +will your eyes. Wild or not wild, I hardly think you will keep your +hands off, when you have a peak at them." + +"I tell you what it is, Nat," said Frank, "if it should turn out that +the cherries are tame, you might not get off so easy as Harry and Tom +did for disturbing the exhibition." + +"I shouldn't deserve to," answered Nat. + +The conversation kept up briskly as the boys crossed the fields and +scaled the walls and fences. At length they came in sight of the tree, +standing apart from any garden, nursery, or orchard, a full half mile +from the nearest house. + +"There it is," said John, pointing to it. "If that is not a wild +cherry-tree, then _no_ tree is wild." + +"I should think it would be as wild as the beasts, so far from any +house," added Frank. + +They were surprised, on approaching the tree, to find it loaded with +cherries of so nice a quality. They were much larger than the common +wild cherries, a sort of "mazards," similar to the kind that is +cultivated in gardens. + +"That is not a wild-cherry tree, I know," said Charlie. "It may have +come up here, but the owner of this land would never fail to gather such +cherries as these. They would sell for ninepence a quart in the village +as quick as any cherries." + +"I think so too," said Nat; "and if we strip the tree, the first thing +we shall know, the constable will have us up for stealing." + +"Pshaw!" exclaimed John. "You are more scared than hurt. I don't mean +that these cherries are not like some that grow in gardens; but the tree +came up here of itself--nobody ever set it out--and so it is wild; and +why are not the cherries common property as much as that smaller kind +which people get over there by the river?" + +This last argument of John was more convincing. All the boys knew that +anybody gathered the common wild cherries from trees that grew much +nearer dwelling-houses than this, so that there was some force in John's +last suggestion. + +"If John _is_ right," added Nat, "it is best to be on the safe side, and +ask leave of the owner. If he does not mean to pick the cherries, he +will be willing that we should have them; and if he does want them, he +will put us into the lock-up for stealing them." + +"Who is going half a mile to find the owner?" said John, "and then +perhaps he will be away from home. I shall not run my legs off upon any +such Tom Fool's errand. If you are a mind to do it, I have no +objections, and I will pick the cherries while you are gone." + +The matter was discussed a little longer, and finally all concluded to +try the cherries. It required a pretty forcible argument to stand +against the appeal of the luscious fruit to their eyes. Into the tree +they went, and, in due time filled their caps with the tempting fruit. +Having loaded their caps, they descended and set them on the ground +under the tree, and then returned to fill their stomachs. + +"Hark!" said Frank hurriedly, "do I not hear some one calling?" + +"Yes," answered John, from the top of the tree, where he was regaling +himself with the dessert, "true as I am alive, there is the owner coming +full speed, and yelling like a good one. Let us clear." + +They all dropped upon the ground instantly, and bounded over the nearest +wall like frightened sheep, and soon were seen scampering a hundred +rods off. + +"There, now, if that isn't smart," exclaimed Nat; "we've left our caps +under the tree, Frank." + +John set to laughing to see the two capless boys; and he was more +inclined to laugh because Charlie and himself had presence of mind +enough to take theirs. + +"If it was you, John, I shouldn't care a snap," said Frank. "You led the +way, and made us believe that they were wild cherries, and I wish your +cap was there." + +John could only laugh, in reply, at his bareheaded companions. + +"I don't see why we should run at all," said Nat, just apprehending the +folly of their course. "We are not thieves,--we didn't mean to steal. We +shouldn't have taken the cherries if we had known, the owner wanted +them." + +"What can we do without our hats?" asked Frank. + +"I shall go and get mine," answered Nat, "and tell the man just as it +was, and, if he is reasonable he will overlook it." + +"I am beat now," exclaimed John; "the old fellow is certainly carrying +off your caps." + +The boys looked, and to their amazement, the man was returning to his +house with the caps. Nat and Frank were more perplexed than ever. + +"Never mind," said John; "you are both big enough to go bareheaded. What +will you take for your caps?" and again he laughed at their predicament. + +"What shall we do?" inquired Frank. + +"Go to his house and get the caps, of course," said Nat. "The caps won't +come to us that is certain." + +"What will you tell the man?" + +"Tell him the truth," replied Nat, "and it ought to get our caps, and +shield us from punishment." + +"Perhaps he is a crabbed fellow who will show us no favors; and he will +say that our running away is evidence of our guilt." + +"We were fools to run," said Nat; "and if I had stopped to think one +moment I should have stayed there, and explained it to him." + +Finally, it was decided that Nat and Frank should go after their caps, +on which errand they started at once, while John and Charlie proceeded +homeward. In the mean time the owner of the tree had reached his house +very much amused at the flight of the capless boys. He was somewhat +angry when he first saw the boys in his tree, but the possession of the +two caps well filled with cherries modified his wrath considerably. It +would take him two hours to pick that quantity of fruit. "Surely," he +thought, "the boys have beaten the bush and I have caught the birds." + +"You must go to the door and explain it," said Frank to Nat. + +"I am going to, and convince him that we did did not mean to steal." + +Nat gave a gentle rap at the door, to which a lady at once responded. + +"Can we see the man who has our caps?" inquired Nat. + +"I will see," she replied very kindly, and stepped back into the house +to call her husband. He made his appearance promptly; and looked so much +more pleasant than Nat expected, that he was very much emboldened. + +"What is wanted, boys?" he asked. + +"We have come," replied Nat, "to tell how it happened that we got your +cherries, and to get our caps." + +"I suppose it happened very much as it does every year with those +cherries," said the man,--"the boys steal them." + +"No, sir; I think I can convince you that we did not mean to steal. We +thought they were wild cherries. John came along and told us about them, +and we did not believe they were wild. Finally we consented to go and +see, and when we got to the tree, we told him that the owner of such +nice cherries would want them, and I told him that the best way would be +to come and ask you, for if you did not want them, you would certainly +give us permission to pick them. But he laughed at us, and said the +tree was much further from any house than the wild cherries that any +person gets down by the river, and therefore the cherries must be common +property. We thought he was right, when he told us this, and so we went +up into the tree." + +"But why did you run when you saw me coming, if you did not mean to +steal them?" he asked. + +"I run, sir, because I did not stop to think. I told Frank, as soon as +we stopped running, that we were very foolish, because we did not mean +to steal, and I was sorry that we did run. But we were so surprised when +we saw you coming that we ran before we thought. I don't think we did +right, sir, though we did not mean to steal. It would have been better +for us to have come and asked you for the cherries as I told John. Now +we would like our caps, but we want you to be convinced first that we +are not thieves." + +"I _am_ convinced," replied the man. "I guess you mean to be honest +boys, and you shall have your caps." + +The fact was, the man was much impressed with the sincerity and honesty +of Nat before he got half through his explanation. He admired his +frankness, and his manly, straight-forward way of telling his story. He +went into the house and brought out the caps, just as he took them from +the ground, full of cherries, and gave them caps, cherries, and all. + +"You don't mean we shall have the cherries, do you?" inquired Nat. + +"Certainly, you have worked hard enough for them," he replied. "And I +like to see boys willing to own up when they do wrong. I don't think +_you_ meant to do wrong; but I am glad to see you make a clean breast of +it, and not be so mean as to equivocate, and lie, to get out of a +scrape. Boys always fare the best when they are truthful, and try to do +right." + +"We are much obliged to you," said Nat. "You will never catch us on your +cherry-tree again without permission." + +Having pocketed the cherries, they put on their caps, and hastened home, +quite thoroughly convinced that all cherries which grow a half mile from +any house are not wild. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ATHLETIC SPORTS. + + +"A swim to-night," shouted John to Frank, on his way home from school. +"All hands be there." + +"Will you come, Nat?" inquired Frank. + +"Yes; and swim three rods under water," was Nat's reply. + +At this period of Nat's boyhood, there was almost a passion among the +boys for athletic sports, such as swimming, jumping, running, +ball-playing, and kindred amusements. For some time they had received +special attention, and no one of the boys enjoyed them more than Nat. It +was one of the principles on which he lived, to do with all his heart +whatever he undertook. In the school-room, he studied with a keen relish +for knowledge, and on the play-ground he played with equal gusto. If he +had work to do it was attended to at once, and thoroughly finished in +the shortest possible time. In this way he engaged in athletic sports. + +An hour before sunset, a dozen or more boys were at "the bathing place." + +"Now, Nat, for your three rods under water," said Frank. "If I was half +as long-winded as you are, I should keep company with the fishes pretty +often." + +"He swam more than three rods under water the other day," said Charlie. +"I shouldn't want to risk myself so long out of sight. Suppose the cramp +should seize you, Nat, I guess you'd like to see the dry land." + +"You must remember," suggested John, who was usually ready to turn +things over, and look at the funny side, "that doctors won't wade into +the water after their patients." + +One after another the boys plunged into the water, as if it were their +native element. Most of them had practised swimming, diving, and other +feats, until they were adepts in these water-arts. Some of them could +swim a surprising distance, and feared not to venture a long way from +the shore. Frank was very skilful in performing these water feats, but +even he could not equal Nat. + +"Now for a swim under water," exclaimed Nat, as he disappeared from the +view of his companions. All stopped their sports to watch Nat, and see +where he would make his appearance. Not a word was spoken as they gazed +with breathless interest, and waited to see him rise. + +"He's drowned," cried one of the boys. + +"No, no," responded Frank. "We shall see him in a moment," and yet Frank +began to fear. + +"I tell you he _is_ drowned," shouted John, much excited. By this time +there was a good deal of consternation among the boys, and some of them +were running out of the water. A man who was watching on the shore, was +actually stripping his coat off to make a plunge for Nat, when up he +came. + +"He is safe," shouted half a dozen voices, and the welkin rang with +cheer after cheer. + +"There, young man, better not try that again," said the gentleman on the +shore, as Nat swum around in that direction. + +"That was more than three rods," said Frank. + +"And more than four," added Charlie. "You beat yourself this time, Nat. +You never swam so far under water before. We thought you were drowned." + +"There is no use in trying to beat _you_," continued Frank. "If you had +gills you would be a regular fish." + +Everybody in the village heard of Nat's swimming feats under water, as +well as on the water, and it was not unusual for spectators to assemble +on the shore, when they knew that he was going to bathe. + +Not far from this time, a little later in the year perhaps, there was to +be a special game of ball on Saturday afternoon. Ball-playing was one +of the favorite games with the boys, and some of them were remarkable +players. When the time arrived it was decided that John and Charlie +should choose sides, and it fell to the latter to make the first choice. + +"I choose Nat," said he. + +"I'll take Frank," said John. + +It was usually the case that Nat and Frank were pitted against each +other in this amusement. Nat was considered the best player, so that he +was usually the first choice. Frank stood next, so that he was the +second choice. In this way they generally found themselves playing +against each other. It was so on this occasion. + +The game commenced, and John's side had the "ins." + +"You must catch," said Charlie to Nat. It was usually Nat's part to +catch. + +"And you must throw," responded Nat. "I can catch your balls best." + +The very first ball that was thrown, John missed, though he struck with +a well-aimed blow, as he thought, and Nat caught it. + +"That is too bad," was the exclamation heard on one side, and "good," +"capital," on the other. + +Charlie took the bat, and was fortunate in hitting the ball the first +time he struck. Now it was Nat's turn, and, with bat in hand, he took +his place. + +"Be sure and hit," said Charlie. + +"I should like to see a ball go by _him_ without getting a rap," +answered Frank, who was now the catcher. "The ball always seems to think +it is no use to try to pass him." + +"There, take that," said Nat, as he sent the ball, at his first bat, +over the heads of all, so far that he had time to run round the whole +circle of goals, turning a somerset as he came in. + +"A good beginning, Nat; let us see you do that again," said Frank. + +"When the time comes I'll give you a chance," replied Nat. + +We will not follow the game further, but simply say that, before it was +half through, quite a number of men, old and young, were attracted to +the place by the sport. + +"What a fine player for so young a boy," said one bystander to another, +as Nat added one after another to the tallies. + +"Yes; no one can excel him; he never plays second fiddle to anybody. He +will run faster, catch better, and hit the ball more times in ten, than +any other boy. I saw him jump the other day, and he surpassed any thing +I have seen of his age." + +"If that is not all he is good for, it is well enough," replied the +other. + +"He is just as good at studying or working, as he is at playing ball; +it seems to be a principle with him _to be the best_ in whatever he +undertakes. I was amused at his reply to one of the neighbors, who asked +him how he managed to swim better than any one else. 'It is just as easy +to swim well as poorly,' said he, and there is a good deal of truth in +the remark. At another time he said, 'one might as well run fast as +slow.'" + +"Does he appear to glory in his feats?" + +"Not at all. He does not seem to think there is much credit in being the +best at these games. One of the boys said to him one day, 'Nat, you +always get all the glory in our games.' He replied, 'I don't think there +is much glory in playing ball well. If that is all a person is good for, +he is not good for much.' He has very good ideas about such things." + +This was really a correct view of Nat's case. He enjoyed athletic sports +as much as any of the boys, and yet he actually felt that it was no +particular credit to him to be a good swimmer, jumper, runner, or +ball-player. He did not study to excel therein because he thought it was +honorable to beat every other boy in these things. But what he did, he +did with all his soul, and this is necessary to success. He had +confidence in his ability to succeed in what he undertook. When he first +went into the water, he knew he could learn to swim. When he took his +stand to catch the ball, he knew he could catch it. Others did these +things, and he could see no reason why he could not. He seemed to feel +as one of the Rothschilds did, who said, "I can do what another man +can." The same elements of character caused him to excel on the +play-ground, that enabled him to bear off the palm in the school-room. + +It is generally the case that a boy who does one thing well will do +another well also. Employers understand this, and choose those lads who +exhibit a disposition to be thorough. Said Samuel Budgett, "In whatever +calling a man is found, he ought to be the best in his calling; if only +a shoe-black, he ought to be the best shoe-black in the neighborhood." +He acted upon this principle himself from his boyhood; and so did Nat, +whether he was fully conscious of it or not. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the +great painter, said that his success resulted mainly from one principle +upon which he had acted, namely, "_to make every picture the best_." + +Buxton, of whom we have spoken already, had as much force of character +in his youth as almost any boy who ever lived. His determination was +invincible, and his energy and perseverance were equal to his +resolution. The consequence was that he became famous for boating, +shooting, riding, and all sorts of fieldsports, though he cared little +for any thing else. But when, at last, his attention was turned to +self-improvement and philanthropy, by the influence of the Gurney +family, he carried the same qualities with him there, and through them +won a world-wide fame. It was thus with Sir Walter Scott, who was second +to no one in his youth for his dexterity and proficiency in athletic, +games, and the various forms of recreation. He could "spear a salmon +with the best fisher on the Tweed, and ride a wild horse with any hunter +in Yarrow." The same energy and unconquerable will helped him achieve +that herculean labor afterwards, of paying off a debt of six hundred +thousand dollars, with his pen. The Duke of Wellington acknowledged the +same principle, when he said, as he stood watching the sports of boys on +the play-ground of Eton, where he spent his juvenile years, "It was +there that the battle of Waterloo was won." + +Twenty-five years after Nat bore off the palm in athletic games, an +early associate asked him to what he owed his success, and he answered, +in a vein of pleasantry, "To swimming under water." Whatever may have +been his meaning, it is not at all difficult to discover the same +elements of character in squash-raising, declamation, and arithmetic, +that appear in the games he played. + +His skill in the water served him a good purpose one day, or rather, it +served another boy well. Nat and two or three of his companions were at +play near the factory, when some one cried out, "A boy in the water!" + +In an instant Nat sprung, followed by his companions, and made for the +water, when lo! a little boy was seen struggling to keep from sinking. +He had carelessly ventured too near and fallen in, and must have +perished but for the timely aid thus rendered him. Nat plunged in after +him, and his play-fellows did the same, or brought rails, by which he +was saved. He proved to be Charlie's younger brother. + +This event made a deep impression upon Nat's mind, and he reflected upon +his act with far more satisfaction than he did upon his superiority in +swimming or playing ball. He had saved, or helped save, a lad from a +watery grave, and that was an act worth performing. He went home, and +after relating the incident with the greatest enthusiasm, he sat down +and drew a picture representing the scene. There was the water and +buildings near, a little boy struggling for life, and Nat and associates +plunging in after him. It was really a good representation of the +terrific scene; and Nat considered it quite an accession to his +collection of drawings. Thus he used this bit of experience to advance +himself in one branch of education. With his traits of character, he +could not excel in innocent games, without receiving an impulse +therefrom to excel in more important acquisitions. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A MISTAKE. + + +Stern Winter locked the streams again. A snowy mantle covered the hills +and valleys, and the bleak winds moaned through the naked trees. The +merry sleigh-bells jingled in the streets, and merrier lads and lasses +filled the village school-house. The skating grounds never presented +more attractions to Nat and his circle of schoolmates. + +"The ice is smooth as glass," said John. "I never saw better skating in +my life. Will you try it right after school?" + +These words were addressed to a group of school-boys at the afternoon +recess, to which all but two responded in the affirmative. It was a +snapping cold day, but youthful skaters mind nothing for that. + +"George and I have promised to see the teacher after school about +studying grammar," said Neander, "so that we can't go." + +"He wants to form a new class in grammar for beginners, and our parents +have told him that we must study it," said George. + +"I will sell you what _I_ know about it cheap, if you will go with us," +said John, who had studied grammar a short time. + +"I don't think he will be troubled to find use for as much as that," +said Charlie, jocosely. + +"You will find it dry as a chip," added John. "It fairly makes me +thirsty to study it." + +The bell rung, and the boys hurried to their seats. At the close of the +school, the teacher took occasion to say, "that some scholars were +desirous of beginning the study of grammar. I think there might be quite +a large class formed of those who are old enough to begin. It is a very +important science. It will teach you how to read and write the English +language correctly. You cannot write a good letter even without some +knowledge of this study. Those of you who are eleven or twelve years of +age ought to commence it at once. Now, those of you who would like to +join such a class may stop after the school is dismissed, and we will +make the arrangements." + +Three or four only remained--others passed out, Nat and Charlie among +them. They had never studied grammar, and the teacher really expected +they would remain. Their scholarship was so good that he inferred they +would desire to unite with such a class, but he was mistaken. + +"Shall you join the grammar class, Nat?" inquired Charlie, on their way +to the pond. + +"No; I think that other studies will be of more use to me. Grammar is a +good branch for rich men's sons, who can go to school as long as they +want to; but I am not a rich man's son, and I never expect to do any +thing that will require a knowledge of grammar." + +"That is my idea exactly," continued Charlie. "If I knew I should ever +go into a store, or be a town officer, I should want to study it." + +"According to the teacher's ideas, you will need it if you are nothing +more than a wood-sawyer's clerk," said John. + +"I didn't quite believe all the teacher said about writing letters," +added Nat. "I have heard father say that grammar was not studied at all +when _he_ went to school, and that it has been introduced into school +quite recently. Now I would like to know if people did not understand +how to write letters in those days. Couldn't Washington and Jefferson, +and other great men, write letters correctly?" + +"I never thought of that," said Charlie. "I would ask the teacher, if I +were in your place, to-morrow." + +"For one," said John, "I should be willing to run my risk, if I could +get rid of studying it. I can't make much out of it." + +"I have no doubt," added Nat, "that it is a good study for those who +will want to use it; but _I_(?) shall never want to use it, and it is +better for me to study something else. Arithmetic is useful to +everybody, if they never buy any thing but meat out of a butcher's +cart." + +By this time they had reached the pond, so that the subject of grammar +was dropped, and skating taken up. + +"I suppose you will bear off the palm as usual, Nat," said Frank, while +he was putting on his skates. + +"I don't know about that," replied Nat; "if a fellow can't skate some on +this glare ice, he better give his skates to somebody who can." + +Frank's remark was drawn out by the fact that Nat was already considered +the best skater in the village. He could skate more rapidly, and perform +more feats on his skates than any one else. His ability had been fully +tested again and again; and by this time there seemed to be a sort of +expectation among the boys that he would be "first best" in whatever he +undertook. For this reason they hardly attempted to compete with him, +but yielded the first place to him as a matter of course. + +Away went Nat up the pond, and Charlie exclaimed, + +"See him go! What a fellow Nat is! any thing he undertakes has to go. +See him skate now on one foot, and now he is skating backwards!" + +"And he does it just as easy as a boy knows his father," said John. + +For nearly an hour skating was enjoyed, when all concluded that their +suppers would be waiting, and so they separated for home. + +On the following day, soon after school began in the morning, the +teacher brought up the subject of a grammar class, evidently +dissatisfied that certain boys did not remain after school, on the +previous afternoon, to join it. He remarked "that there were several +boys in school, who might study grammar as well as not," and he went on +to call the names of some, and turning to Nat and Charlie, who sat +together, he said, "Both of you need to begin this study at once. It +would have been better if you had undertaken it before; but it is not +too late now. You will never regret it hereafter. I want both of you to +join the class," and he uttered the last sentence as if he meant it. + +Neither Nat nor Charlie made any reply at the time; but at recess they +went to the teacher and made known their feelings. + +"We never expect to do any thing that will require a knowledge of +grammar," said Nat. "It will do well enough for rich men's sons." + +"Perhaps both of you will be lawyers, ministers, legislators, or +governors yet," replied the teacher, smiling. "Poorer boys than you have +risen to occupy as important places, and the like may happen again." + +"None of the scholars like grammar," said Charlie; "they say it is dry +and uninteresting, and hard to understand." + +"If it is so," answered the teacher, "that is no reason why it should +not be studied. We have to do some very unpleasant things in this world. +If you live to become men, you will find that you cannot have every +thing to your taste. You will be obliged to do some things, from the +doing of which you would rather be excused. And as to your not expecting +to occupy stations in future life, where you will find a knowledge of +grammar useful, there is more prospect of it than there was that +Benjamin Franklin would become distinguished. He had not half so good +advantages as you have. His father was poor, and had a large family to +support. He was compelled to take Benjamin out of school, when ten years +old, and set him to making soap, which was not very popular business. +But the boy did as well as he could, and made improvement though +deprived of school advantages. Then he became a printer boy, and used +all his spare moments to read and study, so that he advanced more +rapidly than many of his companions did who continued in school. He +always had to work, and had much more reason than you have, when he was +of your age, to say that he should never occupy a position of influence. +Yet he became, as you know, one of the most learned men of his age, a +philosopher and statesman whose fame will never perish. And it was +somewhat so with Patrick Henry. Though he had better advantages than +Benjamin Franklin, and had a father who was able to assist him, yet no +one thought he would ever become distinguished. It was rather thought by +the people who knew him, that he would never accomplish much. Yet, when +he came to improve the small opportunities he had, after his father had +ceased to aid him, he rapidly advanced to fame. He became the most noted +orator of his day, and a very popular statesman. When he was twelve +years old, he had no idea of occupying such a place in manhood. He would +have laughed at the suggestion. There are many such examples; and they +show us that boys may rise to stations they never expect to hold, so +that your plea for not studying grammar is a poor one. At any rate, both +of you will have occasion to write letters, and perhaps you will be a +town clerk or justice. I shall insist upon your studying grammar." + +Nat and Charlie exchanged glances, as the teacher rung the bell for the +boys to come in. They saw that it was no use to hold out against his +wishes, for his last remark had settled the matter. Therefore they +reluctantly yielded to his request. + +This was the first instance in which Nat had exhibited any unwillingness +to take up a new study. But he had made up his mind that it would not be +of any use to him, so that he had little heart for the science. He +commenced it, and recited his lessons, though rather mechanically, +without clearly understanding them, at the same time excelling in +arithmetic, declamation, and other exercises that engaged his attention. +As his school days ended a few months after, his knowledge of grammar +was very limited indeed. The sequel will disclose whether he was not +finally convinced that the teacher was right, while he himself was +wrong, and whether the failure to improve even one small opportunity +does not become the occasion of future regret. + +"Well, Nat, how do you like grammar?" inquired John, some weeks +afterwards. + +"As well as I can," replied Nat. + +"So do I, and that isn't saying much. But I thought you was determined +not to study it." + +"I thought so too," replied Nat, "and you see what thought did." + +"I suppose you concluded that you would want to write letters to your +sweet-heart some time, and it would be a pity not to use the English +language with propriety in such a case." + +"I didn't think much about it; but when a boy can't do as he likes, +there is no way left but to do as he must, and that is my case." + +"I thought the teacher bore rather hard upon us," said Charlie, who had +been listening to the conversation. + +"Perhaps you will thank him for it when you get to be Dr. Franklin, +Jr.," answered Nat, in a jesting manner. + +"It can't be denied," interrupted John, "that the teacher is a great +grammarian. Didn't he put Sam into the objective case yesterday, when he +tumbled him head over heels out of his seat? If his action didn't pass +over to an object then, I won't guess again." + +"Sam looked as if he was convinced that the teacher was an active verb," +said Nat. "He found out that he was neither neuter nor passive." + +The subject of grammar became a frequent theme of remark during the +remainder of the term among the boys. None of them liked it very well, +so that poor grammar was slandered, and many a joke was cracked over it. + +It was during this term that Sam Drake allowed his mischief-making +propensity to exhibit itself in a cruel act, for which he was condemned +by nearly all beholders. The boys were returning from school one night, +when a well-known dog, belonging to a neighbor, came out to salute his +young master, one of the scholars. He was somewhat larger than Trip, and +a playful fellow, ready to frolic with the boys. + +"Come here, Spot," said Sam to the dog, "good fellow, can you run after +a stick to-night?" and he patted him upon his head, till the dog (who +was usually shy of Sam) seemed to think that he was a good friend. +"There, go and bring that to me," at the same time throwing a little +stick one or two rods. + +Spot obeyed at once, and brought back the stick, apparently conscious of +having performed his duty well. + +"What do you suppose he would do if I should tie my dinner pail to his +tail?" inquired Sam. + +"You shan't do it," cried two or three boys, none more loudly, however, +than Nat. + +"I _shall_ do it, if I am a mind to," replied Sam; and he proceeded to +take a string out of his pocket for this purpose. + +"You are too bad to do that," said John, trying to dissuade him from +doing it. + +"It seems to me that you all have a heap of pity just now," said Sam. + +"I wish _you_ had," responded Nat. + +"_You_ would get precious little of it, Mr. Squash-peddler, if I had," +answered Sam. "The dog is none of your relations, and you needn't +trouble yourself about him." + +Ben Drake, ere this, had turned to aid Sam in executing his purpose, and +the pail was actually tied to Spot's tail before this conversation +closed. + +"Take off the cover," said Ben, and no quicker said than done; whereupon +Spot ran yelping down the street, the tin pail rattling behind him so +as to frighten him beyond measure. The faster he ran, the more the pail +rattled, and the more terrified the dog was. Men stopped in the street +to see the cruel sport, and express their disapproval. + +"It is one of Sam Drake's tricks," said Charlie to an inquiry put by a +gentleman. + +Sam and Ben laughed till they could scarcely stand upon their feet to +see the dog run. It was just such sport as they loved. + +"Hurrah for Spot!" shouted Sam, swinging his hat. "He'll spill his +dinner if he don't carry the pail more carefully." + +"If it was _my_ dog," said Frank, "you would find my father after you." + +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," added Nat. "It would not have +been more cruel in you to kill him outright. You are always up to +something of the kind." + +Not one of the boys approved of Sam's and Ben's cruelty. All expressed +decided sympathy for Spot, and were glad to see the pail drop from his +tail by the time he had run thirty or forty rods. + +"What kind of a noun is Sam?" inquired John, with one of his roguish +glances of the eye. + +"A proper noun, of course," replied Charlie. + +"Not by any means," said Nat; "it takes a decent fellow to be a _proper_ +noun. Sam is an _im_-proper noun. I don't believe he has behaved +_proper_ one whole day in five years." + +This remark got a hearty laugh upon Sam, and he felt it. He mumbled over +something, and shook his fist a little, but Nat could hear no part of +his remark but the oath that closed it. Sam was very profane, and his +brother was too. It was not unusual for both of them to utter the most +wicked oaths. They seemed to delight in using the worst words of the +English language. + +This barbarous act of Sam was frequently spoken of thereafter, and he +stood lower than ever in the estimation of Nat. The latter possessed +tender feelings towards all sorts of animals, and he was much disposed +to pet them. It might be almost said of him as Parry did of Sir John +Franklin, "he never turned his back upon a danger, yet he was so tender +that he would not brush away a mosquito." + +The winter session of the school closed, and vacation brought its work +and pleasures. We should be glad to follow Nat through these few weeks +of vacation, but we must hasten to a scene that was enacted when the +following summer was far spent. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PROSPECT HILL. + + +"Nat," said Frank, as they were going home from school one Friday night +of the following summer, "let us go up on Prospect Hill to-morrow +afternoon; it will be a capital time for a view, if it is a clear day." + +"Agreed," responded Nat. "I told Harry the other day that I could count +a hundred churches from that hill, and he laughed at me, and I mean to +see if I was far from the truth." + +"Well, I guess you set it a little too high," said Frank, "but it is a +grand sight that we have there." + +"Yes! I heard Mr. Sawtelle (Nat's pastor) say, that he never enjoyed +such a fine prospect anywhere else, because so many different objects +can be seen. I wish I could look through a spy-glass from that hill, +wouldn't it be fine?" + +Just then the two boys reached a corner where they must separate to go +to their respective homes, and the engagement was renewed by Nat's +saying, "Now remember, Frank, and be along in good season." + +A word about Prospect Hill. We are not sure that this was the veritable +name given to this lofty eminence at that time; but we call it thus now +because we have heard Nat designate it thus since he became a man. It is +certainly a very appropriate appellation with which to christen a hill +that towers up so abruptly toward heaven. + +This hill was situated just back of Nat's native village, perhaps a half +mile or more from the common on which he was wont to play. The top of it +was crowned with a mammoth rock, which an enthusiastic geologist might +call its crown jewel. Indeed, we are inclined to believe that nearly the +whole hill is composed of granite, from base to top, and were the rocky +eminence near some "Giants' Causeway," we should regard it the work of +these fabled characters, perhaps begun as the first rough stepping stone +to the stars. + +The boys were right when they spoke so earnestly of the grand view +presented from the brow of this hill. There was nothing like it in all +the "region round about;" and it is grander still at the present day, +because the cunning hand of art has beautified almost every foot of land +in view, and reared structures of varied form and costliness on every +hand. In the magnificent panorama appear a score of little villages +nestling among the distant trees, while as many larger ones stand forth +in more imposing grandeur, and several cities spread out their wealth of +stores and palaces, and lift their church spires and domes of public +edifices high to the blazing sun. Dame Nature lends enchantment to the +view by the freshness and beauty of her inimitable landscape. Green and +mossy meadow, rich, cultivated upland, luxurious gardens, sweet shady +grottos and cozy dells, orchards, forests, farms, with almost every +variety of natural scenery, enliven the prospect beyond description; and +last, though not least of all, a beautiful river pursues its serpentine +course through dusky everglades and grass-grown valleys, as if an +unearthed mine, fused by subterranean fires, were pouring forth its vast +treasures in a stream of molten silver. The scene is so truly grand that +neither tongue nor pen can do justice to the reality. + +Saturday afternoon came as usual, with its freedom from school-hour +quiet and study. Frank was on time, accompanied by his knowing little +dog, "Trip," and Nat was as much on time as he. + +"Halloo! Frank," exclaimed Nat; "going to take Trip along with us?" + +"Yes! he'll enjoy it as well as we," replied Frank. + +"And _I_ shall enjoy it a good deal better to have him with us," +continued Nat. "Come here Trip, you nice little fellow, and see the +best friend you have." And Trip bounded upon him, giving him as hearty +a "good afternoon" as a dog can, while Nat returned the compliment by +patting him upon his neck, and telling him, as he glanced a curious eye +at Frank, "that he knew almost as much as his master." + +"I wish that dog was mine," said Nat. + +"_I_ don't," responded Frank; "but I wish you had one just like him." + +"I suppose you don't know where I can buy his brother or sister, do +you?" + +Frank smiled, and before he had time to reply, they were hailed by Sam +and Ben Drake. + +"Where now, boys?" inquired Sam. + +"Bound for Prospect Hill: it is a good clear day for a fine view, and I +am going to count the churches," answered Nat. + +"Count your grandmothers!" sneeringly exclaimed Sam. "I would give more +to roll a big stone down the steep side than I would for the best view +you can get from the top." + +"But don't you think the prospect from the hill is fine, Sam?" + +"Fine enough, I s'pose, though I don't know much about it, as I never +thought it was best to injure my eyes looking." + +"Well, I must say that you----" + +"There, take that, you little whelp," just then shouted Sam to Trip, as +he gave the little dog a kick that sent him half across the road. + +It seems that Trip happened to come in Sam's way, so that he stumbled +against him, and this aroused his ire at once, and then followed the +cruel assault. The dog certainly did not mean to come in his way, for he +was not a boy that even the dogs liked. They usually kept a respectable +distance from both Sam and Ben, and saved their good-will for such kind +boys as Nat and Frank. Dogs learn very readily who their friends are, +and they wag their tails and skip around those only who are. + +Frank looked at Nat when he saw his favorite dog thus abused, and the +glance which they exchanged told what each of them thought of the +barbarous treatment. Nothing was said, however, and they passed on. It +was evident, by this time, that Sam and his brother intended to +accompany them, without an invitation, to Prospect Hill. While they are +on the way, we will improve the time to say a word about Nat's love of +nature. + +Sam could see no beauty in a landscape. Why any person should want to +stand upon a hill-top for a whole half hour to view green lawns, +gardens, meadows, and villages and cities, with their church spires and +domes, he could not understand, especially after they had seen them +once. If he could have been put into Eden, it would have been no sport +for him, unless he could have had the privilege of clubbing the cats and +stoning the dogs. + +It was different with Nat. He never tired of the view from Prospect +Hill, and this love of nature and art contributed to elevate his +character. This is always the case. Scarcely any person has become +renowned for learning, in whom this love was not early developed. Sir +Francis Chantrey was one of the most distinguished artists of his day, +possessing a nice discrimination and a most delicate taste, to aid him +in his remarkable imitations of nature. He was reared upon a farm, where +he enjoyed the innocent pleasure of ranging the forests, climbing hills, +bathing in ponds and streams, and rambling through vale and meadow for +fowl and fish, all of which he did with a "relish keen." Perhaps he owed +more to the inspiration of the wild scenes of Derby Hills, than to all +the books that occupied his attention in his boyhood's days. The same +was true of the gifted poet Burns, whose sweet and lofty verse has made +the name of Scotland, his native land, immortal. He took his first +lessons from the green fields, and gushing bird-songs, on his father's +farm. Silently, and unconsciously to himself, dame Nature waked his +poetic genius into life, when he followed the plough, angled in his +favorite stream, or played "echo" with the neighboring woods. The late +Hugh Miller, also, the world-renowned geologist, might have been unknown +to fame but for the unconscious tuition that he derived from the rocky +sides of Cromarty Hill, and his boyish exploration of Doocot Caves. He +loved nature more than he loved art. There was nothing that suited him +better than to be scaling the rugged sides of hills, exploring deep, +dark caverns, and hunting shells and stones on the sea-shore. He was +naturally rough, headstrong, and heedless--qualities that tend to drag a +youth down to ruin. But his love of nature opened a path of innocent +thought and amusement before him, and saved him from a wretched life. + +Thus the facts of history show that there is more hope of a boy who +loves the beautiful in nature and art, than of him who, like Sam Drake, +cared for neither. Perhaps we shall learn that it would have been better +for Sam if he had thought more favorably of nature, and less of rude and +cruel sports. + +The boys reached the top of the hill before two o'clock. Sam Drake was +the first to set his foot upon its solid apex, and he signalized the +event by swinging his hat, and shouting, + +"Three cheers for the meeting-houses!" + +This was done, of course, as a sort of reflection upon Nat, who made no +reply. Sam was about three years older than Nat, and yet Nat was the +most of a man. + +"A fire in Boston," exclaimed Frank, as soon as he reached the summit, +and cast his eyes towards the city. All looked, and, to their surprise, +there was a dense volume of smoke issuing from the north part of the +city, indicating that a terrific fire was raging. Had it been in the +night-time, the whole heavens would have been lighted up with the blaze, +and the scene would have been grand beyond description. But in the +sunlight, nothing but smoke could be seen. + +"What do you suppose it is burning?" inquired Frank. "It must be some +large building, I should think by the smoke it makes. Perhaps it is a +whole block on fire." + +"I guess it is one of Nat's churches," said Sam, casting a glance at the +person hit by the remark. "He had better count it before it is gone." + +"Well," replied Nat, who was tempted by the last fling to answer, "I +know of one fellow----" + +And there he stopped short, for his caution prevailed, and he concluded +that "the least said the better." He had a pretty cutting remark on the +tip of his tongue, when he remembered that Sam was older than himself, +and was base enough to return a blow for a word. Besides, he had a +special dislike for Sam, since his cruel treatment of Spot, which would +naturally lead him to say as little to him as possible. + +"What is that you know about a fellow?" said Sam, growing angry. "It is +a lucky thing for you that you didn't say it. Give me any of your sarce, +and I'll let you know who is the oldest. Boys that count churches better +look two ways for Sunday." + +Frank saw how things were going, so he sought to quell the storm in +Sam's breast by calling the attention of all to the peculiar symmetry +and beauty of an elm tree that stood in the distance. But Sam, not +caring to view such objects, turned away to hurl stones, with which he +had taken care to fill his pockets, at some object near the base of the +hill. Frank's device, however, accomplished the object intended. + +"How many miles do you think we can see from the top of this hill?" +inquired Nat, addressing himself to Frank. + +"Well, I hardly know," answered Frank. "We can see Boston very plainly, +and that is ten miles distant. We can see further still in the other +direction, perhaps twice as far." + +"How fine this is!" continued Nat. "But I must begin to count the +churches, or I shall not get through this afternoon. One, two, three, +four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten--yes, here are ten right here +within a few miles. And now let us count them----" + +He was stopped here in the middle of a sentence, by the yelp of the dog +Trip, and both turned to see what was the matter with him, when Sam +shouted: + +"Look here, Frank, dogs are falling. Trip has taken the shortest cut +down hill this time." + +"Good!" added Ben. "I wish all the dogs were kicked after him." And both +Sam and Ben seemed to glory in the calamity that had befallen Trip. + +Frank and Nat stood appalled when they saw what the trouble was. Sam had +kicked Trip down the precipitous side of the hill, where there was a +fearful plunge of thirty or forty feet; and there he lay motionless upon +his side. Although they stood so far above the dog, it was very evident +that he was dead. Frank burst into tears as the unwelcome truth flashed +upon his mind that Trip was no more. It was a full, overflowing gush of +grief from the bottom of his heart. Nat felt badly to see the dog +killed, and also at seeing the grief into which Frank was plunged, and +_he_ began to weep also; and there the two boys cried as sincerely over +the lifeless dog, as ever friend shed tears over the corpse of friend. + +"Well done, now, if I ain't beat!" exclaimed Sam. "Crying over a dead +dog! Better save your tears for his funeral, Frank. I'll preach his +funeral sermon if you'll name a text. And you come in second mourner, do +you, Nat?" + +"Second mourner or not," answered Nat, wiping his eyes, and roused by +the scene into a magnanimous self-defence, "if I was in Frank's place, +your father should know of this." + +"Well, 'spose he does know it, what do you think I care?" responded Sam. +"I'd like to see the old man calling me to an account for killing a +dog." + +"So should I like to see him do it," quickly added Nat, "if he would +give you what you deserve." + +Ben evidently relented by this time for his harsh saying about the +matter, and addressing his brother, he said, + +"After all, Sam, I think it was rather too bad to kill Trip, for he was +the cleverest dog in town. I don't think you'll gain many friends by the +act." + +"I didn't mean to kill him," said Sam. + +"But you might have known that it _would_ kill him to kick him down such +a place as that," said Nat. + +"That is not so clear, my boy," replied Sam; "it takes a boy bright +enough to count meeting-houses to do that. You see I am green--it is the +bright feller, who can speak pieces, and look at the fields and trees +from Prospect Hill, to foresee such events." + +"Come, Sam, you are a little too bad," said Ben. "I don't think you'd +like it very well if Frank should kill your gray squirrel the first +chance he has." + +Sam found it difficult to argue the case with his brother Ben against +him, who had really been converted over to the other side by the tears +of Frank and Nat. Ben was always a better boy than Sam, but he often +yielded to his wicked counsels because Sam was the eldest. Ben was made +worse by his brother's influence. This was the general impression in +the neighborhood. Sam also, owed a spite to good boys in general, who +ranked higher than himself in school, and were thought more highly of in +the community. He knew that Nat was a favorite, in school and out, with +all who knew him, and so he was envious and vindictive. He twitted him +about thinking more of himself than he ought, although he did not really +think so. The fact was, Nat was far in advance of Sam in reading, +writing, arithmetic, and every branch of study, although the latter was +three years older. This circumstance probably excited the ill-will of +Sam, as he had an evil disposition, made more evil every day by his +vicious course. What he said and did on that day was the result of his +jealousy and envy, in connection with his bad temper and reckless +spirit. Probably he did not think of killing Trip, when he gave him a +kick, for he was utterly reckless, and scarcely ever stopped to consider +consequences. But this was no excuse. It is evidence rather of a more +dangerous temper of mind. + +Sam gave Ben a wink, and both hurried away together, leaving Nat and +Frank alone, as they were glad to be. + +"How cruel Sam is!" said Frank, breaking the silence that prevailed +after they were left alone. + +"Worse than that," added Nat. "I begin to think that what Mr. Bond said +the other day about him will prove true." + +"What _did_ he say?" + +"He said that Sam would become a very bad man, unless he turned his +course soon, and that he should not be surprised if he came to the +gallows. I thought at once of a story which I read the other day about a +boy." + +"Do you mean a boy like Sam?" + +"Yes; very much like him. He lived in England, and he was neighbor to a +minister there. The minister had two or three sons whom he warned not to +associate with this bad boy. He told them that he would come to some bad +end because he did not obey his parents, and was so wicked in other +respects. And it proved true; for, in a few years he was shut up in +prison for his crimes." + +"Sam ought to be put there for what he has done already," said Frank. +"But come, let us go round and get poor Trip's body. He shall have a +decent burial at any rate." + +Both started up, and hastened down the hill to a spot from which they +might turn and pass round to where Trip lay. They were soon at his side. +Frank took up his lifeless body, and the tears started afresh as he +said, "stone dead." + +"Oh, how sorry I am that we let Trip come with us!" said Nat. + +"So am I, but it can't be helped now; his neck is broke, and neither of +us can mend it." + +"Let us carry him home as a witness against Sam. Your folks will want +to see him once more, too, and I know that my father and mother would be +glad to." Thus Nat expressed himself as they turned their steps +homeward. Silently they walked on, Frank carrying the dog-corpse in his +arms, as solemn as ever pall-bearer bore the remains of human being to +the grave. We will leave them to get home in their own time, while we +look in upon Nat's father and mother. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE END OF SCHOOL-DAYS. + + +In the course of the afternoon Nat's father met the agent of the +factory, and the following conversation ensued:-- + +"What do you say about letting your boy come into the factory to work?" +said the agent. "We are greatly in need of a boy to carry bobbins, and +we will give him two dollars a week." + +"I'll see what his mother says about it. I suppose he will have to do +something for a living soon. I shall not be able to do much more for +him." + +"But Nat has worked some already in a factory, has he not?" + +"Well, not exactly to make it a business. He was at his uncle's, in +Lowell, about six months, and he was a 'picker boy' a short time." + +"That is enough to initiate him. It is only a step from 'picker boy' to +'bobbin boy.'" + +The facts about his going to Lowell were these: He had an uncle there +who was a clergyman, and Nat was one of his favorites, as he was +generally with all those who knew him intimately. This uncle proposed +that Nat should come and stay with him a few months in the new "city of +spindles" (for the city was then only about four years old), a sort of +baby-city. The lad was only eleven years old, at that time, though he +was more forward and manly than most boys are at fifteen. He was +somewhat pleased with the idea of going to his uncle's, and engaged in +preparing for the event with a light heart. As the time drew near for +his departure, he found he loved home more than he thought he did, and +he almost wished that he had not decided to go. But being a boy of much +decision, as we have seen, he was rather ashamed to relinquish what he +had undertaken to do. He said little or nothing therefore about his +feelings, but went at the appointed time. Soon after he became a member +of his uncle's family, where he was a very welcome visitor, a "picker +boy" was wanted in the factory, and arrangements were made for Nat to +fill the place. He entered upon the work, well pleased to be able to +earn something for his parents, and he fully satisfied his employers, by +his close attention to his work, his respectful manners, and his +amiable, intelligent, and gentlemanly bearing. But Nat loved home too +well to be contented to remain long away. He had seasons of being +homesick, when he thought he would give more to see his father and +mother again than for any thing beside. His uncle saw that the boy was +really growing thin under the intense longing of his heart for home, so +he wrote to his parents, and arrangements were made immediately for his +return. It was a happy day for Nat when he reached home, and took his +parents once more by the hand. Home never seemed more precious than it +did then. If he had been a singer, I have no doubt that he would have +made the old homestead resound with the familiar song of Payne, + + "'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, + Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." + +It is a good sign for boys to love home. Good boys always do love home. +It is the place where their parents dwell, whom they love and respect. +No ties are so dear as those which bind them to this sacred spot. No +love is purer than that which unites them to parents, brothers, and +sisters. It may be a home of poverty, where few of the comforts, and +none of the luxuries of life are found, but this does not destroy its +charm. Sickness and misfortune may be there, and still it is home, loved +and sought. Others may have more splendid homes, where affluence gathers +much to please the eye and fascinate the heart, but they would not be +received in exchange for this. + +Such boys as Sam and Ben Drake seldom love home. Disobedient and +headstrong children do not love their parents much, and, for this +reason, home has few charms except as a place to eat and sleep. The +history of nearly all base men will show that in early life they broke +away from the restraints of home, and ceased to love the place where +parents would guide them in the path of virtue. Some years ago a +distinguished philanthropist visited a young man about twenty-eight +years of age, who was confined in prison for passing counterfeit money. +His sentence was imprisonment for life. He had become very sad and +penitent in consequence of his imprisonment, and the fact that +consumption was rapidly carrying him to the grave. The philanthropist +inquired into his history. When he spoke to the prisoner of his mother, +he observed that his chin quivered, and that tears came unbidden to his +eyes. + +"Was not your mother a Christian?" inquired the visitor. + +"Oh yes, sir!" he answered; "many and many a time has she warned me of +this." + +"Then you had good Christian parents and wholesome instruction at home, +did you not?" + +"Certainly; but it all avails me nothing now." + +"Then why are you here?" + +Raising himself up in bed to reply to this last inquiry, the young man +said, + +"I can answer you that question in a word. I did not obey my parents +nor care for home." And he uttered these last words with a look and tone +of despair that sent a chill through the interrogator's heart. + +This is but one illustration of the truth, that boys who do not love +home usually make shipwreck of their characters. Probably Sam Drake +would have laughed at Nat, or any other boy, for being homesick, and +said, + +"I should like to see _myself_ tied to mother's apron strings. It will +do for babies to cry to see their mothers, but it will not do for men. +Suppose it _is_ home, there are other places in creation besides home. +I'd have folks know that there's one feller who can go away from home, +and stay too." + +A great many men who are now in prison, or dishonored graves, talked +exactly so when they were young. They thought it was manly to have their +own way, and show that they cared little for home. + +Nat's love of home, then, was a good omen. It was not a discredit to him +to long to get back again to his father and mother. It was the evidence +of an obedient, affectionate, amiable son. + +After the conversation between the agent and Nat's father, the latter +went home to consult his wife upon the subject. He related to her the +substance of his conversation with the agent, and waited her reply. + +"I hardly know what to say," said she. "Nat is only twelve years old, +and needs all the schooling he can get. His teachers have said so much +to me about his talents, and their wish that he might be educated, that +I have hoped, and almost expected, some unforeseen way might be opened +for his love of study to be gratified." + +"That is entirely out of the question, I think," replied her husband. +"The time has come, too, when he must earn something for his support. I +see not how we can get along and keep him at school. He loves his books +I know, and I should be very glad to see him enjoy them, but poor folks +must do as they can and not as they want to." + +"Very true; but it is so hard to think that his schooling must end here, +when he is only a little boy. I don't know but it would break his heart +to be told that he could go to school no more." + +"He need not be told _that_," added her husband. "He may not know but +that he will go to school again at some future day." + +"It will be difficult to satisfy him on that point, if we keep honesty +on our side. You are not with him so much as I am, so that you do not +know how inquisitive he is, nor how much he talks about his books, and +getting learning. The first thing he will think of will be, whether he +will go to school any more. He knows that factory boys are deprived of +this privilege, and as he is to become a factory boy, his inference will +be that there is no more schooling for him." + +"Well, it must come to that, and he may as well know it first as last. +But I do not apprehend that he will lay it seriously to heart, for he is +always ready to do what his parents think is best. I think he is +remarkable for that." + +"I think so too; and I shall rely more upon his disposition in this +respect to be reconciled to the privation of school, than upon any thing +else. I think if the subject is brought before him at the right time, +and in the right way, I can convince him it is for the best, and I am +sure he will be ready to do what will be best for all of us." + +The conclusion of the matter was that Nat should enter the factory on +Monday, and that his mother should open the subject to him as soon as he +came home. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +OPENING THE SUBJECT. + + +The door suddenly opened, and in rushed Nat, under great excitement, +with his eyes "as large as saucers," to use a hyperbole, which means +only that his eyes looked very large indeed. + +"Sam Drake has killed little Trip," said he to his mother. + +"Killed Trip!" reiterated his mother, with great surprise. + +"Yes; he kicked him down the steep side of Prospect Hill, and he is +stone dead." + +"What did he do that for? Had he any trouble with Frank?" + +"No, mother; he did it because he is an ugly boy, and for nothing else. +He is always doing some wrong thing. The teacher told him the other day +that he had more difficulty with the scholars than all the other boys +put together. Frank and I didn't want he should go with us; but he and +Ben came along and went without being asked to go." + +"They are very bad boys," added his mother, "and I am afraid they will +make bad men. It is well known that they are disobedient at home, and +cause their parents a great deal of trouble, Sam especially." + +"And such swearers I never heard in my life," continued Nat. "Every +third word Sam speaks is profane. And he is vulgar too. I wish you knew +how bad he is." + +"I hope you will avoid his company as much as possible. Treat him +properly, but have as little to say to him as you can. I have been told +that he spends much of his time at the stable and tavern, where he hears +much profane and vulgar talk. Boys ought not to visit such places. By +and by he will be smoking and drinking as bad as any of them." + +"He smokes now," said Nat; "and he told Charlie one day that a boy could +never be a man till he could smoke a 'long nine'." + +"I hope you will never be a man, then," said his mother. "When a boy +gets to going to the tavern to smoke and swear, he is almost sure to +drink, and become a ruined man." + +"I never do smoke, mother. I never go to the stable nor tavern, I don't +associate with Sam and Ben Drake, nor with James Cole, nor with Oliver +Fowle, more than I can help. For I know they are bad boys. I see that +the worst scholars at school are those who are said to disobey their +parents, and every one of them are poor scholars, and they use profane +language." + +"That is very true, Nat," said his mother. "I am glad you take notice of +these things. Bad boys make bad men; always remember that. Be very +careful about the company you keep, for the Bible says, 'evil +communications corrupt good manners.' You know how to behave well, and +if you do as well as you can, you will be respected by all who know +you." + +"But, mother," asked Nat, "may I go over to Frank's house, and help him +bury Trip? I won't be gone long." + +"Yes, you may go, but it will be tea-time in an hour, and you must be +back then." + +Out ran Nat in a hurry, for he had stayed longer to converse with his +mother than he meant to have done, and he was afraid Frank would get +tired of waiting. He left Frank at the corner of the street, to wait +until he ran home to ask his mother's permission to go with him to bury +the dog. Now, many boys would have gone without taking this trouble. +They would have taken the permission to go to Prospect Hill, to cover +going to Frank's house also. But Nat would not do this. It would be +taking advantage of his mother's kindness. He was never in the habit of +going away even to the nearest neighbor's without permission. Such boys +as Sam Drake are all over the neighborhood, and sometimes go even +further, without consulting their parents. Very often their parents do +not know where they are. If one of their associates should run home for +permission to do a given thing, as Nat did, such a fellow as Sam Drake +would be likely to say, + +"I should like to see myself asking the old woman (his mother) to go +there. If I wanted to go, I should go. What does a woman know about +boys? I wouldn't be a baby all my days. If a fellow can't have his own +way, I wouldn't give a snap to live. Permission or no permission, I +would have the old folks know that I shall be my own man sometimes." + +This is not manly independence, but youthful disobedience and +recklessness, that lead to ruin. All good people look with manifest +displeasure upon such an ungovernable spirit, and expect such boys will +find an early home in a prison. + +When Nat reached the corner of the street, he found that Frank had gone, +so he hastened on, and was soon at Mr. Martin's (Frank's father). + +"I waited a few minutes," said Frank, as he met Nat at the door, "and +then I thought I would run on and get all things ready." + +"I was afraid that I had kept you waiting so long that you got out of +patience," added Nat. "But I stopped to tell mother about it, and she +had considerable to say." + +Frank had related the circumstances of Trip's death to his mother before +Nat's arrival, and received her consent to bury the dog at the foot of +the garden. + +"Come, now, let us run into the wood-shed for a box," said Frank; "I +have one there full of blocks that is just about right to put Trip +into." + +"Then you mean he shall have a coffin? I thought you would tumble him +into his grave as they do dead soldiers on battle-fields." + +"Not I. I have more respect for a _good_ dead dog than that. Look here, +is not that a capital box for it?" So saying he took up a small box full +of blocks, that had once served him for play-things, and having taken +the blocks out, he proceeded to lay Trip therein. His body just filled +the box, as if it were made on purpose; and having nailed on the lid, +they proceeded with it to the foot of the garden. They were not long in +digging a grave, and soon the remains of Trip were decently interred. As +the last shovel-full of dirt was thrown on, Nat gave utterance to a part +of a declamation which he had spoken in school two weeks before. The +portion he repeated was as follows: + + "Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note, + As his corse to the ramparts we hurried; + Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot, + O'er the grave where our hero we buried. + + "Slowly and sadly we laid him down, + From the field of his fame fresh and gory, + We carved not a line, we raised not a stone, + But left him alone with his glory." + +Frank smiled for the first time since Trip was kicked down the +precipice, and said, + +"Nat, you are always getting off your oratory; and I really think the +occasion deserves a burst of eloquence. Poor Trip will never play hy-spy +again; our good times with him are over." + +"There, now I must hurry home to supper," said Nat, "mother will be +waiting; so good-night till Monday." + +Away he bounded homeward, and was just in season for his supper. After a +thorough washing of face and hands, he sat down to the table with as +keen an appetite as he ever had, his afternoon excursion having given +him a good relish for food. The conversation naturally turned upon the +fate of Trip, and the whole account of the tragedy was gone over again, +with such comments thereon as each one was disposed to make. + +"I have a very difficult lesson in arithmetic to dig out to-night for +Monday," said Nat, as he rose from the table. + +"Perhaps you will not be called upon to recite the lesson," replied his +mother. + +"Any scholar who gets rid of reciting a lesson which this teacher gives +him must be one of the favorites," said Nat, not being the least +suspicious that his mother was going to communicate any thing +unpleasant. "For one, I want to recite it, after I have mastered it, and +I know that I _can_ master it. At any rate, I shall not give up beat +until I have tried." + +"Then you mean to belong to the 'try company' a while longer?" +interrupted his mother. + +"Yes, mother; the teacher read us some capital verses the other day on +'I'll try,' and she told a number of stories to illustrate what had been +accomplished by trying." + +"Your purpose is very good indeed, Nat, and I am sorry that we are not +able to give you better advantages. But did you know that your services +are in great demand? The agent of the factory has been after you this +afternoon." + +"For what?" asked Nat, with great surprise. + +"To work in the factory to be sure. He wants a 'bobbin boy' very much, +and thinks that you will make a good one; what do you say to it?" + +"You didn't tell him that I would go, did you?" + +"Well, your father and I have talked the matter over, and concluded that +it will be necessary for you to do something for a living. We are poor, +and your father does not see how he can support the family and keep you +in school. The agent will give you two dollars a week, and this will be +a great help to us." + +"You can't mean, mother, that I am not to go to school any more?" +inquired Nat. + +"We do not know what may yet transpire in your favor, but for the +present, at least, your schooling must cease." + +Nat was almost overcome at this announcement, and his lips fairly +quivered. His mother felt as badly as he did, though she exerted herself +to conceal her emotion. At length she went on to say, + +"I do not expect you will accede to this plan without a struggle with +your love of study, but if it is best for us all that you should leave +school and work in a factory, you can do it cheerfully, can you not?" + +"I can do it," answered Nat, "but not cheerfully." + +"I did not mean exactly that, when I spoke; for I expect you will do it +only because our necessities make that change best." + +"When does the agent want I should begin?" inquired Nat. + +"On Monday. It is very short notice, but you may as well begin then as +any time. There is one thing to be thought of for your advantage. You +love to read, and the manufacturing company have a good library for the +operatives. You can take out books, and read evenings." + +"There will be scarcely any time for me to read after coming out of the +factory at seven o'clock; and besides, after working from five o'clock +in the morning until seven at night, I think I shall like the bed better +than books." + +"You will find as much time to acquire knowledge as ever Dr. Franklin +did, and many other men who have been distinguished; and that is some +encouragement." + +"Last winter our teacher told Frank and I about Patrick Henry and Dr. +Franklin, and he said that boys now have far better advantages. Do you +suppose that the life of Dr. Franklin or the life of Patrick Henry will +be in the library at the factory?" + +"I have no doubt that both of them are there, and you can take the first +opportunity to draw one of them out." + +This last suggestion was a very important one to Nat. The prospect of +having access to a good library made Nat almost willing to go into the +factory. At any rate, after thinking the matter over, and becoming +convinced that it was best for the family, as his mother said, that he +should become a bobbin boy, and weighing the advantage of having a +library to visit, he was quite reconciled to the arrangement. He was the +eldest of the children, a large family, and it seemed reasonable that +he should be required to do something for a livelihood, if necessity +demanded. He knew very well that his parents would not have made such an +arrangement, unless their low circumstances had forced them to it. Both +of them highly valued a good school, and were interested in the +education of their children, but their desires could not be gratified. + +Saturday evening wore away, and the family dispersed for nightly repose. +The last thoughts of Nat, ere he resigned himself to the arms of +Morpheus, were of school and bobbins. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE NEW CALL. + + +Monday morning came to Nat, seemingly, before Sunday had time to get by. +Thirty-six hours scarcely ever passed away so rapidly to him before. But +it found him ready. He was one of the few boys who are always on hand, +whether it was for school, or any thing else. Teachers never complained +of him for being tardy, for they never had occasion to do it; and he was +as prompt to recite his lessons as he was to be in school at nine +o'clock. He was punctual to a second. If his mother told him to be at +home at a given time from an afternoon visit or ramble, he was sure to +be on the mark. He performed errands on the same principle, and never +had to be called twice in the morning. The fact is, there was not a lazy +bone in his whole body; each finger, toe, joint, and muscle, seemed to +understand that it was made for action, and that it must hold itself in +readiness to obey orders. His will, too, was king of his faculties, and +not one of them would have presumed to disobey its ruler. The first +little finger that would have dared to say "_no_" to his mandates, would +have fared severely for its presumption. + +Now, such a boy would not find it so difficult to rise early in the +morning, at a precise time, to work in a factory, as a lazy one would. A +lazy boy, who had been accustomed to get up when he pleased, and +consequently was seldom ready to breakfast with the rest of the family, +would have a hard time in breaking into such a factory life. The bodies +of these indolent fellows seldom wake up all at once. After their eyes +are fairly awake by much rubbing, opening, and shutting, their limbs +have to be coaxed and persuaded to start. Now they think they will start +up in just one minute, but the lazy body refuses, and one minute passes, +and then another, until, sometimes, a whole hour is lost in the futile +attempts of a weak will to make the limbs mind and get up. But Nat's +will was law to his members. + +He had been accustomed to hear the factory bell of his native village +call others, but it never called him before. For this reason, he had +never thought much about its tones, nor hardly stopped to consider that +its call was very early. But now its very sound was different. It seemed +to understand that Nat was to be called, and it did not require a very +flighty imagination in him to perceive that it said Nat, as plainly as +any bell could. He was on his feet in a moment. He did not wait for the +bell to call twice, any more than he did for his parents to call twice. +Every part of him waked up at once, from his head to his feet. His feet +were as wide awake as his eyes, as any person would have inferred who +had seen them start from the bed. If the bell had no harder case to +arouse, it might have done its work with half the noise, and thus saved +a great quantity of sound for special occasions, such as the fourth of +July. + +He was about the first to reach the factory on Monday morning. + +"Hurrah! the bobbin boy is on hand," said the overseer as he entered. + +"Yes, sir!" was Nat's short and modest reply. + +"You'd rather go to school, I suppose," continued the overseer, "than to +carry bobbins?" + +"I had," answered Nat, "though I can do what is for the best." + +"That's right. If everybody would do that, we should have a different +world to live in." + +The overseer said what he did to Nat, because he knew, as everybody else +did in the village, that the boy loved his books. His brightness, and +inclination to study, were themes of frequent remark among the people. +In the school-room, his manner of acquitting himself attracted the +attention of visitors. The teachers regarded him as a very promising +boy, and often spoke of his talents. In this way, he was known generally +in the community for his "intellectual turn." This explains the remark +of the overseer about his loving school better than the factory. + +One great surprise awaited Nat on that day. He found that Charlie Stone +also became a factory operative on that morning. He did not know that +Charlie expected to engage in this new business, nor did Charlie know +that Nat did. Indeed, it was unexpected to both of them, since the agent +made the arrangement with their fathers late on Saturday afternoon. The +meeting of the two boys, therefore, in their new sphere of toil, was the +occasion of mutual astonishment. + +Charlie Stone was just the age of Nat--twelve years old--and was as good +a boy as the neighborhood afforded. His father was poor, very poor +indeed, and could not support his family by his own labor, so that +Charlie was compelled to lend a helping hand, which he was willing to +do. He was a very amiable boy, retiring and modest, a good scholar and +associate. He was on intimate terms with Nat, so that their mothers used +to say they were "great cronies." We have seen that they were in the +same classes in school, and Charlie was really as good a scholar as Nat, +though he had not the faculty of using his knowledge to so good +advantage. He was a great reader, and he probably read much more than +Nat in the course of a year. There is a great difference in boys, as +well as men, about the ability to use the information acquired. One boy +may thoroughly master his lessons, and fully understand the books he +reads, and improve every moment of his time, and yet not be able to make +his acquisitions tell so much as another of smaller attainments. His +memory may not be retentive, and he may be kept back by a distrust of +his own ability to do,--too bashful and timid to press forward. This was +the case with Charlie. Nat, on the other hand, possessed a remarkable +memory; together with a peculiar faculty to use his attainments to the +best advantage. When he made an acquisition he knew how to use it. Every +attainment seemed to run into wisdom and character, as the juices of the +tree run into buds and fruit. Very small advantages appeared thereby to +produce great results in his favor. Every one who knew him would agree, +that what Richter said of himself was equally true of Nat, "I have made +as much out of myself as could be made of the stuff, and no man should +require more." + +It was fortunate, on the whole, that these two boys entered the factory +together, for both of them became more reconciled to their condition +than they otherwise would have been. They were company for each other, +and, if possible, became more strongly attached to each other in +consequence. They had no opportunity, during the forenoon, to converse +with each other concerning the manner of their having entered the +factory. But as soon as the rattling machinery silenced its clatter for +the dinner hour, the subject was talked over until both fairly +understood it. + +"Come," said Nat, as they passed out of the factory, "let us step into +the office and see when we can take out books." + +"Perhaps Dr. Holt (the agent) has gone to his dinner?" + +"We'll see," added Nat. So saying they both walked into the office. + +"What is wanted, boys?" inquired the doctor, who was there, and he +smiled upon them so benignantly that they could not but feel at home. + +"We stepped in, sir, to inquire when we could take books out of the +library," answered Nat. + +"To-night, my lads, as soon as the factory stops. So it seems you are +going to improve your spare moments reading?" + +"Yes, sir," replied both of them together. + +"That is right. It is not the worst berth in the world to be a factory +boy, especially if there is a good library to use. Two hours a day in +reading will do a great deal for a boy. Most of the young people waste +time enough to acquire an education, if it were only well improved. You +will have more time for self-improvement than William Cobbett had in +his youth--that distinguished member of the British Parliament, of whom +so much has been said in the papers of late." + +The doctor was an intelligent, well-read man, affable and kind, and +deeply interested in the welfare of those over whom he had an oversight. +The boys particularly shared his tender sympathies, especially such +bright ones as the two who stood before him. His words were uttered in +such a way as to go straight to the heart of an enterprising lad. They +were words of cheer and hope, such as give spirit and pluck to a poor +fellow whose experience is shadowy, to say the least. More than one boy +has had occasion to remember the doctor with gratitude. His allusion to +William Cobbett, really contained more information than he imparted, as +the following account which Cobbett published of himself will show:-- + +"I learned grammar," said he, "when I was a private soldier on the pay +of sixpence a day. The edge of my berth, or that of my guard-bed, was my +seat to study in; my knapsack was my book-case; a bit of board lying on +my lap was my writing table; and the task did not demand any thing like +a year of my life. I had no money to purchase candle or oil; in winter +time it was rarely that I could get any evening light but that of the +fire, and only my turn of even that. And if I, under such +circumstances, and without parent or friend to advise or encourage me, +accomplished this undertaking, what excuse can there be for any youth, +however poor, however pressed with business, or however circumstanced as +to room or other conveniences? To buy a pen or a sheet of paper I was +compelled to forego some portion of food, though in a state of half +starvation; I had no moment of time that I could call my own; and I had +to read and write amidst the talking, laughing, singing, whistling, and +brawling of at least half a score of the most thoughtless of men, and +that, too, in the hours of their freedom from all control. Think not +lightly of the farthing that I had to give, now and then, for ink, pen, +or paper! That farthing was, alas! a great sum to me! I was as tall as I +am now; I had great health and great exercise. The whole of the money, +not expended for us at market, was two-pence a week for each man. I +remember, and well I may, that on one occasion I, after all necessary +expenses, had, on Friday, made shifts to have a halfpenny in reserve, +which I had destined for the purchase of a red herring in the morning; +but when I pulled off my clothes at night, so hungry then as to be +hardly able to endure life, I found that I had lost my halfpenny! I +buried my head under the miserable sheet and rug, and cried like a +child! And again I say, if I, under circumstances like these, could +encounter and overcome this task, is there, can there be, in the whole +world, a youth to find an excuse for the non-performance?" + +Nat had no time to converse with his parents at noon concerning his new +business--his time was occupied, after dinner, until the factory bell +rung, in giving a history of his surprise at meeting Charlie there. His +parents were surprised too, as they had not heard that he intended to +work in the mill. + +"I am glad for you," said his mother, "that Charlie is to work with you, +though I am sorry that his parents are so poor as to make it necessary. +Charlie is a noble boy, and I know you have a good companion when you +have him." + +"We can take books from the library to-night," said Nat. + +"And what one are you going to take out?" inquired his mother. + +"The Life of Patrick Henry," was his quick reply. + +"What is there about Patrick Henry that interests you in his life?" + +"He was a great orator and statesman, and made himself so by improving +his time, so the teacher told us last winter." + +Nat was obliged to hasten back to the factory at the call of the bell, +so that a period was put to the conversation very suddenly. His work in +the factory was to carry bobbins around to the operatives as fast as +they wanted them, and hence he was called "The Bobbin Boy." It was +rather light work though he was often obliged to step around quite +lively, which he could do without much trouble, since he was none of +your half-way boys. His movements were quick, and what he did he did +with all his heart, with only occasional exceptions. A smart, +wide-awake, active boy could carry bobbins to better advantage than a +clumsy man in meridian life. Nat carried them as if he were made on +purpose for the business. It was difficult to tell which he did best, +carry bobbins or speak pieces. He did both, as a looker-on said, "in +apple-pie order," which means, I suppose, about as well as they could be +done by one of his age. + +At the close of the day, when the boys came to take out books, Nat found +that the life of Patrick Henry was out, so he took the life of Dr. +Franklin, without feeling much disappointed. He was so anxious to read +both of these volumes that he cared but little which he read first. + +"That you, Nat?" exclaimed David Sears, with whom Nat met on his way +home from the factory. "What's got you to-day? We missed you and Charlie +at school." + +"Done going to school," answered Nat. "We are going to finish our +education in the factory." + +"You have graduated in a hurry, it seems to me. But you don't mean that +you are not going to school any more, do you?" + +"Why, yes; I think that will really be the case, though I hope for the +best," replied Nat. "Perhaps I may go again after a while." + +"It is really too bad," continued David. "I wish the factory was a +thousand miles off. It is a pretty hard case to be tied up to a factory +bell every day, and work from five o'clock in the morning till seven at +night." + +"I don't care much about the bell," replied Nat. "I can get up as early +as the man who rings it, I know. And then it is capital to make one +punctual. There is no chance for delays when the bell calls--a fellow +must be on the mark." + +Nat struck upon a very important thought here. Punctuality is a cardinal +virtue, and the earlier a person learns to be punctual the better it is +for him. Being obliged to obey the summons of a bell at just such a +minute aids in establishing the habit of punctuality. Hence, the modern +rules of the school-room, requiring pupils to be there at a precise +hour, and to recite their lessons at such a minute, are very valuable to +the young. Pupils who form the habit of getting to school any time in +the morning, though usually late, are generally behind time all the way +through life. They make the men and women who are late at meeting, late +to meet their business engagements, late everywhere--a tardy, +dilatory, inefficient class of persons, wherever they are found. It is +good to be obliged to plan and do by car-time. The man who is obliged +to keep his watch by railroad time, and then make all things bend to the +same, is more likely to form the habit of being punctual, than he who +has not a fixed moment for going and coming. And so it is with the +factory. The boy who must be up at the first bell-call, and get to his +place of toil at five o'clock in the morning, is more likely to be +prompt in every place and work. Nat was right. It is another instance of +his ability to perceive the real tendencies of things. + +David smiled at Nat's view of the matter, and asked, "What book have you +there?" + +"The life of Dr. Franklin. You know they have a library for the +operatives in the factory, and I mean to make the most of it." + +"But you won't get much time to read, if you work in the factory all +day, from Monday morning till Saturday night." + +"I can get two or three hours in a day, if I sit up till ten o'clock, +and that is early enough for anybody to go to bed. I shall read this +volume through by Saturday night." + +"Well, _you'll_ make the most of it if anybody can," said David, +laughing, and hurrying on homewards. + +Nat commenced reading Dr. Franklin's life that evening. It was his first +step in a somewhat systematic course of reading, for which he was +indebted to the manufacturing company. But for his factory life he +might not have been introduced to those authors that gratified his +desire for knowledge, and nurtured in his soul that energy and +perseverance which he was already known to possess. + +His parents did not converse much with him about his new business, as +they thought it might not be wise; but they interested themselves in his +reading. His mother found he was deeply absorbed in Franklin's life, +though he said but little of the book, except in reply to her inquiries. +But he seemed hardly willing to lay it aside at bed-time, and eagerly +took it up to read during the few spare moments he had when he came to +his meals. The book was read through before the next Sabbath. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE LOFTY STUDY. + + +Some time after Nat donned the bobbin boy's suit, he proposed to Charlie +to come over and spend his evenings with him for mutual improvement. + +"I have a nice place to read and study all by myself," said he, "and I +want to talk over some subjects we read about with you. Besides, what do +you say to studying mathematics together a portion of the time? I think +we can get along about as well in this branch as we could to have a +teacher." + +"_I_ should like it first rate," answered Charlie. "Mathematics is your +hobby, and I think I can make good improvement under your tuition." + +"I don't propose to teach, sir," added Nat, "but to learn. I will get +what I can out of you, and you may get what you can out of me. That is +fair, I am sure. You will get what you can out of me just as cheap as I +get what I can out of you. It will not be a very expensive school as you +see." + +"Agreed," said Charlie. "I will be at your house this evening by the +time you are ready for me." + +Charlie was true to his engagement, and by the time Nat was ready to +ascend to his study, a rap announced his arrival. With lamp in hand, Nat +led the way up two flights of stairs, and introduced Charlie into the +attic, saying, + +"This is my study. I have permission to use this for a sanctum as long +as I please." + +"It is a lofty one, surely," responded Charlie. "You can't get up much +higher in the world if you try." + +"When we get into astronomy, all we shall have to do will be to bore a +hole through the roof to make our observations. Could any thing be more +convenient?" + +The reader need not smile at Nat's study. It was better than the first +one that the renowned Dr. John Kitto had. Like Nat's, Kitto's first +study was in his father's attic, which was only seven feet long and four +feet wide. Here a two-legged table, made by his grandfather forty years +before, an old chest in which he kept his clothes and stationery, and a +chair that was a very good match for the table, together with what would +be called a bed by a person who had nothing better, constituted the +furniture. Also, the time-honored St. Pierre was worse off even when he +wrote his celebrated "Studies of Nature." His study was a garret, less +capacious than that which Nat occupied, and there he spent four years of +his life in the most laborious study. + +Night after night Nat and Charlie met in the aforesaid attic, to read, +study mathematics, and discuss the subjects of the volumes which they +read. They made very commendable progress in mathematics, and probably +kept in advance of their companions who were in school. Among the +characters who were discussed by them, none received more attention than +Dr. Franklin and Patrick Henry. + +"Which of these characters do you like best?" inquired Charlie one +evening. + +"I suppose that Dr. Franklin would be considered the best model; but +such eloquence as that of Patrick Henry must have been grand. Dr. +Franklin was not much of a speaker, though what he said was sound and +good." + +"And Patrick Henry was a lazy fellow when he was young," added Charlie. +"You remember that his father set him up in business two or three times, +and he failed because he was too shiftless to attend to it." + +"Very true; and he suffered all through life on account of not having +formed habits of industry, economy and application. It shows what a +splendid man he might have made, if he had reduced Franklin's rules to +practice." + +"Let us read over those rules of Franklin again," said Charlie. "You +copied them, I believe." + +Nat took up a paper, on which the rules were penned in a handsome hand, +and proceeded to the following: + +1. "TEMPERANCE.--Eat not to dulness; drink not to elevation. + +2. SILENCE.--Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; +avoid trifling conversation. + +3. ORDER.--Let all your things have their places; let each part +of your business have its time. + +4. RESOLUTION.--- Resolve to perform what you ought; perform +without fail what you resolve. + +5. FRUGALITY.--Make no expense but to do good to others or +yourself; that is, waste nothing. + +6. INDUSTRY.--Lose no time; be always employed in something +useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. + +7. SINCERITY.--Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and +justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly. + +8. JUSTICE.--Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the +benefits that are your duty. + +9. MODERATION.--Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries as +much as you think they deserve. + +10. CLEANLINESS.--Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, +or habitation. + +11. TRANQUILLITY.--Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents +common or unavoidable. + +12. HUMILITY.--Imitate Jesus and Socrates." + +"There is scarcely one of those rules that Patrick Henry observed in +his youth," said Charlie. "After he got to be a man grown, and his +friends were all out of patience with him, and he was absolutely +compelled to do something, or starve, then he began to apply himself." + +"Yes; and what a commotion he made!" responded Nat. "That first plea of +his against the clergy of Virginia on the tobacco Act, when he won the +case against fearful odds, and the spectators were so excited by his +oratory that they carried him out of the court room on their shoulders, +is the best thing that I ever read of any orator. It was not his +learning nor his argument, but his eloquence that gave this power over +his hearers." + +"And it was just the reverse with Dr. Franklin," said Charlie. "It was +his wisdom, solid common sense, and worth of character, that enabled him +to carry his points, and that I think is far more valuable." + +"I learned one thing," said Nat, "from the life of Patrick Henry, which +I never knew before, that he owed his final success more to his close +observation of men and things than to the study of books. He learned +something from every thing he saw and heard. Eye-gate and ear-gate were +always open. He observed his companions closely when he was young, and +told stories to witness the different feelings they would awaken in the +hearts of different associates. In fact, he did not learn near so much +from books as he did from men. And afterwards, when he had law students +to instruct, one of his lessons was, 'study men and not books.'" + +"Well, Nat, you are something like him," said Charlie, smiling. "You are +always seeing some thing to learn, where I should never think of +looking." + +"Precious little like him," responded Nat, "but I intend to profit in +future by what I learned from Patrick Henry's life." + +"I mean just as I say, Nat, truly, you are like him now, a little. Last +summer you was determined to know why the water was warmer in windy +weather than it was in a calm; and I believe you found out before we +went in a swimming the next time. And as for studying men, you are +always up to that. I don't believe there is an operative in the factory +whose qualities you have not settled in your own mind. You learned more +of that fellow they turned away, by looking at him, than others found +out by talking with him." + +It was true that Nat was thus accustomed to observe and inquire into the +_whys_ and _wherefores_ of things. For this reason he was never +satisfied with a lesson until he understood it, unless we except the +study of grammar. He formed his opinions of all his associates, and knew +one to be selfish, another to be ill-tempered, another generous, and so +on. He was probably attracted by Patrick Henry's study of men, on +account of this disposition in himself, although he was not altogether +conscious of it. But this quality enabled him to learn much that +otherwise he would not have known. For when he was not reading a book, +men, women, and children were around him, and many events were +transpiring, all of which he could study. Thus he found teachers +everywhere, and books everywhere, not indeed such books as are used in +schools or fill the shelves of libraries, but such as are furnished in +the shape of incidents, and such as are bound up in flesh and bones. He +could read the latter while he was carrying bobbins in the factory, and +walking the streets, or going to meeting. In this way he would be +learning, learning, learning, when other boys were making no progress at +all. + +Shakspeare, the world's great dramatist, must have been indebted to this +faculty of observation, far more than to books and human teachers, for +his inimitable power of delineating human nature. He was the son of a +poor man, who could not read nor write, according to reports, and he +went to London to live, where he held horses for gentlemen who visited +the theatre, receiving small remuneration for his labor. From holding +horses outside, he came to be a waiter upon the actors within, where he +must have been a very close observer of what was said and done; for his +brilliant career began from that hour, and he went on from step to step +until he produced the most masterly dramatic works, such as the world +will not let die. There is no doubt that he was a born poet, but it was +his faculty to read men and things that at last waked the dormant powers +of the poet into life. He saw, investigated, understood, mastered, and +finally applied every particle of information acquired to the work that +won him immortal fame. + +"Nat, you are the best penman in the mill," said Dr. Holt to him one +day, as his attention was called to a specimen of his handwriting. +"Where did you learn to write so well?" + +"At school, sir," was his laconic reply. + +"But how is it that you learn to write so much better at school than the +other boys?" + +"I don't know, sir!" and he never said a more truthful thing than he did +in this reply. For really he did not know how it was. He did not try +very hard to be a good penman. He did many other things well, which did +not cost him very much effort. It was easy for him to get the "knack" of +holding his pen and cutting letters. He would do it with an ease and +grace that we can only describe by saying it was Nat-like. It is another +instance, also, of the advantage of that principle or habit, which he +early cultivated, of _doing things well_. As one of his companions said, + +"He can turn his hand to any thing." + +One evening in October, when the harvest moon was emphatically "the +empress of the night," and lads and lasses thought it was just the +season for mirth and frolic, the boys received an invitation to a party +on the following evening. + +"Shall you go?" inquired Charlie, when they were in the attic study. + +"I should like to go, but I hardly think I shall. I want to finish this +book, and I can read half of it in the time I should spend at the +party." + +"As little time as we get to study," added Charlie, "is worth all we can +make of it; and Dr. Franklin says in those rules, 'lose no time.' I +shall not go." + +"I don't think that all time spent in such a social way can be called +'lost,' for it is good for a person to go to such places sometimes. But +I think I shall decide with you _not to go_. I suppose that some of the +fellows will turn up their noses, and call us 'literary gentlemen,' as +Oliver did the other day." + +"Yes; and Sam said to me yesterday as I met him when I was going home to +dinner, 'fore I'd work in the factory, Charlie, and never know any +thing. You look as if you come out of a cotton-bale. I'll bet if your +father should plant you, you'd come up cotton,' and a whole mess of +lingo besides." + +"And what did you say to him?" asked Nat. + +"Not much of any thing. I just said, 'if I don't look quite as well as +you do, I think I know how to behave as well,' and passed on." + +That Nat met with a good many discouraging circumstances, must not be +denied. It was trying to him occasionally to see other boys situated +much more favorably, having enough and to spare; and now and then a +fling, such as the foregoing, harrowed up his feelings somewhat. He was +obliged to forego the pleasure of many social gatherings, also, in order +to get time to study. Sometimes he went, and usually enjoyed himself +well, but often, as in the case just cited, he denied himself an +evening's pleasure for the sake of reading. + +About this time, when he felt tried by his circumstances, he said to his +mother, + +"I don't know much, and I never shall." + +"You haven't had an opportunity to know much yet," answered his mother. +"If you continue to improve your time as you have done, I think you will +be on a par with most of the boys." + +"But poor boys have not so good a chance to stand well, even if they +have the same advantages, as the sons of the rich." + +"I am not so sure of that," replied his mother. "I know that money is +thought too much of in these days, and that it sometimes gives a person +high position when he does not deserve it. But, as a general thing, I +think that character will be respected; and the poorest boy can have a +good character. Was not that true of all the good men you have been +reading about?" + +Nat was obliged to confess that it was, and the conversation with his +mother encouraged him, so that he went to his reading that evening, with +as much pluck as ever. The more he learned, the more he wanted to know; +and the faster he advanced, the higher he resolved to ascend. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE DEDICATION. + + +Soon after Nat entered the factory, a hall was erected in the village, +and dedicated to literary purposes. Nat was all the more interested in +the event because it was built under the auspices of the manufacturing +company for whom he worked, and their library was to be somehow +connected with the institute that would meet there. + +"No reading to-morrow night," said he to Charlie, as they closed their +studies on the evening before the dedication. "We must go to the +dedication of the hall without fail. I want to know what is to be done +there." + +"They say the library is going up there," answered Charlie. "Have you +heard so?" + +"Yes; but we shall have just the same privileges that we do now, and I +expect the library will be increased more rapidly, because they are +going to make provisions for others to take out books by paying, and the +money goes to enlarge the library." + +"But the more persons there are to take out books, the more difficult it +will be to get such books as we want," said Charlie. "Do you not see it? + +"Yes; but then 'beggars must not be choosers,' I suppose," Nat answered +with a quizzical look. "_Your_ chance will be poorer than mine in that +respect, for you read more books than I do, and of course you will want +more." + +Nat was in season at the dedication, and secured a seat near the +platform, where he could see and hear the speaker to the best advantage. +He was not there, as doubtless some boys were, just to see what was +going on; but he was there to _hear_. An address was to be delivered by +a gentleman whose reputation would naturally create the expectation of +an intellectual treat, and that address was what Nat wanted to hear. It +was singular that the lecture should be upon the life and character of a +self-made man, of the stamp of Dr. Franklin and others, whose +biographies our young hearer had read with the deepest interest. But so +it was. The subject of the address was Count Rumford; and you might know +that Nat swallowed every word, from the leading points of it, which were +in substance as follows:-- + +The real name of Count Rumford was Benjamin Thompson. He was born in +Woburn, Mass., in the year 1752. His father was a farmer in humble +circumstances, and he died when Benjamin was an infant. His mother was +only able, when he attained a suitable age, to send him to the common +school. He was a bright boy, though he was not so much inclined to study +books. He preferred mechanical tools, with which he exhibited +considerable ingenuity in constructing various articles, particularly +rough drafts of machinery. Among other things he sought to produce a +model of perpetual motion. He was sure he could do it, and he set to +work with a resolution worthy of a nobler enterprise. When one attempt +failed, he tried again, and yet again, until his friends and neighbors +called him a "simpleton," and openly rebuked him for his folly. His +mother began to think he never would learn any craft by which he could +gain a livelihood, and she was really discouraged. He was not vicious +nor indolent. He had energy and perseverance, intelligence and tact; and +still he was not inclined to choose any of "the thrifty occupations of +human industry." At thirteen years of age he was apprenticed Mr. +Appleton, a merchant of Salem, where he distinguished himself only by +neatly cutting his name, "Benjamin Thompson," on the frame of a shop +slate. He cared less for his new business than he did for the tools of +the workshop and musical instruments, for which he had a decided taste. +He soon returned to Woburn. + +When he was about seventeen years of age, he began to think more +seriously of studying, though most youth in poverty would have said, it +is useless to try. But he had great self-reliance, and now he began to +think that he could do what had been done by others. It would cost him +nothing to attend the lectures on Natural Philosophy at Cambridge +college, so he resolved to walk over there, a distance of nine miles, a +step which laid the foundation of his future fame. In all weathers he +persevered in attending the lectures, and was always punctual to a +minute. + +Soon after, he commenced teaching school in Bradford, Mass., and +subsequently in Concord, N. H. In the latter place he became acquainted +with the rich widow of Col. Rolfe, and, though only nineteen years of +age, married her. But this calamity he survived, and acted a conspicuous +part in the American Revolution. Soon after the battle of Bunker Hill, +having lost his wife, he embarked for England, bearing despatches to the +English government. There he soon became distinguished as a learned man +and philosopher, and was elected a member of the Royal Society. He was +knighted in 1784. + +The King of Bavaria became acquainted with him, and, attracted by his +marked abilities, appointed him to a high office of trust and +responsibility in his court. There he reformed the army and established +a system of common schools. He was strictly economical, and saved +thousands of dollars to the Bavarian government, by "appropriating the +paper used to teach writing in the military schools, to the +manufacturing of cartridges by the soldiery." + +He was a man of great kindness and benevolence, by which he was prompted +to establish a reformatory institution for the mendicants of Bavaria, +and so great was its success that it became renowned all over Europe. +The sovereign conferred one honor after another upon him, and finally +"created him a count by the name of Rumford, in honor of Concord, New +Hampshire, whose original name was Rumford." + +His writings upon philosophical subjects were valued highly, and widely +circulated. He was a leader in founding the Royal Society of Great +Britain. He gave five thousand dollars to the Academy of Arts and +Sciences of Massachusetts to establish a premium to encourage +improvement and discoveries, and a like sum to the Royal Society of +Great Britain. He died in 1814, at the age of sixty-two, and by his will +"bequeathed $1,000 annually and the reversion of his estate, to found +the Rumford Professorship of Cambridge College, Mass.," to which +University he felt much indebted for his early instruction in Natural +Philosophy. + +His life illustrates not only what a poor boy may become, but also what +simple things a great man can do to promote the welfare of his fellow +men. The military classes of Bavaria, and indeed all the poor of +Europe, suffered for the want of food, and Count Rumford brought to +their notice two articles of food to which they were strangers, +healthful, nutritious, and cheap. The first was the use of the potato, +which was raised only to a limited extent; but, through his exertions it +came to be generally cultivated, much to the improvement of the +condition of the poor. He received the gratitude of thousands for his +efforts. The other blessing was the use of Indian corn in making +_hasty-pudding_, which is a live Yankee invention. His instructions on +this point shall be given in his own words, as they appeared in his +essay written for European readers. + +"In regard to the most advantageous mode of using Indian corn, as food, +I would strongly recommend a dish made of it, that is in the highest +estimation throughout America, and which is really very good and +nourishing. This is called _hasty-pudding_, and is made in the following +manner: A quantity of water, proportioned to the quantity of pudding to +be made, is put over the fire, in an open iron pot or kettle, and a +proper quantity of salt, for seasoning; the salt being previously +dissolved in the water, Indian meal is stirred into it, little by +little, with a wooden spoon with a long handle, while the water goes on +to be heated and made to boil, great care being taken to put in the meal +in very small quantities, and by sifting it slowly through the fingers +of the left hand, and stirring the water about briskly at the same time +with the spoon in the right hand, to mix the meal with the water in such +a manner as to prevent lumps being formed. The meal should be added so +slowly that when the water is brought to boil, the mass should not be +thicker than water-gruel, and half an hour more at least, should be +employed to add the additional quantity of meal necessary for bringing +the pudding to be of the proper consistency, during which time it should +be stirred about continually, and kept constantly boiling. The method of +determining when the pudding has acquired a proper consistency, is this: +the wooden spoon used for stirring it being placed upright in the +kettle, if it falls down, more meal must be added; but if the pudding is +sufficiently thick and adhesive to support the spoon in a vertical +position, it is declared to be _proof_, and no more meal is added." + +Then he goes on to teach them how to eat it. "The manner in which +hasty-pudding is eaten, with butter and sugar or molasses, in America, +is as follows: the hasty-pudding being spread out equally on a plate, +while hot, an excavation is made in the middle with a spoon, into which +excavation a piece of butter as large as a nutmeg is put, and upon it a +spoonful of brown sugar, or, more commonly, molasses. The butter being +soon melted by the heat of the pudding, mixes with the sugar or +molasses, and forms a sauce, which being confined in the excavation +made for it, occupies the middle of the plate. The pudding is then eaten +with a spoon; each spoonful of it being dipped into the sauce before it +is conveyed to the mouth; care being taken in eating it to begin on the +outside, or near the brim of the plate, and to approach the centre by +regular advances, in order not to demolish too soon the excavation which +forms the reservoir for the sauce." + +A great man must be very benevolent and humble to condescend to instruct +the poor classes in raising potatoes and making hasty-pudding. The fact +magnifies the worth of the man. + +"Well, Nat, how did you like the address?" inquired his mother, after +they reached home. + +"Very much indeed," answered Nat. "I had no idea that the address was to +be about Count Rumford. He makes me think of Dr. Franklin." + +"You see that it is not necessary for a boy to have a rich father to buy +him an education," continued his mother. "Where there is a will there is +a way." + +"I couldn't help laughing," said Nat, "to think of that great man +teaching the people how to make hasty-pudding. I declare, I mean to draw +a picture of him stirring a kettle of pudding." + +His mother was quite amused at this remark and responded, + +"I think the lecturer was right, when he said that such a condescending +act by one so high in honor as Count Rumford, was a proof of his +greatness. You remember that he said, 'a truly great man will do any +thing necessary to promote the interests of his fellow-men.'" + +Much more was said about the address, which we have not time to +rehearse, and on the following morning, as Nat met Charlie at the +factory, the latter remarked, + +"What a fine lecture that was last night!" + +"Yes," Nat replied; "it was just what I wanted to hear. My case is not +quite hopeless after all. I think I could make a good professor of +hasty-pudding." + +Charlie laughed outright, and added, "I think I could learn to navigate +that ocean of butter and molasses that he got up on the plate. A man +ought to understand geometry and navigation to make and eat +hasty-pudding according to his rule." + +"I suppose," said Nat, after he had shaken his sides sufficiently over +Charlie's last remark, "that he was applying Dr. Franklin's rule on +'FRUGALITY'--'make no expense but to do good to others or +yourself.' That is it, I believe." + +The mill started, and the conversation broke like a pipe-stem; but the +lecture upon Count Rumford made a life-long impression upon Nat. It was +exactly to his taste, and greatly encouraged him in his early efforts +to acquire knowledge. It was much in his thoughts, and perhaps it had +somewhat to do with his plans, some years after, when he himself walked +to Cambridge to consult books in the library of the College, and to +Boston to visit the Athenæum for the same object. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A SCHOOL SCENE. + + +"They had quite a time at school yesterday," said Nat to Charlie, one +morning during the winter following their entrance into the factory. + +"What was it? I have heard nothing." + +"The teacher had a real tussle with Sam Drake, and for a little while it +was doubtful who would be master. They both fell flat on the floor, +tipped over the chair, and frightened the girls badly." + +"What did the teacher attempt to punish him for?" + +"He wrote a letter to one of the boys about the teacher, and said some +hard things, and the teacher got hold of the letter and read it. Then he +called him up and made him spell before the school some of the words he +had spelled wrong in the letter, at which they all laughed till Sam +refused to spell any more. Then he doubled up his fist at the teacher, +and defied him to whip him." + +"He ought to have been flogged," said Charlie; "I hope he got his +deserts." + +"If reports are true, he did. Though it was a hard battle, the teacher +made him beg at last, and they say the committee will turn him out of +school to-day." + +As the facts in the case were not quite as reports would have them, we +shall give a correct history of the affair. Nat had heard an exaggerated +report, and communicated it just as he received it. But the teacher did +not have a hard time at all in conquering the rebellious boy, and +neither of them fell on the floor. Neither did Sam shake his fist at +him, and defy him to strike. The case was this: + +The teacher observed a little commotion among the scholars, and inferred +that some sort of game was being secretly played. On this account he +tried to be Argus-eyed, and soon discovered a paper, as he thought, +passed along from one scholar to another, that created considerable +sensation. When it reached John Clyde, the teacher inquired: + +"John! what have you there?" + +After some hesitation, John answered "a paper," at the same time making +an effort to conceal it. + +"Be careful, sir," said the teacher; "_I_ will take that document," and +so saying, he stepped quickly to John's seat, and took the paper from +his hand. + +It proved to be a letter from Samuel Drake to Alpheus Coombs, and read +as follows: + +ALFEUS KOOMS,--if you will trade nives with me as we talked +yisterday it will be a bargin for you, mine is jist as i telled you, or +the world is flat as a pancake. Rite back and mind nothin about old +speticles i don't care a red cent for his regilations about riting +letters in school i shall do it when i please, and if he don't like it, +he may lump it, he is a reglar old betty anyhow, and i kinder thinks his +mother don't know he is out if he should happen along your way with his +cugel, you may give him my complerments and tell him that I live out +here in the corner and hopes he'll keep a respecterble distance, now +rite back at once and show old speticles that the mail will go in this +school-house anyhow. Your old Frend + + SAMUEL DRAKE. + +We have given the letter just as it was written, with its lack of +punctuation, bad spelling and all. Samuel was accustomed to call the +teacher "old speticles," because he wore glasses. The letter is a key to +the character and attainments of a class of bad boys in every community, +when they are about fifteen years of age. + +The teacher took the letter to his desk, and carefully read it over, and +then called out to its author, in a loud voice, + +"Samuel! come into the floor." + +Samuel knew that his letter was discovered then, and he hesitated. + +"Samuel! come into the floor I say," exclaimed the teacher again, in a +tone that was truly emphatic. + +Samuel started, and took his place in the floor. + +"Now turn round," said the teacher, "and face the school." + +Samuel did as he was commanded, not knowing what was coming. + +"Now spell Alpheus," said the teacher. + +Some of the scholars who had read the letter began to laugh, as they now +saw the design of the teacher. Samuel had his eyes open by this time, +and saw what was coming. He hesitated and hung down his head. + +"Be quick, sir. You shall have a chance now to exhibit your spelling +acquisitions." + +Samuel dared not refuse longer, so he began, + +"A-l-al-f-e-fe-u-s-us." + +"Pronounce it, sir." + +"Alfeus." + +The scholars laughed heartily, and the teacher joined them, and for +three minutes the school-room fairly rung with shouts. + +"Now spell Coombs," said the teacher. + +"K-double o-m-s, kooms." + +Again there was a roar of laughter in the room, which the teacher did +not wish to suppress. + +"Spell knife now; you are so brilliant that the scholars would like to +hear more." + +"N-i-f-e." + +The scholars laughed again in good earnest, and the teacher added, "That +is not the way to spell a very sharp knife." + +"Spell bargain." + +"B-a-r-bar-g-i-n-gin, bargin." + +"Such a kind of a bargain, I suppose, as a poor scholar makes, when he +wastes time enough in one winter to make him a good speller," continued +the teacher. When the laughter had ceased, he put out another word. + +"Spell spectacles." + +"S-p-e-t-spet-i-speti-c-l-e-s-cles, speticles." + +Some of the scholars really shouted at this new style of orthography. + +"I suppose that is the kind of glasses that 'old speticles' wears," said +the teacher. "You do not appear to entertain a very good opinion of him. +You may spell respectable." + +"I shan't spell any more," answered Samuel in an insolent manner. + +"Shan't spell any more! I command you to spell respectable." + +"I shan't spell it," replied Samuel more defiantly. + +In another instant the teacher seized him by the collar, and with one +desperate effort sent him half across the school-room. He hit the chair +in his progress and knocked it over, and the teacher hit his own foot +against the corner of the platform on which the desk was raised, and +stumbled, though he did not fall. From this, the report went abroad that +there was a sort of mélee in school, and the teacher was flung upon the +floor in the scuffle. By the time Samuel found himself on his back, the +teacher stood over him with what the young rebel called a cugel (cudgel) +in his letter, saying, + +"Get upon your feet and spell respectable loud enough for every scholar +to hear." + +The boy saw it was no use to contend with such strength and +determination, and he instantly obeyed, under great mortification. + +"R-e-re-s-p-e-c-spec-respec-t-e-r-ter-respecter-b-l-e-ble, +respecterble." + +The matter had assumed so serious an aspect by this time that the +scholars were quite sober, otherwise they would have laughed at this +original way of spelling respectable. + +"Hold out your hand now," said the teacher, and at once the hand was +held out, and was severely ferruled. + +"Now you can take your seat, and await the decision of the committee. I +shall hand them your letter to-night, and they will decide whether to +expel you from school or not." + +Samuel went to his seat pretty thoroughly humbled, and the teacher +embraced the opportunity to give the scholars some good advice. He was a +good teacher, amiable, affectionate, and laborious, but firm and +resolute. He was too strict to please such indolent boys as Samuel, who +often tried him by his idleness and stupidity. His object in making him +spell as he did was to mortify him by an exposure of his ignorance. His +father had given him good opportunities to learn, but he had not +improved them, so that he could spell scarcely better than scholars +eight years old. Had he been a backward boy, who could make little +progress, even with hard study, the teacher would not have subjected him +to such mortification; but he was indolent, and his ignorance was solely +the fruit of idleness. On the whole, it was about as good a lesson as he +ever had, and was likely to be remembered a good while. The district +generally sustained the teacher in his prompt efforts to subdue the +vicious boy. + +The committee considered the case on that evening, and decided that +Samuel should be expelled from school. They were influenced to decide +thus, in part, by his many instances of previous misconduct. He was +habitually a troublesome scholar, and they concluded that the time had +come to make an example of him. Their decision was communicated to him +by the teacher on the following day, and he was accordingly expelled. +When he went out, with his books under his arm, he turned round and made +a very low bow, which, though he intended it as an indignity, really +savored more of good manners than he was wont to show. + +In the sequel, the reader will understand why this incident is narrated +here, and, by the contrast with Nat's habits and course of life, will +learn that the "boy is father of the man" that "idleness is the mother +of vice," and that "industry is fortune's right hand, frugality her +left." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +TAKING SIDES. + + +"I have been reading the Federalist," said Charlie one evening, as he +entered Nat's study, "and I am a pretty good Federalist." He looked very +pleasant as he spoke, and Nat replied in a similar tone and spirit, +without the least hesitation, + +"I have been reading the life and writings of Jefferson, and I am a +thorough Democrat." + +"A Democrat!" exclaimed Charlie, with a hearty laugh at the same time. +"Do you know what a Democrat is?" + +"Perhaps I don't; but if anybody is not satisfied with such principles +as Jefferson advocated, he is not easily suited." + +"But Jefferson was not a Democrat. The Federalist calls him a +Republican." + +"I know that," replied Nat. "The Jefferson party were called Republicans +in their day; but they are called Democrats now. I don't like the name +so well, but still the name is nothing in reality,--the principles are +what we should look at." + +"You don't like company very well, I should judge," said Charlie; "I +should want to belong to a party that could say _we_." + +"What do you mean by that?" inquired Nat. + +"Father said there wasn't but four democratic votes cast in town at the +last election; that is what I mean. I should think you would be lonesome +in such a party." + +"If _I_ had been old enough," continued Nat, "there would have been +_five_ votes cast. I don't care whether the party is great or small, if +it is only right." + +"I glory in your independence," replied Charlie, "but I am sorry you +have so poor a cause to advocate." + +"I guess you don't know what the cause is, after all. Have you read the +life of Jefferson?" + +"About as much as _you_ have read the Federalist," replied Charlie. "We +are probably about even on that score." + +This interview occurred some time after Nat and Charlie entered the +factory, perhaps a year and a half or two years. Charlie really thought +he was in advance of his fellow-student on this subject. He did not know +that Nat had been reading at all upon political topics. Being himself +the greatest reader of the two, he knew that he read upon some subjects +to which Nat had given no attention. He was very much surprised to hear +him announce himself a Democrat, and particularly for the reason named. +It was about thirty years ago, when the followers of Jefferson were +first called Democrats. Many of them were unwilling to be called thus, +and for this reason they were slow to adopt the title. It was a fact +that only four persons cast votes in Nat's native town, at the aforesaid +election as avowed _Democrats_. But the incident shows that the hero of +our tale was an independent thinker, voluntarily investigating some +subjects really beyond his years, with sufficient discrimination to +weigh important principles. In other words, he was a student, though a +bobbin boy, loving knowledge more than play, and determined to make the +most of his very limited opportunities. It is an additional proof of +what we have said before, that he studied just as he skated or swam +under water,--with all his soul,--the only way to be eminently +successful in the smallest or greatest work. + +"Let us see," said Nat, taking up the life of Jefferson, "perhaps _you_ +will be a Democrat too, when you know what Jefferson taught. _He_ wrote +the Declaration of Independence." + +"He did!" exclaimed Charlie, with some surprise. "That is good writing +certainly. It was read at the last Fourth of July celebration." + +"And we will read some of it again," said Nat, opening the volume, "and +then you may bring your objections." + +"'We hold these truths to be self-evident,--that all men are created +equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable +rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among +men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that +whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is +the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new +government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its +powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their +safety and happiness.'" + +"Have you any objections to that?" inquired Nat, after it was read. + +"No," answered Charlie, "and I have never heard of any one who has. It +is pretty good doctrine for such poor fellows as we are certainly." + +"You are a Democrat so far, then," said Nat; "you want to have as good a +chance as anybody, and so do I. I am for equal rights, and Jefferson +would have the poor man have the same rights as a governor or +president." + +"So would the Federalists," replied Charlie. "John Adams wanted this as +much as Jefferson." + +"You mean that he said he did," answered Nat. "Jefferson thought that +Mr. Adams's principles would lead to a limited monarchy, instead of a +republic, where each man would enjoy his rights." + +"I should like to know how that could be?" inquired Charlie. "What I +have read in the Federalist shows that he was as much in favor of the +Declaration of Independence as any one." + +"But he wanted the president and his cabinet to have very great power, +somewhat like monarchs, and Jefferson wanted the _people_ to have the +power. That was the reason that Jefferson's party called themselves +Republicans." + +"Yes; but do the Democrats now carry out the Declaration of +Independence? Don't they uphold slavery at the present day?" + +"Jefferson did not uphold it in the least, and a good many of his +friends did not. If his life and writings tell the truth, some of the +Federalists _did_ uphold it, and some of them had slaves. So you can't +make much out of that." + +"All I want to make out of it," replied Charlie, "is just this--that the +Democrats now _do_ sustain slavery, and how is this believing the +Declaration of Independence, that '_all_ men are created equal?'" + +"I don't care for the Democrats now," responded Nat. "I know what +Jefferson believed, and I want to believe as he did. I am such a +Democrat as he was, and if he was a Republican, then I am." + +"I suppose, then," added Charlie, with a sly look, "that you would like +the Declaration of Independence a little better if it read, 'all men are +created equal,' _except niggers_?" + +"No, no; Jefferson believed it just as it was, and so do I. Whether men +are white or black, rich or poor, high or low, they are equal; and that +is what I like. He never defended slavery, I would have you know." + +"I thought he did," added Charlie. + +"I can show you that he did not," said Nat, taking up a volume from the +table. "Now hear this;" and he proceeded to read the following, in which +Jefferson is speaking of holding slaves: + +"'What an incomprehensible machine is man! who can endure toil, famine, +stripes, imprisonment, and death itself, in vindication of his own +liberty, and the next moment be deaf to all those motives whose power +supported him through the trial, and inflict on his fellow men a +bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that +which he rose in rebellion to oppose. But we must wait with patience the +workings of an overruling Providence, and hope that that is preparing +the deliverance of these our suffering brethren. When the measure of +their tears shall be full--when their tears shall have involved heaven +itself in darkness--doubtless a God of justice will awaken to their +distress, and by diffusing a light and liberality among their +oppressors, or, at length by his exterminating thunder, manifest his +attention to things of this world, and that they are not left to the +guidance of blind fatality.'" + +"That is strong against slavery, I declare," said Charlie. "I had always +supposed that Jefferson was a defender of slavery." + +"How plainly he says that there is more misery in 'one hour' of slavery, +than there is in 'ages' of that which our fathers opposed in the +Revolution," added Nat. + +"And then he calls the slaves '_our suffering brethren_,' and not +'_niggers_,'" said Charlie, with a genuine look of fun in his eye. + +"I want to read you another passage still, you are beginning to be so +good a Democrat," said Nat. + +"Don't call _me_ a Democrat," answered Charlie, "for I don't believe the +Democrats generally carry out the principles of Jefferson." + +"Republican, then," answered Nat quickly, "just what Jefferson called +himself. You won't object to that, will you?" + +"Read on," said Charlie, without answering the last inquiry. + +Nat read as follows: + +"'With what execration should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting +one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other, +transforms those into despots, and these into enemies, destroys the +morals of the one part, and the _amor patriæ_ of the other. For if a +slave can have a country in this world, it must be any other in +preference to that in which he is born to live and labor for another, in +which he must lock up the faculties of his nature, contribute as far as +depends on his individual endeavors to the banishment of the human race, +or entail his own miserable condition on the endless generations +proceeding from him. With the morals of a people their industry also is +destroyed. For in a warm climate no man will labor for himself who can +make another labor for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors of +slaves, a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labor. And can +the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their +only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these +liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with +his wrath? Indeed, _I tremble for my country when I remember that God is +just_; that his justice cannot sleep forever; that considering numbers, +nature, and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an +exchange of situation is among possible events; that it may become +probable by supernatural interference. The Almighty has no attribute +that can take side with us in such a contest. But it is impossible to be +temperate and pursue this subject.'" + +"That is stronger yet!" exclaimed Charlie. "I tell you, Nat, there are +no such Democrats now." + +"Yes, there are; you see one sitting in this chair," replied Nat, "and I +believe there are many such. A person must believe so if he believes the +Declaration of Independence. Come, Charlie, you are as good a Democrat +as I am, only you won't own it." + +"I certainly think well of Jefferson's principles, so far as you have +read them to me, but I am not quite ready to call myself a Democrat." + +We can readily see that Nat's sympathies would lead him at once to +embrace the views of Jefferson on reading his life and writings. We have +seen enough of him in earlier scenes to know in what direction they +would run. His pity for the poor and needy, the unfortunate and injured, +even extending to abused dumb animals; his views and feelings respecting +the different orders of society; and his naturally kind and generous +heart, would prepare the way for his thus early taking sides in +politics. The traits of character discoverable in the court scene, when +he plead the case of the accused boys; his grief with Frank when he wept +over dead Trip; his condemnation of Sam Drake in defence of Spot, and +one or two other incidents, are also traceable in his interest in the +character and principles of Jefferson. There seemed to him more +_equality_ in those doctrines, more regard for the rights of the +people, more justice and humanity, than in any thing he had read. +Indeed, he had read nothing strictly political before, except what came +under his eye in the papers, and he was fully prepared to welcome such +views. + +Jefferson's life and writings certainly made a lasting impression upon +Nat's mind. It was one of the works that contributed to his success. +Like the lives of Patrick Henry and of Dr. Franklin, and the address +upon the character of Count Rumford, it contained much that appealed +directly to his early aspirations. It is said that when Guido stood +gazing upon the inimitable works of Michael Angelo, he was first roused +to behold the field of effort for which he was evidently made, and he +exclaimed, "I, too, am a painter." So, it would seem, that direction was +given to the natural powers of Nat, and his thirst for knowledge +developed into invincible resolution and high purpose by this and +kindred volumes. It is often the case, that the reading of a single +volume determines the character for life, and starts off the young +aspirant upon a career of undying fame. Thus Franklin tells us that when +he was a boy, a volume fell into his hands, to which he was greatly +indebted for his position in manhood. It was "Cotton Mather's Essays to +do Good," an old copy that was much worn and torn. Some of the leaves +were gone, "but the remainder," he said, "gave me such a turn of +thinking as to have an influence on my conduct through life; for I have +always set a greater value on the character of a doer of good than any +other kind of reputation; and if I have been a useful citizen, the +public owes all the advantage of it to the little book." Jeremy Bentham +said that the current of his thoughts and studies was decided for life +by a single sentence that he read near the close of a pamphlet in which +he was interested. The sentence was, "The greatest good of the greatest +number." There was a great charm in it to one of his "turn of mind," and +it decided his life-purpose. The passion of Alfieri for knowledge was +begotten by the reading of "Plutarch's Lives." Loyola, the founder of +the sect of Jesuits, was wounded in the battle of Pampeluna, and while +he was laid up with the wound, he read the "Lives of the Saints," which +impressed him so deeply that he determined from that moment to found a +new sect. + +There is no end to such examples from the page of history. It may seem +an unimportant matter for a boy to read the life of Jefferson, or +Franklin, or any other person; but these facts show us that it may be no +trivial thing, though its importance will be determined by the decision, +discrimination, and purpose with which the book is read. Very small +causes are sometimes followed by the greatest results. Less than a book +often settles a person's destiny. A picture created that life of purity +and usefulness which we find in Dr. Guthrie, the renowned English +champion of the Ragged School enterprise. His case is so interesting, +that we close this chapter by letting him speak for himself. He says, + +"The interest I have been led to take in this cause is an example of +how, in Providence, a man's destiny,--his course of life, like that of a +river, may be determined and affected by very trivial circumstances. It +is rather curious,--at least it is interesting to me to remember,--that +it was by a _picture_ I was first led to take an interest in ragged +schools,--by a picture in an old, obscure, decaying burgh that stands on +the shores of the Firth of Forth, the birth-place of Thomas Chalmers. I +went to see this place many years ago, and, going into an inn for +refreshment, I found the room covered with pictures of shepherdesses +with their crooks, and sailors in holiday attire, not particularly +interesting. But above the chimney-piece there stood a large print, more +respectable than its neighbors, which represented a cobbler's room. The +cobbler was there himself, spectacles on nose, an old shoe between his +knees,--the massive forehead and firm mouth, indicating great +determination of character, and, beneath his bushy eyebrows, benevolence +gleamed out on a number of poor ragged boys and girls, who stood at +their lessons round the busy cobbler. My curiosity was awakened; and in +the inscription I read how this man, John Pounds, a cobbler in +Portsmouth, taking pity on the multitude of poor ragged children left by +ministers and magistrates, and ladies and gentlemen, to go to ruin on +the streets,--how, like a good shepherd, he gathered in these wretched +outcasts,--how he had trained them to God and to the world,--and how, +while earning his daily bread by the sweat of his brow, he had rescued +from misery and saved to society not less than five hundred of these +children. I felt ashamed of myself. I felt reproved for the little I had +done. My feelings were touched. I was astonished at this man's +achievement; and I well remember, in the enthusiasm of the moment, +saying to my companion (and I have seen in my cooler and calmer moments +no reason for unsaying the saying),--'That man is an honor to humanity, +and deserves the tallest monument ever raised within the shores of +Britain.' I took up that man's history, and I found it animated by the +spirit of Him who had 'compassion on the multitude.' John Pounds was a +clever man besides; and, like Paul, if he could not win a poor boy any +other way, he won him by art. He would be seen chasing a ragged boy +along the quays, and compelling him to come to school, not by the power +of a policeman, but by the power of a hot potato. He knew the love an +Irishman had for a potato; and John Pounds might be seen running +holding under the boy's nose a potato, like an Irishman, very hot, and +with a coat as ragged as himself. When the day comes when honor will be +done to whom honor is due, I can fancy the crowd of those whose fame +poets have sung, and to whose memory monuments have been raised, +dividing like the wave, and passing the great, and the noble, and the +mighty of the land, this poor, obscure old man stepping forward and +receiving the especial notice of Him who said, 'Inasmuch as ye did it to +one of the least of these, ye did it also to me.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THREE IMPORTANT EVENTS. + + +"Frank is coming into the factory to work," said Nat one day to Charlie. + +"He is?" answered Charlie with some surprise, as he had not heard of it; +"when is he coming?" + +"Next week I expect, if the place is ready for him. I am glad he is +coming, for he will be company for us." + +"Are his parents so poor that he is obliged to work here for a living?" + +"Yes; they are not able to keep him at school any longer, and they think +he is old enough now to do something to support himself." + +"It is a dreadful thing to be poor, isn't it, Nat?" + +"It is bad enough, but not the worst thing in the world," answered Nat. +"Dr. Franklin said it was worse to be _mean_." + +"I shan't dispute with him on that point," replied Charlie, "for there +is only one side to that question. But I was thinking how poor boys are +obliged to work instead of going to school, and of the many hard things +they are obliged to meet." + +"I think of it often," added Nat, "but then I remember that almost all +the men whose lives I have read, were poor boys, and this shows that +poverty is not so bad as some other things. But I don't quite believe +Dr. Franklin's remark about the ease of becoming rich." + +"What was his remark?" inquired Charlie. + +"'The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market,'" answered Nat; +"and if that isn't plain enough, I should like to know how it could be +made plainer." + +"Well, I don't believe _that_," said Charlie. "If men could become rich +as easily as they can go to market, there would be precious few poor +people in the world. But is that really what he means?" + +"Certainly; only _industry_ and _frugality_, he says, must be practised +in order to get it." + +"That alters the case," answered Charlie, "but even then I can't quite +believe it. Are all industrious and frugal people wealthy?" + +"No," replied Nat; "and that is the reason I doubt the truth of Dr. +Franklin's remark. Some of the most industrious and frugal people in the +world are poor." + +The conversation was broken off here, and we will take this opportunity +to remark, that Frank Martin entered the factory, as had been arranged, +and was most cordially welcomed by the boys. He had been less with Nat, +since the latter became a bobbin boy, than before, but their friendship +was not abated. We have seen that they were on very intimate terms +before, and were much in each other's society. Frank's entrance into the +factory was suited to strengthen that friendship. The fact that each of +the boys was poor and obliged to work for a living, and that each, also, +was a factory boy, was enough to cause their sympathies to run together. +It is natural for the rich to seek the society of the rich, and for the +poor to seek the society of the poor, because their sympathies blend +together. Hence, we generally find in communities that the rich and poor +are usually separated, in some measure, by social barriers. This is not +as it should be by any means; and this distinction between the rich and +poor often becomes obnoxious to every kind and generous sentiment of +humanity. Still, to some extent, the very experience of the rich begets +a fellow-feeling with the rich, and so of the poor. The same is true, +also, of trials. The mother who has lost her babe can sympathize with +another bereaved mother, as no other person can. The sorrowing widow +enters into the bitter experience of another wife bereft of her husband, +as no other weeper can. And so it is of other forms of human experience. +Then, the occupations of individuals comes in to influence the +sympathies. A farmer meets a stranger, and finds, after cultivating his +acquaintance, that he is a farmer, and this fact alone increases his +interest in the individual. A sailor falls into company with an old man +of four-score years, and finds that he was once a sailor, and this item +of news draws him towards the aged man at once. A lawyer or clergyman is +introduced to a gentleman in a foreign land, and he learns that the +stranger is a lawyer or clergyman, as the case may be, and this +knowledge itself makes him glad to see him. + +Now this principle had a place in the hearts of these three factory +boys, and bound them together by very strong ties of friendship. No +three boys in the village thought so much of each other, nor were so +much in each other's society, as they. There is no doubt that their +intimate acquaintance and intercourse had much to do in forming the +character of each. It certainly opened the way for some experiences that +helped make Nat what he became. + + * * * * * + +"How did you like Marcus Treat?" inquired Charlie, the evening after he +introduced this new comer into Nat's study. + +"Very much indeed," answered Nat. "He seems to be a capital fellow, and +he is a good scholar I know from his appearance." + +"He _is_ a good scholar, for one of the boys told me so. He has been in +school only two or three weeks, but that is long enough to tell whether +a fellow is a dunce or not." + +"Where did he come from?" asked Nat. + +"From----, I understand; and he lives with his uncle here. His parents +are poor, and his uncle has offered to take him into his family." + +"He will have a good home. His uncle will do as well by him as he would +by a son." + +"That is true; but he is not able to do much for either, I should think. +Is he not a poor man?" + +"Perhaps so; he has to work for a living, but many men who are obliged +to do this, can do much for their sons. I pity him to have to leave his +home and go among strangers." + +"He will not be a stranger long with us," said Charlie. "He seemed much +pleased to get acquainted with us, and to know about our plan of study." + +"I suppose the poor fellow is glad to get acquainted with anybody," said +Nat, "here among strangers as he is. It is a dreadful thing to be poor, +you said, the other day, and I guess he begins to find it so. We must +try to make him feel at home." + +"That won't be difficult; for I think, from all I hear, that he fares +much better here than he did at home, because his father was so very +poor." + +"They say 'home is home if it is ever so homely,' and I believe it, and +probably Marcus does. But if he likes to study, he will be glad to join +us, and we shall be glad to have him." + +"I will speak to him about it to-morrow, if I see him," added Charlie. +"He told me that he read evenings." + +This Marcus Treat had just come to town for the reasons given by +Charlie. He was about the age of Nat, and was a very bright, smart, +active boy, disposed to do about as well as he knew how. He entered the +public school immediately on coming into town, where his uncle designed +to keep him, at least for a while. We shall find, hereafter, that he +became a bosom companion of Nat's, and shared in his aspirations for +knowledge, and did his part in reading, debating, declaiming, and other +things pertaining to self-improvement. + + * * * * * + +A kind letter came that brought trial to Nat. It was designed for his +good, but it dashed many of his hopes. An uncle, residing in a distant +city, proposed to receive him into his family, and give him an +opportunity to labor with himself in the factory. He was overseer of one +of the rooms, and there Nat could work under his eye, in a new branch of +the business. + +"Would you like to go?" inquired his mother. + +"On some accounts I should," answered Nat; "and on others I rather not +go." + +"It is a good thing for boys to go away from home to stay, if they can +have a good place," said she; "and you would certainly enjoy being in +your uncle's family." + +"I should like that well enough; but it is going among strangers, after +all; and then here I have a good chance to read and study, and Charlie +and I have laid our plans for the future. We have but just commenced to +do much in this respect. I should much rather stay here." + +"But you can have books there, and as much time out of the factory as +you have here. Your uncle will favor you all he can, and will be glad to +see you try to improve your mind." + +"I shan't have Charlie nor Frank there, nor that new acquaintance, +Marcus, who was here the other evening; he was going to study with us. I +don't believe there will be a library there either." + +"I think there will be a library in the place," said his mother, "to +which you can have access. At any rate, I am confident your uncle will +provide a way for you to have all the books you want." + +"How soon does he want I should come?" + +"As soon as you can get ready. It will take me, some little time to +repair your clothes, and make the new ones you must have. You could not +be ready in less than two or three weeks." + +"Perhaps I shall not like the new kind of work there, nor succeed so +well in doing it. It will be more difficult." + +"And you are able now to perform more difficult work than you did when +you first went into the factory. You ought to keep advancing from one +step to another. Besides, it may turn out better than you expect if you +go there. You know that when you entered the factory two years ago, you +thought you should never learn any thing more, but you have been pretty +well satisfied with your opportunities to read. Perhaps you will be as +happily disappointed if you go to live with your uncle." + +"There is very little prospect of it," replied Nat. "But I shall do as +you think best." + +Nat could not help thinking about the new comer, Marcus Treat. He had +been pitying him because he was obliged to leave his home, to live with +his uncle among strangers; and now he himself was to have just such an +experience. He little thought, when he was conversing with Charlie about +this unpleasant feature of Marcus' life, that he would be obliged to try +it himself so soon. But it was so. Marcus came to reside with his uncle +in a community of strangers, and now Nat is going to reside with _his_ +uncle, where faces are no more familiar. It was a singular circumstance, +and Nat could but view it in that light. + +We have no space to devote to this part of Nat's life. We can only say, +that it was decided to send him to his uncle's, and that he went at the +earliest opportunity. It would be interesting to trace his interviews +with his bosom companions before his departure--the sad disappointment +that was felt by each party at the separation--the regrets of Charlie +over frustrated plans in consequence of this step--the preparations for +the journey--his leave of his native village--the long ride, by private +conveyance, with his parents, to his new residence--and his introduction +to a new sphere of labor. + +He was absent three years, in which time he added several inches to his +stature, and not a little to his stock of information. We will only say +of this period, however, that his leisure hours were spent in +self-improvement, and he was supplied with books, and had some other +sources of information, such as public lectures, opened to him in the +place. On the whole, these three years were important ones to him, so +that there was a gain to set over against the loss he sustained in +bidding adieu to well-laid plans for improvement in his birth-place. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +FINDING A LOST OPPORTUNITY. + + +It was a few weeks after Nat's return to his native place, where he was +most cordially welcomed by his old companions, Charlie and Frank in +particular. He was now an apprentice in the machine-shop, a stirring, +healthy youth of about seventeen years. + +"What have you there?" said Charlie to him, as he saw Nat take a book +from his pocket to spend a leisure moment over it. + +"My grammar," answered Nat, smiling. + +"Have you discovered that you can't write a letter with propriety +without it?" inquired Charlie, referring rather jocosely to a scene we +have sketched. + +"I am pretty thoroughly convinced of that," responded Nat. "At any rate, +I shall find that lost opportunity if I can. Better now than never." + +"You think better of that grammar class than you did five years ago, do +you?" + +"I have thought better of it for a good while, and should like to join +it now if I had the opportunity. We were both very foolish then, as I +have found out to my sorrow." + +"I have often thought of that time," said Charlie; "I think we were +rather too set in our opinions." + +"Yes; and if the teacher had just given us what we deserved, perhaps I +should not now be obliged to study grammar," added Nat. + +"I am glad to see you so willing to own up, only it is a little too late +to profit much by it. This 'after wit' is not the best kind." + +"It is better than no wit at all," said Nat, rather amused at Charlie's +way of "probing an old sore." + +"The fact is, we were too young and green then to appreciate the +teacher's reasons for wanting us to study grammar. He was right, and we +were wrong, and now I am obliged to learn what I might have acquired +then more readily." + +"But we studied it, did we not?" inquired Charlie. + +"Only to _recite_. We did not study it to _understand_. I knew little +more about grammar when I left off going to school than I do about Greek +or Hebrew. It is one thing to commit a lesson, and another to comprehend +it. I am determined to understand it now." + +"How long have you been studying it?" + +"A few weeks ago I commenced it in earnest. I looked at it occasionally +before." + +[Illustration] + +"Have you advanced so far as to know whether Sam Drake is a proper or +improper noun?" asked Charlie, in a jesting manner. + +"Possibly," answered Nat, dryly. "By the way, I hear that Sam has +removed from town, and all the family." + +"Yes, they have gone, and I have cried none yet, and hope I shall not. +Sam is a worse fellow now than he was when you left town." + +"He is! He was bad enough then, and if he is much worse now, I pity the +people who are obliged to have him about." + +"They told some hard stories about him last summer; if half of them are +true, he is a candidate for the state prison." + +"What were the stories?" asked Nat, not having heard any thing in +particular about him since his return. + +"Some people thought he robbed Mr. Parton's orchard, and stole Mrs. +Graves' pears and plums. He went off several times on Sunday and came +back intoxicated. In fact, almost every evil thing that has been done in +the night-time, for months past, has been laid to him. Perhaps he was +not guilty, but people seem to think there is nothing too bad for him to +do." + +"And they think about right, too," added Nat. "I never saw a fellow who +seemed to enjoy doing mischief like him. But how is it with Ben? I used +to think he would do better if Sam would let him alone." + +"People generally are of the same opinion. Ben is no worse than he was +when he went to school, though he has frequently been in miserable +scrapes with Sam. I guess they will end about alike. But I want to talk +more about your grammar. Do you really expect to master grammar without +a teacher?" + +"Of course I do, or I should not undertake it. We conquered worse +difficulties in mathematics than I have yet found in grammar." + +"But how can you have patience to pursue such a dry study alone?" + +"It is not dry now. It was dry to us that winter because we did not want +to know any thing about it. Any book will be dry when we don't care to +read it. I have found that no study is dry which I really want to know +about. I like grammar first-rate now." + +"Then you think that _we_ were dry, and not the grammar?" inquired +Charlie. + +"Certainly; and you will find it so, if you will try it. When a person +really wants to comprehend any subject, he will be interested in it, and +he will quite readily master it." + +"I shall not dispute your position," said Charlie. "But when you have a +good grammar lesson you may recite it to me. I think you will make a +good grammarian after all--you certainly will if a good resolution will +accomplish it." + +"I do not expect to distinguish myself in this branch of knowledge," +replied Nat. "But I am determined to know something about it. A person +need not learn every thing there is to be known about a study to make it +profitable to him." + +Nat was accustomed, at this period of his life, to carry some book with +him for use every spare moment he found. He had a literary pocket into +which volume after volume found its way, to remain until its contents +were digested. The grammar had its turn in this convenient pocket, and +every day was compelled to disclose some of its hidden knowledge. +Pockets have been of great service to self-made men. A more useful +invention was never known, and hundreds are now living who will have +occasion to speak well of pockets till they die, because they were so +handy to carry a book. Roger Sherman had one when he was a hard-working +shoemaker in Stoughton, Mass. Into it he stuffed geography, history, +biography, logic, mathematics, and theology, in turn, so that he +actually carried more science than change. Napoleon had one, in which he +carried the Iliad when he wrote to his mother, "With my sword by my +side, and Homer in my pocket, I hope to carve my way through the world." +Hugh Miller had one from which he often drew a profitable work as he +was sitting on a stone for a few moments' rest from his hard toils. +Elihu Burritt had one from the time he began to read in the old +blacksmith shop until he acquired a literary fame, and on "a grand scale +set to working out his destiny at the flaming forge of life." In writing +to a friend, he said, "Those who have been acquainted with my character +from my youth up, will give me credit for sincerity when I say, that it +never entered into my head to blazon forth any acquisition of my own. +All that I have accomplished, or expect, or hope to accomplish, has +been, and will be, by that plodding, patient, persevering process of +accretion which builds the ant-heap,--particle by particle, thought by +thought, fact by fact. And if ever I was actuated by ambition, its +highest and warmest aspiration reached no further than the hope to set +before the young men of my country an example in employing those +invaluable fragments of time, called 'odd moments.'" He was once an +agent for a manufacturing company in Connecticut, and his pocket served +him a noble purpose, for it furnished him with a valuable work often, in +unfrequented spots, where he would let his horse rest, and spend a few +moments in studying by the road-side. The horse soon learned to +appreciate the wants of his driver, and would voluntarily stop in +certain lonely retreats for him to pursue his studies. Thus pockets that +have carried the leanest purses, have often proved the greatest blessing +to mankind. + +But how many youth there are, having much leisure time every day, who +carry nothing better than a knife, purse, and sometimes a piece of +filthy tobacco, in their pockets! It would be infinitely better for them +to put a good book there, to occupy their attention whenever a spare +moment is offered. If only a single hour in a day could be saved from +absolute waste by such reliance on the pocket, this would be sufficient +to secure a large amount of information in a series of years. The +working-days of the week would yield, in this way, six precious hours, +equal to one day's schooling in a week, and fifty-two days, or ten weeks +of schooling in a year. Is not this worth saving? Multiply it by ten +years, and there you have one hundred weeks,--nearly two years of mental +culture. Multiply it by twenty, and you have about four years of this +intellectual discipline. Multiply it once more by fifty years (and he +who lives to three score years and ten, beginning thus in boyhood, will +have even more time than that for improvement), and you have nearly ten +years of mental discipline. If we could gather up all the wasted moments +of the young, who prefer a jack-knife to a book, what a series of years +we could save for literary purposes! Nat's pocket was worth a cart-load +of those who never hold any thing more valuable than money. If some kind +friend had proposed to give him one well filled with gold in exchange +for his, he would have made a poor bargain had he accepted the offer. + +In regard to finding lost opportunities, few persons are ever so +fortunate. Here and there one with the decision, and patient persevering +spirit of Nat makes up for these early losses, in a measure, but they +have to pay for it at a costly rate. Nat thought so when he struggled to +master grammar without a teacher. Deeply he regretted that he let slip a +golden opportunity of his early boyhood, when he might have acquired +considerable knowledge of this science. But his perseverance in finally +pursuing the study furnishes a good illustration of what may be done. + +"What do you say to starting a debating society, Charlie?" inquired Nat, +on the same day they discussed their grammar experience. + +"I would like it well; and I think we could get quite a number to join +it. Where could we meet?" + +"We could probably get the use of the school-house, especially if a +number of the scholars should join us. For such a purpose, I think there +would be no objection to our having it." + +"Let us attend to it at once," said Charlie. "Marcus and Frank will +favor the movement, and I dare say we can get fifteen or twenty in a +short time. Some will join it who do not think of debating, for the sake +of having it go." + +This reference to Marcus renders it necessary to say, that he had left +the district school, and was learning the hatter's trade. During Nat's +three years' absence, he was intimate with Frank and Charlie, and was +disposed to improve his leisure time in reading. He was such a youth as +would readily favor the organization of a debating society, and become +an active member. + +"Come over to our house early to-night," said Nat, "and we will see what +we can do. If we form the society at all, we can do it within a week." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE PURCHASE. + + +On the same week, while the plans for a debating society were maturing, +it was announced that the machine-shop would be closed on Saturday. + +"I shall go to Boston then," said Nat. + +"What for?" inquired Charlie. + +"I want to look around among the bookstores; I think a few hours spent +in this way will be of service to me." + +"Going to purchase a library, I suppose?" added Charlie, with a peculiar +twinkle proceeding from the corner of his eye. + +"Not a very large one, I think; but it is well enough to see what there +is in the world to make a library of." + +"I should think it would be nothing but an aggravation to examine a +bookstore and not be able to buy what you want. It is like seeing a good +dinner without being permitted to eat." + +"I can tell you better about that after I try it. After walking ten +miles to enjoy the sight, and then returning by the same conveyance, I +can speak from experience." + +"Walk!" exclaimed Charlie; "do you intend to walk?" + +"Certainly; won't _you_ go with me? I should like some company, though +it is not a very lonely way." + +"I prefer to be excused," answered Charlie, "until I know your +experience. But why do you not take the stage and save your +shoe-leather?" + +"Because shoe-leather is cheaper than stage-fare," replied Nat. "What +little money I have to spare, I prefer to lay out in books. If the way +to wealth was as plain as it is to Boston market,--as Dr. Franklin +thought,--I should not only ride in the stage to the city, but also +bring back a bookstore." + +There was no railroad to the city at that time; but once or twice a day +there was public conveyance by stage. + +"Well, a pleasant walk to you," said Charlie; "I hope you will remember +that you are nothing but a country boy when you meet our city cousins. I +shall want to go some time, so you must behave well." + +"Much obliged for your advice; I dare say it will be the means of saving +me from everlasting disgrace. What do you charge for such fatherly +counsel?" + +"Halloo! here is Frank," exclaimed Charlie, as Frank made his +appearance. "What do you think Nat is going to do on Saturday?" + +"What he does every Saturday, I suppose,--work," answered Frank. + +"No; there is no work to do on Saturday, and he is going to walk to +Boston to visit the bookstores." + +"Nobody can walk there quicker than Nat," replied Frank; "and if he +scents a book, I shouldn't want to try to keep him company." + +"I should think Boston was forty miles off by your talk," said Nat; +"what is a walk of ten miles for any one of us, hale and hearty fellows. +If I live, I expect to walk there more than once." + +Saturday came. It was a bright, pleasant day, and Nat was up betimes, +clothed and fed for a start. With a light heart and nimble feet, he made +rapid progress on his way, and the forenoon was not far gone when he +reached Cornhill. He was not long in finding the bookstores, caring, +apparently, for little else. Most boys of his age, in going to the city, +would be attracted by other sights and scenes. The Museum, with its fine +collection of curiosities from every part of the world, would attract +one; the State House, with its splendid view from the cupola, would +draw another; the ships in the harbor, with their forest of masts, +would fill the eyes of a third; while the toy-shops, music-stores, and +confectioners, would command the particular attention of others. But +none of these things attracted Nat. He went to examine the bookstores, +and to them he repaired. Books filled the show-windows, and some were +outside to attract attention. He examined those outside before he +stepped in. He read the title of each volume upon the back, and some he +took up and examined. Having looked to his heart's content outside, he +stepped in. A cordial bow welcomed him to every place. + +"What would you like, sir?" inquired one bookseller. + +"I came in," replied Nat, "to look at your books, with your permission." + +"Look as long as you please," replied the bookseller, with a countenance +beaming with good-will, to make Nat feel at home. + +For an hour or more he went from shelf to shelf, examining title-pages +and the contents of volumes, reading a paragraph here and there, marking +the names of authors, and all the while wishing that he possessed this, +that, and the other work. There were two or three volumes he thought he +might purchase if the price was within his limited means, among which +was "Locke's Essay on the Understanding." But he did not discover either +of the works in his examination. At length he inquired, + +"Have you a copy of 'Locke's Essay on the Understanding?'" + +"Yes," replied the bookseller, "I have a second-hand copy that I will +sell you cheap," taking down from a shelf an English pocket edition of +the work. "There, I will sell you that for twenty-five cents." + +"Is it a perfect copy?" inquired Nat, thinking that possibly some leaves +might be gone, which would render it worthless to him. + +"Yes, not a page is gone, and it is well bound, as you see." + +"I will take it," said Nat, well pleased to possess the coveted volume +so cheap, and especially that it was just the thing for his literary +pocket. He was now more than paid for his walk to Boston. He had no idea +of obtaining the work in a form so convenient for his use, and it was a +very agreeable surprise. + +In the course of the day, he made one or two other purchases, of which +we shall not speak, and acquired many new ideas of books. Some valuable +bits of knowledge he gleaned from the pages over which his eyes glanced, +so that, on the whole, it was a day well spent for his intellectual +progress. + +It is related of Dr. John Kitto, that in his boyhood, when he first +began to gratify his thirst for knowledge, he was wont to visit a +bookseller's stall, where he was privileged to examine the volumes, and +he there treasured up many a valuable thought, that contributed to his +future progress and renown. He always regarded this small opportunity of +improvement as one of the moulding events of his life. + +Nat was on his way home at a seasonable hour, and had a very sociable +time with his new pocket companion, which he could not help reading some +on the road. It is doubtful if he ever spent a happier day than that, +though he knew little more about Boston than he did in the morning, +except about the extent and attractions of its bookstores, with a half +dozen of which, on Cornhill and Washington street, he became familiar. + +"Good morning, Nat," said Charlie, on Monday morning, as they met at the +shop. "What discoveries did you make in Boston?" + +The only reply that Nat made was to take from his pocket, and hold up +"Locke's Essay on the Understanding." + +"What is that?" inquired Charlie, taking the volume from Nat's hand, and +turning to the title-page. + +"I have been wanting that some time," said Nat, "but I had no idea of +finding a pocket edition nor getting it so cheap. I bought that for +twenty-five cents." + +"It is a second-hand copy, I see." + +"Yes; but just as good for my use as a copy fresh from the press." + +"A good fit for your pocket," said Charlie; "I should think it was made +on purpose for you. Has the grammar vacated it?" + +"To be sure; it moved out the other day, and Locke has moved in," +replied Nat, taking up Charlie's witticism. + +"Did you have a good time in the city?" + +"Capital: so good that I shall go again the first opportunity I have. +But, I confess, it was rather aggravating to see so many books, and not +be able to possess them." + +Charlie smiled at this confession, remembering their conversation a few +days before, and both proceeded to their work. + +This new volume was a great acquisition to Nat, and as much as any +other, perhaps, had an influence in developing and strengthening his +mental powers. It was not read and cast aside. It was read and re-read, +and studied for months, in connection with other volumes. It was one of +the standard books that moulded his youth, and decided his career. + +It is a singular fact that "Locke's Essay on the Understanding" has +exerted a controlling influence upon the early lives of so many +self-taught men. It was one of the few volumes that constituted the +early literary treasure of Robert Burns, to which he ascribed much of +his success, though he says, at the same time, "A collection of English +songs was my _vade mecum_." The famed metaphysician, Samuel Drew, owed +his triumphs mainly to this work. True, he became a great reader of +other works, for he said, "The more I read, the more I felt my +ignorance; and the more I felt my ignorance, the more invincible became +my energy to surmount it. Every leisure moment was now employed in +reading one thing or another. Having to support myself by manual labor, +my time for reading was but little, and to overcome this disadvantage, +my usual method was to place a book before me while at meat, and at +every repast I read five or six pages." Yet, he attached the most +importance to "Locke's Essay," for he acknowledged that it turned his +attention to metaphysics, and, he said, "It awakened me from my stupor, +and induced me to form a resolution to abandon the grovelling views +which I had been accustomed to entertain." + +The German scholar, Mendelsohn, owed not a little of his distinction in +certain departments of study to the influence of a Latin copy of +"Locke's Essay." He was an extensive reader, and found that a knowledge +of Greek and Latin was necessary for the successful prosecution of his +literary pursuits. Consequently he purchased a copy of "Locke's Essay" +in Latin, and with an old dictionary, which he bought for a trifle, and +the assistance of a friend, who understood Latin, fifteen minutes each +day, he translated the work. But the knowledge it gave him of Latin was +far less valuable than the teachings it communicated, and which he +incorporated into the very web of his future life. + +We can readily perceive how a work like this is suited to arouse the +dormant energies of the mind, and start it off upon a career of thought +and influence. That knowledge of human nature which it imparts, and +particularly the Philosophy of the Mind which it unfolds, are suited to +aid the orator and statesman. He who understands these laws of human +nature can more surely touch the springs of emotion in the soul, by the +flow of his fervid eloquence. + +This was not the last visit of Nat to the Boston bookstores. +Subsequently, as he had opportunity, he walked to the city on a similar +errand, and always returned with more knowledge than he possessed in the +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE DEBATING SOCIETY. + + +The plans of Nat for a debating society were successful, and +arrangements were made accordingly. Permission was obtained to use the +school-house for the purpose, and Tuesday evening was appointed as the +time to organize. + +"Much will depend upon beginning well," said Nat to Marcus. "We must +make it a good thing if we expect any favors in the village." + +"Shall we admit spectators?" inquired Marcus. + +"After we have fairly commenced," answered Nat. "There won't be much +room, however, if all the members attend, and other young people who +want to come in." + +"I should think it would be well to have some declamations and dialogues +occasionally," added Marcus; "it will give more variety. I imagine that +our debates will want something else to back them up. And then some will +be willing to declaim who will not attempt to debate." + +"That is true," replied Nat; "but we form the society for debating, and +therefore this ought to be the principal object. It may be well enough +to have some declamations and dialogues occasionally--I think it would. +But it will do us more good to debate. We shall be more interested in +reading upon the subjects of debate, and then our debates will be better +in consequence of our reading." + +Tuesday evening arrived. Nat and his intimate associates had prepared a +constitution, so that an organization could be effected without delay. A +good number of young people assembled, of both sexes, and a society was +formed in a most harmonious manner. The unanimity of feeling and action +was a lesson to most legislative bodies, and to the Congress of the +United States in particular. It was decided to hold weekly meetings for +debate, and a question was voted for the meeting of the following week. +Nat was appointed to open the discussion, and three others to follow on +their respective sides of the question. A small fee of membership was +required of the male members to defray necessary expenses. + +"A good beginning last night," said Charlie to Nat, on the next morning. + +"Much better than I anticipated," was Nat's reply. "The thing has taken +better than I supposed it would; but many a good beginning has a bad +ending. We must do our best to keep up the interest, and make it +respectable." + +"I was glad to hear you suggest that by-rule about good order," said +Charlie. "I think some voted for it last evening who would not have done +so if it had been deferred until disorder commenced." + +"I knew what I was about," answered Nat. "There are some fellows in the +village who would think they could have a good time in spite of the +officers, because they are of the same age, and I thought it would be +well to get them to vote for good order in the first place. We shall +never accomplish any thing in such a society unless we have as much +decorum as there is in the meetings of adults, and without it we shall +have a bad reputation." + +Here Nat exhibited one trait of his youth--a strong desire to make every +thing in which he engaged respectable. A few years later he manifested a +feeling in the same direction, when he was made captain of the fire +company. He introduced rules to guard against those vices that are so +likely to find their way into such associations; and his arguments were +generally so good, and his appeals so forcible, that he always carried +his propositions. The result was a model fire company that won the +confidence and respect of the citizens. In his boyhood the same trait of +character caused him to care for his appearance, so that in his poverty +he was usually more neat and tidy in his dress than many sons of the +rich with far costlier apparel. And it was this that had somewhat to do +with the general manly character for which he was known when young. + +"I suppose," continued Charlie, "that some men think we only mean to +have a good time, and that there will be more play than profit in our +society." + +"And we must show them that it is otherwise by conducting it in the best +way possible," added Nat. "For one, I want it for my own improvement. I +had better stay at home and read than to go there and spend an evening +to no advantage. Fellows who are not able to go to school, but must work +from morning till night for a livelihood, are obliged to improve their +odd moments if they would ever know any thing. You remember that rule of +Dr. Franklin, 'Lose no time,' I suppose?" + +"I can never forget Dr. Franklin where you are," answered Charlie. "You +think he is law and gospel in every thing but the way to wealth." + +The new-formed debating society filled the thoughts of Nat much of the +time, and the first question for discussion was pretty thoroughly +investigated before the time of the meeting. We do not know precisely +what the question was, only that it was a common one, such as "Which is +the greater curse to mankind, war or intemperance?" Suffice to say, +that it was discussed on the evening appointed, in a manner that was +creditable to all who participated, though the palm was readily conceded +to Nat. The success of the first debate created a strong appetite for +more, and from week to week the interest increased. + +It happened one evening, for some reason, that no question was assigned +for discussion. The members came, and a good number of spectators, but +there was no provision made for a debate. + +"What shall we do?" inquired Charlie, before the hour for opening the +meeting arrived. + +"Decide upon a question now, and, as soon as the meeting is opened, vote +to discuss it," replied Nat, promptly. + +"What! Do you mean to discuss it to-night?" asked John. + +"To be sure I do. It would be a pretty joke to come together, and go +home without doing any thing." + +"I will agree to it," said Marcus. + +"And I, too," said Frank. + +"And I, too," added other voices. + +So it was decided to have a discussion, and a question was agreed upon +by the time the hour for commencing arrived. The meeting was opened, and +the minutes of the last meeting read, when it appeared that there was no +question for debate. Immediately Nat arose, and said, "Mr. +President,--By some misunderstanding it appears that we have no question +for discussion assigned for this evening. I think it would not be for +our credit to go home without a debate, since those who have come here +are expecting a discussion. I therefore move that we debate the +following question this evening (at the same time reading the question), +and that the President appoint the disputants as usual." + +Frank seconded the motion, and it was carried. Next, the President +appointed Nat to open the debate, and Marcus, Charlie, and Frank for the +other three disputants. There was some curiosity on the part of +spectators to see how the boys would get along, and they were all eager +to have Nat begin. All looked very pleasant, however, and well they +might, for who could view this young parliament scene without a smiling +face. Still, it was possible to trace an anxious feeling upon the +countenances of the debaters, unless we except Nat. + +All other preliminary business being disposed of, Nat commenced, +proceeded, and ended, in a speech of twenty minutes, that was not +inferior to any of his previous performances. His speech had a +beginning, middle, and end, and he stopped when he got through, which is +not always the case even with some noted public speakers. The others +followed, speaking about as well as usual, and gaining much applause to +themselves. It was the general opinion, at the close of the evening, +that there had not been a more interesting and profitable discussion in +all their previous meetings. + +"Nat, you was made for a debater," said Frank to him, at the close of +the evening. + +"That is a fact," added Charlie, who heard the remark. "You have +superior abilities to examine and discuss a subject, and you command +language as if you had studied the dictionary all your life. I suspect +that pocket of yours holds the secret." + +"No wonder that he takes such a stand," said Marcus, "he is always +digging away for knowledge. I doubt if he has wasted a moment for five +years. I am fully of the opinion, however, that uncommon abilities is +the real cause of his success." + +These tremendous compliments were flung directly into Nat's face, and he +found it more difficult to reply than he did to speak on the unstudied +question. At length he answered, + +"You do not know me, boys. You overrate me. If I have any success in +speaking, it is not because I have any greater abilities than you have. +I have a taste for such discussions; I love to speak on the questions; +and I desire to do it just as well as I can, and to improve upon it +every week, and that is half the battle. I enter into it with all my +soul, and don't stop to say I can't: that is all the difference." + +"Pshaw, Nat! You will never make me believe that," said Charlie. "You +don't believe it yourself. You are making the way to learning and +eloquence as easy as Dr. Franklin's way to wealth, and I know what you +think of that," and the roguish look that he cast upon him seemed to +say, "I have you now." + +"I say just what I believe," answered Nat. "The most eminent writers +think that a person may be about what he determines to make himself, and +I think it is true. If a man starts with the determination to be the +best kind of a machinist or carpenter, he will ordinarily become so. And +so if he is really determined to excel in any branch of knowledge, he +will usually accomplish his object. Tell me of a great scholar or +statesman who has not worked his way up by perseverance and incessant +labor." + +"All that may be very true," replied Marcus, "but it has nothing at all +to do with the point in question. We do not say that the most gifted man +will distinguish himself without improving his time by close +application. We only say that one man is more highly endowed by nature +than another." + +"I admit that to a certain extent," answered Nat, "and still there is +not so much truth in it as many people suppose. I really believe that if +all the boys would set about improving every moment, as I have done for +some years, you would not observe half so much difference in them as you +do now." + +The boys were rather unceremonious in piling such a load of compliments +upon Nat. There were more than he could dispose of handily. Yet, the +views which he advanced, and which he has always maintained from that +time to this, are substantiated by the best authors we have. His views +were essentially like those of Buxton, who said that he placed his +confidence of success in "ordinary powers, and extraordinary +application." Buxton's language, on one occasion, was very strong indeed +upon the certain success of a firm purpose. "The longer I live," said +he, "the more I am certain that the great difference between men, +between the feeble and the powerful, is energy--invincible +determination--a purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. That +quality will do any thing that can be done in this world; and no +talents, no circumstances, no opportunities will make a two-legged +creature a man, without it." Here is a view of success exactly like that +advanced by Nat to his companions; and other men, in the different +callings of life, have expressed a similar opinion. Each youth must +depend upon his own personal exertions, and not upon superior +endowments, or wealthy or honored ancestry, for eminence. If his name is +ever carved upon the temple of fame, he must carve it himself. + +The debating society had a happy influence upon Nat. It called forth +into exercise the latent powers of his mind that otherwise might have +slept and slumbered. Such an organization has proved a valuable means of +improvement to many persons in their early studies. The Irish orator, +Curran, was indebted to such a "club" for much of the renown that +attached to his after life. He was modest and retiring even to +bashfulness, and had a very marked defect in his articulation, so that +his schoolmates called him "stuttering Jack Curran." He joined a +"debating club," determined to improve if possible, but there one of the +first flings he received was to be called "Orator Mum," in consequence +of his being so frightened when he arose to speak that he was not able +to say a word. But he persevered until he became the champion of the +"club," and laid the foundation of his future eminence as an orator. A +living American statesman, who has already made his mark upon the land +of his birth, considers the influence of a debating society to which he +belonged in his youth, among the first stimulating causes of the course +he has pursued. The highly distinguished English statesman, Canning, +organized a House of Commons among his play-fellows at school, where a +speaker was regularly elected, and ministerial and opposition parties +were formed, and debates carried on, in imitation of Parliament. Canning +became the star of this juvenile organization, and there began to +develop those powers by which, a few years after, as another has said, +"he ruled the House as a man rules the high-bred steed, as Alexander +ruled Bucephalus, of whom it was said the horse and the rider were +equally proud." Henry Clay, the American orator, said to some young men, +"I owe my success in life chiefly to one circumstance,--that I commenced +and continued for years the process of daily reading and speaking upon +the contents of some historical or scientific book. These off-hand +efforts were made, sometimes in a cornfield, at others in the forest, +and not unfrequently in some distant barn, with the horse and ox for my +auditors. It is to this early practice of the art of all arts that I am +indebted for the primary and leading impulses that stimulated me onward, +and have shaped and moulded my subsequent destiny." What speaking to the +forest trees and beasts of the stall was to Clay, that was the debating +society to Nat. It was a place where he could use the knowledge he +acquired by reading, while, at the same time, his mind was stimulated to +action, so that he began to utter "thoughts that breathe and words that +burn." + +Some twelve or fourteen years ago, the author was passing Tremont Temple +in Boston, when he observed an illuminated sign over the door of one of +its basement rooms, "Boston Young Men's Total Abstinence Society," and +in connection with it was a most cordial "WALK IN." We accepted +the silent invitation, and entered. There we found a few young men +engaged in a debate, and some five or six spectators, among whom was +Deacon Grant, listening. After the close of the exercises, the young men +came forward in a most cordial and genial way to converse, and I learned +that they had a small library, and were accustomed to debate questions +of a social and literary character at their meetings. Only a few +belonged to the society; for it has always been true that total +abstinence societies have not been well supported in Boston, and the +fact is a stain upon its social character, and the piety of its +churches; but those few were anxious to make the society a means of +mental improvement, at the same time it contributed to prosper the cause +of temperance. For some years the organization was conducted in this +way; and what was the result? We are not able to point to all the +members as they now meet the stern duties of meridian life, but we know +the whereabouts and position of a few. One of them, who was a mason by +trade, at the time referred to above, is the popular editor of a daily +paper in a New England city, and his charming eloquence has more than +once delighted a Boston audience. Another has worked his way along +through a course of education, and now occupies an honorable position as +a preacher of the gospel. Yet another applied himself to +self-improvement with industry and perseverance, and the world know him +now as the talented author, Oliver Optics. And still another, a +merchant's clerk, now stands at the head of the large mercantile house +in which he then served, possessing wealth and position that many an +older man would be proud to call his own. His beautiful city mansion +contains a study, where leisure hours are profitably employed, showing +that the stimulus of those early debates is still felt. His voice is +often heard in public assemblies, and he now takes his turn, with a +corps of divines and lawyers, in editing a religious magazine. Not one +of these young men had wealth, or titled ancestry, or superior +advantages, to aid them; and all will say that the debates of their +society exerted a powerful influence over them, and contributed largely +to their success. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +COMING AND GOING. + + +Frank was much surprised one day to receive a visit from Ben Drake. + +"Is it you, Ben?" he exclaimed, as he met him at the door. + +"I believe it is," said Ben, "though I hope I am a different Ben from +what I was five years ago," evidently retaining some recollection of +Trip's death. + +"I should not have known you," said Frank, "if I had passed you in the +street. How you have grown!" + +Frank had really no better opinion of Ben now than he had when Trip was +tumbled down Prospect Hill, and he was sorry to see him coming up to his +father's door. Still, he was so much improved in his appearance, and he +met Frank so much more gentlemanly than he ever did before, that the +latter could not but give him a cordial welcome. + +"You have changed as much as I have, I think," added Ben, "though, in +one respect, there was not so much room for a change in your case as +there was in mine." But this allusion Frank did not comprehend. + +"Come in, come in," said Frank, and he ushered him into the house, where +he met the family, who were rather surprised to see him. Mrs. Martin +made inquiries after the family, to which Ben responded in a manner that +evidenced great improvement. + +"Where do you live?" she asked. + +"I am now at school in Andover." + +"Ah! you have better advantages than the rest of the boys." + +"And I hope I improve them better than I used to," said Ben. "I was a +pretty wild boy when I lived here, and it has caused me many regrets." + +"How long are you going to school?" inquired Mrs. Martin. + +"I expect to prepare for college there." + +"You do? Then you are going to have a liberal education? What are you +going to be,--a lawyer?" + +"No; I hope to do more good than I could to be a lawyer. I expect to be +a minister." + +Frank and his mother were both surprised at this announcement, and the +latter asked, + +"Then you are a Christian?" + +"I trust I am. Nothing but becoming a Christian could have saved me from +my wicked ways." + +"How long since you became a Christian?" + +"It is eight or ten months." + +Other inquiries elicited the fact, that his brother Sam was no better +than when he left town, and that much of the time his parents knew +nothing of his whereabouts. + +As the evening drew on (Frank had invited Ben to stay with him), Ben +inquired if there was a prayer-meeting on that evening, to which he +received an affirmative answer. + +"Will you go?" he asked, addressing himself to Frank. + +"Yes; if you wish to have me. It will soon be time to go." + +They went to the prayer-meeting, and entered the room just as the +exercises commenced. A good number were present, some of whose faces Ben +recognized, though scarcely any one at first knew him. In the course of +the evening he arose and spoke in a feeling way of his own experience, +referred to his former recklessness in that village, and disclosed his +purpose to become a minister of Christ. Before he sat down, most of +those present recognized the once bad boy, and they were both surprised +and delighted. Frank could hardly believe what he saw and heard. He +never expected that Ben Drake would take such a stand as this; and he +thought much, but said little. + +Early the next morning, Frank ran over to inform Nat of the arrival of +Ben, and the fact that he was going to make a minister. + +"Going to be a minister!" exclaimed Nat. "I should like to know what can +be found in him to make a minister of." + +"Well, he is certainly in the school at Andover, preparing for +college,--if he tells the truth,--and you have no idea how much improved +he is." + +"He is deceiving you, Frank. I have no confidence in the fellow. He +always was bad, and he always will be." + +"No; he is pious now. I went to the prayer-meeting with him last night, +and he spoke. He spoke well, too, and alluded to his evil ways when he +lived here, and expressed much regret at his course." + +"I can scarcely believe it," replied Nat, "though I used to think that +Ben would not be so bad if Sam was out of the way. What has become of +Sam? There is not much danger of his becoming pious, I take it." + +"Ben is not inclined to talk very freely about him, but from what we +have learned, the family don't know where he is much of the time." + +"How long is it since Ben reformed?" + +"Only eight or ten months. Mother says he appears well now, but she +would rather wait to see how he holds out. She is afraid that his early +vicious habits will be too strong for his present good purpose." + +"Where is he now?" inquired Nat, becoming intensely interested in the +case. "Is he not coming around to see us?" + +"Yes; he will go about some to-day, and go home to-morrow." + +Ben called upon many of his old acquaintances that day, so that they had +an opportunity of seeing him, and all were as much surprised as Frank at +the change in his appearance. His visit created quite a sensation in a +circle of families, where he was particularly known in his early +boyhood, and he was the occasion of many remarks after his departure. +Hereafter we shall see what kind of a man he made. + +Before the young people had fairly recovered from the surprise +occasioned by Ben's visit, news came that Daniel Webster was to speak in +Faneuil Hall, Boston, on a certain evening. + +"I shall go to hear him," said Nat, as soon as he heard of it. "Will you +go, Charlie?" + +"How will you go?" asked Charlie. + +"With my own team, of course," answered Nat, jestingly. + +"And walk home after the address?" + +"Certainly; there is no other way for we poor fellows to do. I never +heard Daniel Webster speak, and I shall hear him if it is a possible +thing. Will you go?" + +"Yes, I will," answered Charlie. "You are not to have all the glory of +walking to Boston. I will try it for once." + +"_I_ expect to try it a good many times," said Nat. "I want to hear some +of the orators of whom so much is said. There is much to be learned in +watching a speaker, and listening to him. His manners teach as well as +his thoughts. I intend to hear Edward Everett the first time he speaks +within ten or fifteen miles of here." + +"I see what you are after," said Charlie. "You mean to discover the +secret of their power, if possible, and I hope you will." + +On the evening of Webster's speech, Nat and Charlie were on their way to +Boston in good season, and arrived at Faneuil Hall before the hour for +the meeting. They hurried in to find eligible seats before the hall was +crowded. Many were already there, and many more were constantly coming +in. Nat found that he could see the speaker better to stand directly in +front of the platform, where many were already awaiting the arrival of +the great orator. So there he took his place, with Charlie by his side, +forgetting that his limbs were weary with the ten miles' walk, and a +day's hard toil in the machine-shop. + +Hearty cheers announced the arrival of the orator, whom Nat had not seen +before, and still another round of applause went up when he arose to +speak. It was a great treat for Nat to listen to the man whose fame made +his name familiar to every school-boy. He drank in every word of his +speech, closely observed every gesture and modulation of voice, and +would have sat entranced till morning, "taking no note of time," if the +gifted orator had continued to pour forth his eloquence. + +"Could any thing be grander than that?" said Nat, as they were leaving +the house. "I would walk twice as far to hear another speech like it." + +"It was very fine indeed," answered Charlie. "It far exceeded my +expectations, high as my hopes were raised." + +"What power there is in the human voice to control men!" said Nat. "How +still it was in the hall! You could almost hear a pin drop, they were so +chained by his eloquence. What else could hold them so long in such +silence!" + +"Nothing," replied Charlie. "It has given me a new idea of eloquence +altogether. His voice alone, without a thought, is enough to command +attention." + +"I could but notice his choice of language," added Nat; "every word +seemed to be the most expressive one he could find, and some of his +gestures appeared to make his words mean much more than they really do." + +Nat had always been a close observer of public speakers from his +boyhood, and lost no opportunity to hear lecturers who came to his +native village. At the time he heard Webster, his desire to listen to +the leading orators of the day had developed almost into a passion. The +Debating Society had probably sharpened his taste for such intellectual +treats, and he was fully resolved to hear all the speakers he could. He +seldom left his book in the evening, except to hear some public speaker +at home and abroad, or to debate a question in the club. Many times he +walked into Boston to listen to some distinguished orator, returning, +often alone, after the treat was enjoyed. This was the pains he took to +hear Edward Everett several times, who became his favorite. He admired +him for the elegance of his diction, and the beauty with which all of +his addresses were invested. He saw more power in Webster, and more +elegance in Everett. + +He frequently walked into neighboring towns to hear lectures and +political speeches. A good speaker announced anywhere in the vicinity +was sure to call him out, whether the speech was upon education or +politics. One great object with him seemed to be, to learn the art of +oratory by actual observation. It is probably true, that he acquired +more knowledge of the English language by listening to gifted speakers +than he ever did from books, and more of the true art of using it +himself to sway an audience. It is said that Robert Bloomfield, when a +poor boy, having only a newspaper and an old English dictionary with +which to gratify his thirst for information, acquired a very good +knowledge of pronunciation by listening to the clerical orator, Mr. +Fawcet. Drawn by the speaker's popularity, he went to hear him one +Sabbath evening, and he was so impressed with his choice and enunciation +of words, that he continued to attend his preaching in order to perfect +himself in the proper use of language--not a very high object for which +to hear preaching, but illustrative of what may be learned by close +observation. In this way Nat, like Bloomfield and Patrick Henry, studied +"men and things," in connection with books, during the eventful years of +his apprenticeship. + +Nat's admiration of the power of the human voice was not all a youthful +hallucination. What is there like it? From the nursery to the Senate it +controls and sways the heart of man. From the mother's voice at the +fireside, to the eloquence of a Webster in the "cradle of liberty," it +soothes, arouses, elevates, or depresses, at its pleasure. Listen to the +gifted orator, as the flowing periods come burning from his soul on +fire, riveting the attention of his hearers in breathless silence for an +hour, almost causing them to feel what he feels, and to believe what he +believes, and bearing them upward by the witchery of his lofty eloquence +until they scarcely know whether they are in the flesh or not, and say +if there is aught of earth to compare with the power of the human +voice. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +GOSSIP. + + +One such youth as Nat in a country village is the occasion of a good +deal of gossip. Many opinions are expressed in regard to his motives and +prospects, though in this case there were few conflicting sentiments. In +the sewing circle, a good old lady, who could not appreciate education +because she had none herself, said, + +"Nat is a smart feller, but I'm feared he'll never be nothin' he thinks +so much of book larning. I 'spose he thinks he can get a living by his +wits." + +The old lady had a half dozen champions of the tongue down upon her at +once. + +"No, no, Mrs. Lane," said one, "you judge Nat too severely. There is no +one who attends to his work more closely than he does. You never heard +one of his employers complain that he was indifferent to his business." + +"He only employs his leisure moments in study," said another; "and I +think that is much to his credit. If more boys in the village were like +him, it would be vastly to our credit, and theirs, too." + +"Yes," added a third; "and you may be sure that when a boy is reading +during his evenings, and at other spare moments, he is out of mischief, +and that is something in these days. There are parents in this town who +never know that their sons are spending their leisure time well, because +they are so often getting into bad scrapes. I guess if we could look +into the tavern some evenings, we should find some of them there smoking +and drinking." + +"Wall," replied the old lady, "that may all be true enough, but too many +edicated men are worse than none at all." + +"Not if they earn their living, as Nat does, and get an education into +the bargain," said one of the former speakers. "There is no danger that +our sons and daughters will know too much. Most of them are satisfied +with knowing too little." + +"Wall, edication is good enough in its place," added Mrs. Lane, "but +what does Nat 'spect to do with it in the machine-shop? You won't make +me b'lieve that larning is good for anybody who will have no use for it. +'Spose a farmer studies the lor, what good will it do him if he only +farms it? It will do him more hurt than good, because he will be nuther +one thing nor 'tother. If we have farmers, let's have farmers, and if we +have machinists, let's have machinists." + +"Perhaps Nat will not always work at his trade," suggested one of the +company. "There are many self-made men who are now serving society much +better than they would be if they had continued to work at manual +labor." + +"Yis, that's it," exclaimed the old lady, with some earnestness; "that +is jist what it will come to. These boys who take so to book larning +will stop working soon as they b'lieve they can get their bread and +butter by their wits. That's jist what I meant in the fust place. I hear +'um tell that Nat goes to Boston nights to hear some great speakers, and +comes home afterwards, and I thinks it is ventersome. I'd never let a +son of mine do it, in this world." + +"Why? why?" inquired two or three voices at once. + +"Why? a good reason why. You never know'd a boy who can be trusted in +Boston nights. You don't know where they'll go to, and if ye do, there +are sharpers on the lookout to lead them into evil. And who knows but +robbers might seize him on his way back? I should think the boy was +crazy." + +"It is only an illustration of his energy and perseverance, Mrs. Lane," +said one of the ladies. "He is determined to know something, though he +has no time to learn except in his leisure hours; and it is really +surprising how much a person may acquire by industry in these fragments +of time." + +"There's a nuther thing, too," continued Mrs. Lane. "I hear 'um tell +that Nat carts a book about in his pocket all the time he works. Pretty +business, I think, for a youngster like him to try to be a scholar and +worker at once! It's all proof to me that taking to books so will spile +him for any thing." + +"One thing is certain, Mrs. Lane, that he does not mean to waste any +time; for the book in his pocket is to take out when he has a minute to +spare. If he gets only ten minutes in a day to read, that will be one +hour in the six working days, which is worth saving. That single hour a +day, in a lifetime, would give a man considerable knowledge." + +"Wall, it's no use arguing about it. Times are so diff'rent now from +what they was when I was young, and peoples thinks so diff'rent, that it +'pears to me sometimes that the world is going to rack and ruin. We got +along well 'nough fifty or sixty years ago without so much edication. +But folks are got to be so stylish now, and boys know so much more than +their grandpas, that I railly don't know what'll come on us." + +"After all, Mrs. Lane, I think you would rather have more boys like Nat, +than like some others I could name," said a former speaker. + +"Lor, yis," she replied; "I guess I should. I allers liked Nat. He's a +rale clever feller as ever lived, and he ain't stuck-up by his +smartness, and he likes to see everybody well used. I larfed myself most +to death when I heard about his waitin' on Hanner Mann to the party. +It's jist like Nat, he can't bear to see anybody slighted." + +"I like to see that," answered one of the number; "it is a good sign. He +thought Hannah and her sister were slighted because their father was +poor and intemperate, and they were not able to dress quite so well as +some others, and this excited his sympathies, so that he was determined +they should go to the party." + +"I know'd all about that," replied Mrs. Lane, "and that's what pleased +me so, to see a youngster like him so inderpendent, and stand up for +good folks if they are poor." + +The reference here to an incident of Nat's youthful experience needs +explanation, as the fact illustrates an element of his character from +childhood, and furnishes additional reason for the course in which his +sympathies and better feelings ran thereafter. Nat and Charlie had +received invitations to a social gathering, in connection with their +companions, and the following conversation and decision occurred with +reference to attending. + +"There is Hannah Mann, and her sister," said Nat, "they never go. Nobody +thinks they are good enough to associate with them, because they are +poor and unable to dress as well as some others." + +"I have observed it," answered Charlie. "Some of the girls are always +making sport of them, and I doubt if any of the fellows ever waited upon +them. Yet they are as good as the best of them, for aught I know." + +"That is true," added Nat; "they appear well, and are good scholars, and +know twice as much as some of the girls who slight them. A splendid silk +dress would not improve their characters at all, though it might their +personal appearance. I will tell you what I will do, Charlie; if you +will wait upon one of them, I will upon the other. What do you say to +it?" + +"I say amen to it," answered Charlie. "They are as good as I am any day, +and I ought not to endanger the characters of those who are better by +going with them." + +"I am in earnest. I mean just what I say," continued Nat. + +"So am I in earnest," said Charlie, smiling. "Did you think I am +joking?" + +"I thought you looked rather unbelieving, as if you imagined _I_ was +jesting." + +"No such thing; your proposition rather pleased me than otherwise." + +"Well, then," said Nat, "it is settled that we go to the party, and wait +upon these girls, is it?" + +"Certainly, if you say so." + +This decision was carried out. The two sisters were escorted to the +party by Nat and Charlie, to the surprise of some of the better +apparelled girls, who were secretly hoping to be the fortunate ones +themselves. The incident created quite a sensation among the young +people. At first, they did not quite understand it; but they were not +long in discovering that Nat intended to rebuke their ungenerous +treatment of these girls. Some were inclined to exhibit a little +resentment; but they soon perceived that it would only make a bad matter +worse. Nat "laughed behind his ears" to see how the thing worked, and +many a knowing glance was exchanged with Charlie in the course of the +evening. Before sun-down, on the following day, the facts in the case +were known by many of the villagers. The aristocratic ones sneered at +the act, while others commended it as the fruit of a generous spirit. On +the whole, it did much good in the community, because it caused many +persons to see the unkindness and even cruelty of slighting the worthy, +on account of their humble origin and circumstances. + +That decision and independence, which aided Nat so much in his studies, +enabled him to perform this act. An irresolute, dull, stupid, +inefficient youth, would not have braved the current of feeling that had +set against the girls. In this way it is, that the leading elements of +character hitherto discussed assist a youth in all circumstances. He is +more of a man in doing both little and great things. They dignify common +politeness as really as they do achievements in art and science. They +make the gentleman as truly as the scholar. Robert Burns was once +walking in the streets of Edinburgh, in company with an aristocratic +associate, when the latter rebuked him for stopping to speak to a rough +but worthy farmer who had come to market, and Burns' reply evinced just +the spirit which Nat admired. "Why, you fantastic gomeral," said he, "it +was not the great coat, the scone bonnet, and the saunders boots hose +that I spoke to, but _the man_ that was in them; and the man, sir, for +true worth, would weigh down you and me, and ten more such, any day." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +GOING TO THE THEATRE. + + +Nat had become an admirer of Shakspeare's dramatic works, and hour after +hour he read them with increasing interest. The more he studied them, +the more he saw to admire. He had never seen one of them acted on the +stage, and, in connection with the displays of eloquence to which he had +been a witness of late, he became desirous of witnessing a theatrical +performance. To heighten his interest, he saw it announced that the +elder Booth would perform in Boston on a given night. He resolved to go. + +"Marcus," said he, "did you know that Booth is to perform at the theatre +in Boston on Monday night?" + +"No," answered Marcus, "is it so?" + +"It is so announced in the papers, and I think I shall go." + +"And walk?" inquired Marcus. + +"Yes; I can walk there as well as to walk to Faneuil Hall to hear +Webster and Everett." + +"You won't get home till morning." + +"I can get home by one o'clock, and possibly before. I wish _you_ would +go, and Frank and Charlie." + +"I will go if they will," answered Marcus. "I should like to see a +tragedy acted for once." + +"It is said that Booth is one of the best readers and speakers of +Shakspeare," continued Nat, "and I want to hear him. He is a great +imitator, and personates the different characters exactly. I don't feel +that I know how to read Shakspeare very well; perhaps I can learn +something about it from him." + +It was decided to consult Frank and Charlie, and secure their company if +possible. Both of them yielded to the proposition, though Charlie +suggested, + +"That many people would think they were hurrying to ruin if they should +hear of their going." + +"Perhaps they will," said Nat, "and I have no doubt that many persons +have been ruined by going; but they did not go for the same object that +we go. I am not going just for the pleasure of witnessing the play, by +any means; I want to see how the actors personate the different +characters. To read Shakspeare well, it must be read just as it is +spoken." + +"No one will stop to consider your motive in going, nor mine," said +Charlie. "They think that the theatre is a bad place, and see not why it +will ruin one and not another." + +"Well, I shall do as I think it is best for myself," answered Nat, in +that spirit of independence and self-reliance for which he was known; "I +shall go once to see, and if I think I can learn any thing to my +advantage, I shall go again, and stop when I have obtained what I want." + +"That's cool enough," said Frank; "you would make a good refrigerator in +dog-days. Perhaps you intend to be an actor?" + +"No, I don't fancy the business. I shall be satisfied to _see_ one." + +Some of their friends propounded objections to this project, but they +were overruled by a full and clear statement of their object in going. +Then, too, the general good character which they bore, and their usual +prudence in avoiding bad company, combined to remove more easily all the +objections propounded. + +The evening of the entertainment was pleasant, and it was indeed a new +step for them, as we see them standing at the entrance of the theatre. +To how many it has been the turning point of life! "Entrance to the +Pit," they read in capitals, with a hand pointing thither,--and to how +many it has been emphatically _the entrance to the pit_, in a most +appalling sense! It was a hazardous experiment for Nat and his +companions,--even more dangerous than the attempt to swim four rods +under water. But they entered with the multitude who were pouring in, +drawn thither by the popularity of the actor announced. The play +commenced, and scene after scene passed before the eyes of Nat, every +word of which he had read over and over again; but now, for the first +time, he beheld the characters in living persons. To him it was putting +the breath of life into what was before beautiful but dead. The play +that was classic and charming to read, was now human-like and wonderful +to act. There was more force, meaning, and power in the text than he had +ever attached to it,--much as he had loved to read it. Closely he +observed the distinguished actor, noticing the utterance of every word, +and the significance of every gesture and motion, with sharp +discrimination, until he almost felt that he could do the like himself. +It was a memorable evening to Nat, and language could scarcely express +all he thought and felt. + +"Nat, you will like Shakspeare better than ever now, will you not?" said +Charlie. + +"More than that," replied Nat. "It seems to me I never understood that +play before. I was reading it the other day, but it is so much more +grand when spoken and acted, that I should hardly know it." + +"Did you observe the bar when you was coming out?" inquired Frank, +addressing himself to Marcus. + +"Yes, and I thought by the appearance they did quite a business in the +line of drinking." + +"They always have bars in theatres," said Nat, "and that is one reason +why they lead persons to ruin. No doubt many are drawn there as much by +the bar as they are by the play." + +"What is the reason they can't have a theatre without having such vices +connected with it?" inquired Charlie. + +"Because they don't try," answered Nat. "I suppose that theatres are +generally managed by men who are in favor of drinking, and they would +not shut out such things of course. I think that men of principle might +establish one that would be unobjectionable; for they would allow no +such evils to be harbored there." + +"Perhaps you can get Parson Fiske and Deacon White to get one up," said +Marcus, laughing at Nat's suggestion, "and then you won't have to walk +ten miles and back to witness a play." + +"Ten miles or not," said Nat, "I have been well paid to-night. There is +a great deal to be learned in witnessing one such performance. I can +read Shakspeare now with more interest and profit than ever. I want to +hear 'The Tempest' played now, and 'King Lear,' and 'Hamlet,' and +'Romeo and Juliet,' and I mean to the first chance I have." + +"Ah, Nat," said Charlie, "I see that it is a foregone conclusion with +you,--you are half ruined now--the more you have, the more you want. We +shall be obliged to look after him more closely," addressing the last +sentence to Marcus and Frank. + +"Yes," added Marcus, "by the time he has heard all these plays, he will +be patronizing that bar, and we shall see him reported in the Police +Court in the morning." + +By the time the clock struck one, Nat was at home. His visit to the +theatre was not kept secret. It was soon quite generally known that he +had been to the theatre, and many remarks were elicited by the fact. +Good people did not respect theatres more at that time than they do now, +so that they regarded this step of Nat as taken in the wrong direction. + +"I am afraid that all the hopes Nat has raised among his friends will be +dashed now," said one. "When a youth gets to going to the theatre, there +is little hope of his doing well. I hardly thought this of him." + +"I thought Nat always wanted things respectable," said a gentleman. +"Does he consider the theatre a respectable place?" + +"What has he done with his books?" inquired another. "I supposed that +he thought of little but an education,--does he find the theatre a good +school in which to be educated?" + +"It is a good school in which to be educated for evil," replied the +individual to whom the remark was addressed. + +One person, however, was heard to say, + +"It will not hurt Nat at all. You may be sure that he did not go there +just for the pleasure of the thing. I have no doubt that he went for the +same reason that he went to hear Webster, Everett, and others speak,--to +learn something. He was drawn thither, not by his love of amusement, but +by his desire to learn. Nat learns more by seeing, than half the +scholars do by hard study." + +"What in the world could he learn there that is good?" inquired a person +who heard the last remark. + +"He could learn how to speak better, if nothing else," was the reply. +"And _that_ he said, in the beginning, was his object in going. When he +has acquired what he thinks he can get there to aid him, you will see +that he will stop." + +"And by that time he may be ruined," was the reply. + +Nat carried out his resolution, and went to the theatre a number of +times, to hear certain plays, walking to Boston and back each time. One +result of his visits was to increase his interest in Shakspeare, so +that he began to practise reading his plays aloud, and personating the +different characters. He made decided progress in this art, and +subsequently gave public readings of Shakspeare, by which he gained much +applause. The result satisfied nearly every one, that he went to the +theatre simply to observe the manner of speaking, as he went to hear +distinguished orators. + +That the object for which a youth visits the theatre will decide, in a +great measure, its influence upon him, no one can deny, and it is so +with all forms of amusement. If he is drawn thither by the fascination +of the play alone, yielding himself up to the witchery of it, without +any regard to the intellectual or moral character of the scenic +representations, he is in a dangerous path. A large majority of those +who visit the theatre with this motive, as mere thoughtless +pleasure-lovers, are probably ruined. + +The youthful reader should not infer that it is altogether safe to visit +the theatre, even for the reason that Nat did. It was a hazardous step +for him on account of the attractions that are thrown around it to +dazzle and bewilder. A high aim, in the path of knowledge, and great +energy and decision of character to execute his purpose, were his +protection. Perhaps not ten of a hundred youth could do the same thing, +and be saved from ruin. Augustine tells of a Christian young man who +was prevailed upon to visit the amphitheatre to witness the +gladiatorial games. He was unfriendly to such sports, and consented to +go solely to please his companion. For his own protection he resolved to +close his eyes that he might not be influenced by the scene. For some +time he kept his eyes closed; but, at length, a tremendous shout caused +him to open them, and look out upon the arena. In an instant, he was +fired with the spirit of those around him,--he cheered the gladiators +on,--he shouted with all his might,--and ever after he became a constant +patron of the games. So it is often with the youth, in our day, who goes +to the theatre _for once_ only. He merely wants to see what the theatre +is, resolved, perhaps, that he will never be known as a theatre-goer. +But he cannot withstand the fascination. Once going has created an +irresistible desire to go again, and again, and again, until his +character is ruined. Where one derives the impulse and knowledge that +Nat did, a hundred are destroyed. It is not wise, then, to try the +experiment. It is acquiring knowledge at too great a risk. Who would +cross a rough and stormy river where he knew that only one in a hundred +had reached the other shore? + +Theatres have always been schools of vice. There never was a time when +their influence was good. At the time our country was struggling for +independence, Congress passed an act recommending the different States +to suppress theatrical performances by law; and soon after they passed +another act declaring that no person who visited the theatre should hold +an office under the government. It seems impossible to make them +otherwise than disreputable. Attempts have been made to establish +_respectable_ theatres, but they have always failed. Such an attempt was +made to reform one of the royal theatres of London, some years ago, and +the committee to whom the subject was submitted reported that the +institution could not be supported after such reform. The experiment was +actually tried with the late Tremont Theatre, in Boston. Intoxicating +drinks were not allowed to be sold, and no females were admitted +unaccompanied by gentlemen, as the better class of people would not +attend if profligate persons were admitted. But the theatre could not be +supported on these principles, and the plan was abandoned. A report was +published, in which it was stated, that if the rent of the building was +free, it could not be sustained by the reform system. Intemperance and +licentiousness appear to be indispensable to support the theatre. There +is good reason, then, for the legend recorded by Tertullian, running as +follows: A Christian woman went to the theatre, and came home possessed +of a demon. Her confessor, seeking to cast out the evil one, demanded of +him how he dared to take possession of a believer, who, by holy baptism, +had been redeemed out of his kingdom. "I have done nothing but what is +proper," said the devil, "for I found her on my own territory." He might +have made a captive of Nat for the same reason. + +Some pronounce this hostility to theatres a prejudice of Christian +ministers and their sympathizers, but this is not true. The popular +actor, Macready, who won a world-wide fame in the business, by his long +connection with the stage, expressed a similar opinion of theatres after +he left the play. He settled in Sherbourne, England, where he had a +pleasant, promising family, and one rule to which his children were +subjected was, "None of my children shall ever, with my consent or on +any pretence, enter a theatre, or have any visiting connection with +actors and actresses." The honored Judge Bulstrode at one time expressed +the feelings of the English bench, when, in his charge to the grand jury +of Middlesex, he said, "One play-house ruins more souls than fifty +churches are able to save." Sir Matthew Hale relates that when he was at +Oxford, he was making rapid advancement in his studies when the +stage-players came thither, and he went to the performance, and became +so corrupted that he almost entirely forsook his studies. He was saved +only by resolving never to attend another play. Even the infidel, +Rousseau, condemned theatres. He said, "I observe that the situation of +an actor is a state of licentiousness and bad morals; that the men are +abandoned to disorder; that the women lead a scandalous life; that the +one and the other, at once avaricious and profane, ever overwhelmed with +debt, and ever prodigal, are as unrestrained in their dissipation as +they are void of scruple in respect to the means of providing for it. In +all countries their profession is dishonorable; those who exercise it +are everywhere contemned." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE DRAMATIC SOCIETY. + + +"Let us form a dramatic society," said Nat to his companions, one day. +"Perhaps we can put an extra touch on 'Henry the Eighth' or 'The +Merchant of Venice.'" + +"I should laugh," answered Charlie, "to see us undertaking the drama. I +guess it would be straining at a _gnat_ (Nat) and swallowing a camel," +attempting to perpetrate a pun, over which he, at whose expense it was +said, laughed as heartily as any of them. + +"Let Charlie laugh as much as he pleases," said Marcus, "I think we +could do well in such an enterprise. We might not eclipse Booth, but we +could get along without a bar and some other things as bad." + +"You will find," continued Charlie, "that a play of Shakspeare will not +go off very well without scenery." + +"Of course it would not," replied Nat. "But we must have scenery of some +kind." + +"Where will you get it?" + +"Make it," quickly responded Nat. "It will be an easy matter to paint +such representations as will answer our purpose." + +"So you will turn actor and artist all at once," said Charlie. "What +will you try to do next, Nat?" + +"As to that," answered Nat, "I will let you know when I have done this. +'One thing at a time,' was Dr. Franklin's rule. But say, now, will you +all enlist for a dramatic society?" + +Frank and Marcus replied promptly in the affirmative, and Charlie +brought up the rear, by saying, + +"Well, I suppose I must be on the popular side, and go with the +majority--yea." + +Here was one of the fruits of going to the theatre. What had been +witnessed there created the desire to undertake the same, although Nat's +object was to improve himself in rhetorical exercises. But the +enterprise grew out of his visits to the theatre, and was well suited to +excite critical remarks. It is probable that most actors and actresses +are made so by first witnessing theatrical performances. We are +acquainted with a person, whose nephew is an actor, with no purer +character than actors usually possess. He was a lover of books in his +youth; and his desire to become an actor was begotten in the theatre. +He was so delighted with what he saw on the stage, that he finally +resolved to make stage-playing his profession; and he now belongs to +that unhonored fraternity. It is not strange that some people were +surprised that Nat should originate such a society. + +"What shall we play?" inquired Frank, on the evening the dramatic +society was organized. + +"'Macbeth,'" replied Nat, who had witnessed this at the theatre. "It may +be more difficult than some others, but it is one of the best plays." + +"_You_ must get up the scenery," said Frank. + +"With the assistance of the rest of you," replied Nat. "It will be no +great affair to paint what we want for this play." + +"How long will it take?" inquired Marcus. + +"We can do it in two evenings," answered Nat. "We ought not to be longer +than that, if we intend to commit the play so as to act it next week." + +"No one but members of the society will be admitted, I suppose," said +Charlie, "until we have thoroughly practised the play." + +"No; we must speak it over and over, so that it will be perfectly +familiar, before we attempt it before visitors." + +On that evening the society was organized by the choice of officers and +the adoption of a constitution and by-laws. Nat had the chief agency in +preparing the constitution and by-laws, as he did in the debating +society, and he found that a knowledge of grammar was indeed a decided +assistance. He was often reminded of the remarks of his teacher, when he +(Nat) was opposed to studying the science. + +[Illustration] + +It was decided to act "Macbeth," and the parts were assigned, and the +time of the first meeting appointed. Many of the young people joined the +society, and were much interested in its object. Such an organization +was suited to awaken more enthusiasm among the young, than a debating +society. + +It was a pleasant evening on which the play was to be performed for the +first time, and every member of the society was there, curious to behold +the result. It went off with considerable eclat, although there were +some blunders and mistakes, as might have been expected. Even Charlie, +who was incredulous about their success, confessed that it passed off +very well. The scenery, which had been prepared by the boys, under Nat's +direction, was quite decent, and it showed that Nat's early practice of +drawing was very useful to him now. It would not bear very close +inspection, it is true; but a short distance off, and by lamp-light, it +looked very well. + +Thus evening after evening they met, with closed doors, to practise the +piece. At length, concluding that they could entertain an audience, +they decided upon a public performance. The plan was adopted with much +spirit, and all were resolved to do their best. + +The entertainment was given at the appointed time, and a good audience +assembled. Each one performed his part well, but Nat, as usual, was +thought to excel. + +"I had no idea the boys would do so well," said Mr. Graves. "I am +surprised that Nat should perform so handsomely; he would make a +complete actor with practice." + +"Marcus did very well indeed," replied the gentleman to whom he +addressed the remark; "in fact, all of them exceeded my expectations. +But Nat plays as if he were perfectly at home." + +"I don't know about the influence of such things," added Mr. Graves. "I +have my fears that such a society will foster a love for theatrical +exhibitions of a far more exceptionable character." + +"I feel exactly so, too. I think it may lead some of the young people +here to attend the theatre, when otherwise they would not. There is no +doubt that Nat originated this society in consequence of attending the +theatre himself. If nothing worse than such an exhibition as we have had +to-night would grow out of it, it would be well enough. I would say amen +to it. But I fear that it will lead to something else." + +"There is the danger," replied Mr. G. "Young people are easily led +astray by such appeals to their senses, and the more easily because they +do not see any evil in them. It is just as it is with using intoxicating +drinks. A young man sees no wrong in sipping a little wine at a party; +but that first wine-glass may create an appetite that will make him a +drunkard. So the sight of such a theatrical performance as this may lead +some of the boys to want to witness a play on a grander scale at the +theatre." + +The exhibition of the Dramatic Society occasioned many remarks like the +above in the village. Some people had expressed their opinions +unfavorably before the exhibition, but this settled the matter in their +view. The very skill which the boys displayed in the performance served +to awaken still greater fears; for the greater the witchery of the play, +the more danger to the young. + +"Thar," said old Mrs. Lane, who entertained us on a former occasion, "I +knowd that it would turn out so. It is jist what I telled ye, when I +heard Nat went to Boston nights arter great speakers. You'll have to +b'lieve me byme bye whether or no." + +"Ah!" said the lady addressed, "it would all have been well enough if +Nat had confined his attention to that. Perhaps it will be well enough +now, though I fear that theatrical performances will have a bad +influence." + +"Pesky bad," replied the old lady. "When boys are runnin arter such +things allers, there is no tellin whar they'll stop. And thar's the +danger of too much edication. If Nat had stuck to his bobbin, and never +knowd any thing else, I guess it would turn out better for him in the +eend. I don't b'lieve in so many new-fangled notions as they have in +these ere times." + +"I have no fears for Nat," responded the lady; "for I think he +participates in these things for self-improvement; but others may do it +for the sake of the amusement. I am afraid that others may imbibe a +taste for the drama, and become theatre-goers in consequence." + +"You seem to think that Nat can't be spiled; but I take it that his good +motives can't make the theatre good. It is a corruptious place, anyhow, +and if it don't spile him, it won't be because it ain't bad enough." + +"Time will show us the result," continued the lady. "But they say Nat +exhibited marked talents for the drama at the exhibition. Several +persons have told me that they were surprised at his ability, but I am +not; for he always excels in whatever he undertakes. He enters into +every thing with all his heart, and does it with all his might." + +"Lor, yes, we all know that," replied Mrs. Lane; "and so I reckon that +if the theatre should spile him, he would be wicked with all his might. +He'd make a rale prodergal son, only more so." + +On the point of Nat's excellence in performing the drama, the following +conversation took place after this public entertainment. + +"You ought to be an actor," said Charlie to him. "You are exactly cut +out for it, and every one who heard you the other night would tell you +so." + +"So far as that is concerned," answered Nat, "the profession of an actor +is the last one I should choose." + +"Why?" inquired Charlie. "I thought you was in love with the business." + +"By no means. I have told you over and over my object in going to the +theatre, and in forming the Dramatic Society, but you always appear to +doubt me. I would not be an actor even if I could be as famous as +Booth." + +"You would not? and yet many seem to think you have a taste in that +direction, and _I_ have thought so too. But tell me why not." + +"Because I have little respect for the business as a profession. It +affords a brief pleasure to an audience for a short time, and that is +all it amounts to. I think it is a good discipline for us in the +Dramatic Society, and I know that I learned some valuable lessons at the +theatre, and I am still of the opinion that a theatre might be so +conducted as to prove a source of innocent amusement, and not a curse." + +"You couldn't make many of the people in this community believe that," +said Charlie. "They think it is a gone case with you since you have +favored theatricals." + +"I know that," replied Nat, "and they would not believe me if I should +tell them what I have you, so that I see no way to convince them but to +wait, and time will do it. I would carry bobbin all my life before I +would be an actor." + +"Well, what would you be, Nat, if you could have your own way?" inquired +Charlie. + +"I would be an orator and statesman like Edward Everett," quickly +answered Nat. "I always had great respect for such men. It is easy to +respect them; but no man can cherish high respect for an actor." + +Here the conversation was interrupted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE SURPRISE. + + +"Heard the news, Nat?" inquired Frank one morning. + +"No, what is it?" + +"The men are going to annihilate our Dramatic Society in the lyceum next +week. They are going to debate a question about dramatic exhibitions, I +understand." + +"Oh, I had heard of that," replied Nat. "We seem to be of much +consequence just now. I hardly thought we were able to create such a +commotion." + +"It seems we are," said Frank, "so you may expect to be finished within +a week. Better write your will, and prepare to be made mince-meat of." + +"The rest of you will come in for a share," said Nat, "so I shall have a +plenty of company, and 'misery loves company' they say." + +"But you are the chief sinner," said Frank, smilingly. "You started the +thing, and carried off all the glory of performing, so you will have to +shoulder the consequences." + +"Not a very heavy burden, I am thinking," responded Nat. "I see no need +of making such a fuss about a trifle, just as if we boys would spoil the +whole town! If Shakspeare were alive he might write another comedy on it +like 'MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.' If the town is so dependent on +us, I think they ought to make us the fathers of it." + +The truth was, that the Dramatic Society had created quite a commotion, +as we saw, in part, in a previous chapter. The good people of the +village were afraid of the consequences, as well they might be, and the +matter was discussed in many family circles, in social gatherings, in +the street and other places, until so much interest was awakened on both +sides, that the subject was introduced into the town lyceum. + +In the hall that was dedicated when Nat was twelve years old, and where +he heard the address upon the life and character of Count Rumford by +which he was so much impressed, there was a lyceum sustained by the +citizens. It was here that the subject of dramatical exhibitions was +introduced by a proposition to discuss the following question, + +"ARE DRAMATICAL EXHIBITIONS BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY?" + +No question had elicited so much interest as this, pro and con, so that +a large attendance was confidently expected. + +"Are you going to hear the Dramatic Society used up to-night?" inquired +Marcus of Nat, on the day of the proposed discussion. + +"Certainly; I am curious to see how the thing will be done. I wouldn't +fail of it for any thing. Let us all go, and save the pieces if we can." + +"I expect they are preparing for a warm debate, from all I hear; and +there will be a crowd there," said Marcus. + +Nat and his boon companions were at the hall in good season, to secure +seats near the debaters. The hall was filled by the time the hour for +opening had arrived, and a spicy time was expected. The president called +the meeting to order, the records of the last meeting were read, and +other preliminaries disposed of, when the question for discussion was +announced. Mr. Bryant, an intelligent and influential man, opened the +debate, and remarked, in substance, as follows: + +"It is enough to know the origin of theatrical exhibitions. According to +the best authorities, when theatrical exhibitions were first given, an +old cart was the stage, the chief actor was a coarse mimic or clown, the +music was discoursed by itinerant singers, and the poem itself was a +motley combination of serious and ludicrous ideas. These performances +were first given in honor of the god of wine, Bacchus, which accounts, +I suppose, for the fact that a theatre cannot live without a bar. On +certain festive days, they acted these plays often in the most indecent +manner, with drunkenness and debauchery abounding--scenes which are +re-enacted in theatres at the present day. Now, they have a more +splendid stage, within a costly, spacious building, but there is little +or no improvement in the purity of the play and its incidentals. It is +just as demoralizing now as it was then, and has been so in every age of +the world. For that reason, such exhibitions have been suppressed, at +times, in some countries, and this was the case, at one period, in our +own land." + +Mr. Bryant was followed by a gentleman on the other side of the subject, +but, for a reason that will be obvious to the reader before he gets +through the chapter, we shall not report the arguments in the negative. + +Another speaker said "that the characters of the actors were loose, +exceedingly so; and if the audience could learn something of human +nature there, it was only the debasing side of it. It is generally true +that actors lend their influence to intemperance, licentiousness, and +irreligion. They do not patronize Sabbath schools, churches, and other +Christian institutions, but they patronize bars, gambling saloons, and +houses of ill-fame. Many of those men even who go to the theatre, would +be quite unwilling to introduce actors to the society of their sons and +daughters. They are so well convinced that this class are corrupt and +unprincipled, that they would exclude them from the fireside." + +Another speaker, in the affirmative, said: "As a general thing, dramatic +literature is immoral and debasing. I admit that the tragedies of +Shakspeare are a pattern of classic elegance and dignity, yet there are +passages even in his works that never should be read or spoken in the +hearing of others. In them vice is often stripped of its deformity, +while virtue is made to appear to disadvantage. The youth who witnesses +a play where vice is made to appear as an indiscretion rather than a +sin, is likely to think less of virtue, and more favorably of vice. An +English scholar has taken pains to read all the plays of the stage of +England, and mark all the profane or indecent passages unfit to be read +or spoken in a public assembly, and he has found _seven thousand_. +During the reign of King James the First, an act was passed 'For the +preventing and avoiding the great abuse of the holy name of God in +stage-plays.' Addison condemned the theatre 'for ridiculing religion, +and for representing the rake and debauchee as the true gentleman.' It +is vain to attempt to defend the moral character of dramatic writings." + +The first speaker rising to address the audience the second time, said, +"that the class of persons who generally patronize the theatre are the +most frivolous and useless part of the community. Moral and religious +citizens do not lend it their influence, but those who are indifferent +or hostile to Christian institutions. Fathers and mothers who are +careless of the example they set their children; vain followers of the +fashions, who think more of a golden trinket than they do of virtue; +idle and dissipated hangers-on of society; fast young men in the road to +ruin; vicious young women; dissolute men, whose vices would horrify +every sensitive heart were they uncovered; with a sprinkling, perhaps, +of better people who forget, for the time being, what company they are +in;--these constitute the principal patrons of the stage. Now, then, +this single fact is enough to brand the character of theatres as corrupt +and pernicious. There is not a person in this hall who would think well +of the principles of a man of whom you might be told, 'he is an habitual +theatre-goer.' You would infer that his principles were loose, and, in +nine cases out of ten, your inference would be correct." + +Thus the usual arguments against theatres were quite thoroughly pressed, +and were met by the usual ones on the opposite side, though it was +evident that the negative realized they had a difficult subject to +defend. + +Nat listened to the discussion with constantly increasing interest and +excitement. His face became flushed, and a nervous tremor passed over +his body. At length his frame fairly shook with the excitement under +which he was laboring, and Frank, who was sitting by his side, observed +it. + +"What is the matter with you, Nat?" whispered Frank. Nat made no reply, +but continued to catch every word that was uttered. He was evidently +dissatisfied with the defence of the theatre by the negative side, and +thought that a better plea for it might be made. + +"I say, Nat, what's the matter?" whispered Frank again; "got the fever +and ague?" + +Nat kept his eyes fixed, and did not even bestow a nod of the head upon +Frank's inquiry, and the moment the question was given to the audience +for general debate,--according to the custom,--Nat started to his feet. + +"Mr. President," said he, and every head was up, and every eye fixed, at +the sound of his voice. All were astonished that he should presume to +speak on that floor; they would scarcely have been more surprised if a +strange debater had dropped down through the plastering into the +audience. But Nat went on to say, in substance, + +"I have listened to the discussion of the question before us with +mingled feelings of interest and surprise. Much that has been said I can +most cordially respond to, while some of the arguments upon the +affirmative do not appear to me legitimate or just. Every subject should +be treated fairly, and especially one like this, which is so apt to +encounter superstition and prejudice. It is no objection, in my mind, to +an enterprise, that it had a lowly origin, any more than it is for an +honest and noble man to have descended from ignoble parents. If a man +will work his way up from poverty and obscurity by his indomitable +energy and perseverance, until he carves his name with scholars and +statesmen on the temple of fame, it is the climax of meanness in any one +to twit him of his humble origin, and hold him up to ridicule because +his parents are poor and unhonored. And so when the gentleman tells us +that the theatre was born in a cart, and was originated by those who had +neither learning nor character, it is no argument against it, in my +view, when I see the rank to which it has attained. The cart has given +place to the marble edifice, decorated in the highest style of art, and +the place of the untutored street-singer and clown is filled by the +queen of song and the prince of orators. The play is no longer devoid of +literary character, but is invested with a classic elegance which only +the gifted intellect of Shakspeare could impart. What is it that has +elevated dramatic entertainments from the cart to the costly temple? +Human meanness could not do it, nor human policy alone. It has been +accomplished by the intrinsic value to be found in such dramas as those +composed by Shakspeare, and that justly entitles them to something +nobler than a contemptuous sneer. + +"I do not presume to defend theatres as they are, with all the vices +that attach to the present manner of conducting them. I admit that the +actors are no better than they should be, and that intemperance and +licentiousness may be countenanced by them. But when it is intimated +that all this is necessarily and inevitably so, I repel the insinuation. +Do not gentlemen know that the names of certain actors are associated +with all that is pure in character and noble in purpose? Were Garrick +and Siddons men of corrupt lives, unworthy to hold an honorable place in +society? Who can point to the first line or word ever penned to +stigmatize these men? So long as we can refer to them as pure and +upright actors, it will be true that corruption does not necessarily +belong to the stage. + +"I would have intoxicating drinks forever excluded from the theatre, and +every possible measure adopted to prevent moral corruption of every +kind. I would take the play out of the hands of the base and profligate, +and give it to those who are virtuous and true. I would expunge every +profane and vulgar word and thought from both tragedy and comedy, +leaving nothing that is unfit to be said in the ear of the purest men +and women, and then I see not why the stage might not become a medium +of innocent pleasure, and intellectual culture. It is bad now, because +it is in the hands of bad men. When the virtuous control it, we may +expect that its character will be changed. + +"When it is said, as it has been on this floor to-night, that nothing +good can be learned at a theatre, even as it is at the present time, I +must beg to dissent from the opinion. I can testify from actual +experience, that much can be learned there of human nature, and much +that belongs to the art of speaking. I do not say that many people go to +the theatre to learn these things, but I do say they might learn them if +they would. Even admitting that the baser side of human nature alone is +seen on the stage, a man may learn something from that if he will. As in +the low groggery, a pure man may behold to what awful degradation the +use of strong drink may reduce its victims, and derive therefrom an +argument for temperance that is irresistible, so the exhibitions of the +stage may show a pure-minded man how revolting he may become by yielding +to the power of his lowest appetites and passions. If he visits such a +drinking place to minister to a depraved appetite, and carouse with +others, he will go to ruin himself; but if he goes there to acquire the +knowledge to which I have referred, he will make a valuable accession to +his information and principles. In like manner, if a person goes to the +theatre simply to be amused, or for a more dishonorable purpose, he may +be corrupted by what he sees and hears; but if he goes for the higher +object I have named, he will probably escape contamination." + +In this strain Nat proceeded for twenty minutes or more, filling the +audience with surprise and wonder. He waxed warmer and warmer, as he +advanced, and spoke in a flow of eloquence and choice selection of +words, that was unusual for one of his age. No one in the hall had ever +listened to such a display of oratorical ability on the part of a youth +like him. The most strenuous opposers of the theatre almost overlooked +the weakness of Nat's argument in their admiration of his eloquence. It +was so unexpected that the surprise alone was almost sufficient to +bewilder, them. His mother was in the audience, and her heart leaped +into her mouth, as she was first startled by the sound of his voice. She +was almost indignant that her boy should attempt to speak in that hall, +before such an audience. She expected every moment that he would break +down, to his own disgrace and others. But he spoke on, never hesitating +for choice words, and put an earnestness and power into every sentence +that amazed her. She could scarcely believe what she saw and heard. She +was well satisfied with her son when he concluded his speech. + +"Nat will make a second Daniel Webster," said the agent of the factory +to a friend, as he was going out of the hall. + +"I am surprised at his eloquence," replied the friend addressed. "I +never heard the like in my life by one of his age." + +"We must get him to join the lyceum at once, and bring him out before +the public," said the agent. + +"That would be an excellent idea, I think; and there will be a great +desire to hear him again. I am sure I would like to hear him discuss +another question." + +"Nat has always been a close student," continued the agent. "When he has +not been learning from books, he has studied men and things; and I have +expected he would make his mark." + +This speech set everybody in the village to talking. Nothing had +occurred for a long time that caused so much remark and excitement. The +surprise and interest it created remind us of Patrick Henry's first +plea, of which Nat himself spoke to Charlie, as we saw in a former +chapter. The description which Mr. Wirt gives of it is so applicable to +the case before us, that we shall quote it. + +"His attitude, by degrees, became erect and lofty. The spirit of his +genius awakened all his features. His countenance shone with a nobleness +and grandeur which it had never before exhibited. There was a lightning +in his eye that seemed to rive the spectator. His action became +graceful, bold and commanding; and in the tones of his voice, but more +especially in his emphasis, there was a peculiar charm, a magic, of +which any one who ever heard him will speak as soon as he is named.... + +"In less than twenty minutes they might be seen in every part of the +house, on every bench, in every window, stooping forward from their +stands, in death-like silence, their features fixed in amazement; all +their senses listening and riveted upon the speaker, as if to catch the +last strain of some heavenly visitant.... + +"The jury seem to have been so completely bewildered, that they lost +sight, not only of the act of seventeen hundred and forty-eight, but +that of seventeen hundred and fifty-eight also; for thoughtless even of +the admitted right of the plaintiff, they had scarcely left the bar, +when they returned with a verdict of _one penny damages_. A motion was +made for a new trial; but the court, too, had now lost the equipoise of +their judgment, and overruled the motion by a unanimous vote. The +verdict and judgment overruling the motion, were followed by redoubled +acclamations, from within and without the house. + +"The people, who had with difficulty kept their hands off their +champion, from the moment of closing his harangue, no sooner saw the +fate of the cause finally sealed, than they seized him at the bar, and +in spite of his own exertions, and the continual cry of order from the +sheriff and the court, they bore him out of the court house, and raising +him on their shoulders, carried him about the yard in triumph." + +Nat was not carried out of the hall like Patrick, but if his companions +and some others, could have acted their own pleasure, a similar scene +would have taken place. The reader can scarcely fail to trace some +connection between his early familiarity with the life of Patrick Henry, +and this brilliant chapter of his experience before the large audience +in the town hall. It looks very much as if the reading of that book made +a permanent impression upon his mind. It shows, also, that he had not +studied the manners of public speakers in vain. + +"You couldn't do that again if you should try," said Charlie to Nat, at +the close of the meeting. "You was inspired to-night." + +"Inspired with respect for our dramatic society," answered Nat, with a +laugh. "I thought I would not let it die without one struggle." + +"Well," said Frank, "we can afford to let it give up the ghost now, +after such a glorious funeral oration over it. But I thought you was +having the shaking palsy before you got up to speak." + +"It was only the debaters shaking a little interest into me," replied +Nat. "They made the spirit move, that's all." + +The reader must not infer that opposers of the theatre changed their +views in consequence of Nat's argument. For no argument can be framed +that will defend the stage from the charge of being a great public evil. +In another place we have said enough to show that the ground of his +defence was fallacious, though he uttered sentiments which he then +sincerely believed. It is certainly no strong defence of the drama that +it has risen from the cart to the marble palace, for sin, in some of its +grossest forms, thus ascends from a revolting to a gilded degradation. +Nor does it avail much to point to here and there a virtuous Garrick +among stage-players, when we know that there are a hundred worthless, +corrupt actors to one Garrick. And in respect to the possibility of +making the theatre respectable, we have seen that it has been repeatedly +tried, and failed. + +But the audience fell in love with Nat's eloquence. They were charmed by +its gracefulness and power. It was that which won their hearts. The +result was, that nearly every one became satisfied with his good +intention in going to the theatre, and originating dramatic +entertainments in the village. It was apparent that it was done for his +own personal improvement. He was invited to connect himself with the +citizens' lyceum, where he surprised and pleased his friends many times +thereafter, by the ability and eloquence with which he discussed +different subjects. + +The Dramatic Society was relinquished, and the general interest +manifested in it was transferred to the town lyceum. A wider and more +important field of effort was now open to test Nat's endowments and +acquisitions; and he rapidly advanced by making the most of every +opportunity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +ANOTHER STEP. + + +"What are you doing here, Nat?" inquired Charlie, one day, as he entered +the carpenter's shop where he was at work with his father. + +"I am going to run a partition through here to make a new study for me. +Father has given me liberty to use this part of the shop." + +"It will make a cozy room," said Charlie, "though it is a little lower +down in the world than your other study. It seems you are really going +to be a student and nothing else. You must look out that Mother Lane's +prophecies are not fulfilled," the last sentence being intended for a +sly appeal to Nat's good nature. + +"I expect to do a good deal of work yet," replied Nat; "at least, I +shall be obliged to work until I find the way to wealth as plain as the +way to market. I shall study part of the time, and work the remainder." + +At this time Nat had resolved to devote a larger portion of his time to +study, and labor only enough to pay his own way along, and provide +himself with books--a plan in which his parents cheerfully acquiesced. +He went on and finished off his study in his father's shop, and +furnished it as well as his limited means would allow. A table, two or +three chairs, his scanty library, and a couch on which he slept nights, +constituted the furniture of this new apartment. It was more convenient +for him to lodge in his study, since he could sit up as late as he +pleased, and rise as early, without disturbing any one. + +Now he ceased to labor constantly in the machine shop, and worked at his +trade only a few months at a time, enough to support himself while +pursuing his studies. Occasionally he labored with his father, and +played the part of a carpenter. + +Charlie was anxious to see the new study when it was completed, and he +availed himself of the earliest opportunity to look in upon Nat. + +"Here you are, in a brown study. This is capital--I had no idea you +would have so good a room as this, Nat. Did you do all this yourself?" + +"Certainly; have you any criticisms to offer? You look as if you hardly +credited my word." + +"I guess your father was round about home," said Charlie, pleasantly. + +"But he did not drive a nail, nor plane a board." + +"A carpenter, then, with all the rest," added Charlie. "I suppose now +the library will be read up pretty fast." + +"Not so fast as you imagine. I could never begin with you in reading +books. You have read two to my one, I should think." + +"Not so bad as that; and it is a poor compliment if it were true, for +too much reading is as bad as too little, I expect. The difference +between you and me is very plain; _you_ read and study to have something +to use; and _I_ read for the pleasure of it." + +"It is true," answered Nat, "that I try to make use of what I learn, +though I enjoy the mere pleasure of study as well as you do. But when a +person learns something, and then makes use of it, he will never forget +it. I might study surveying a whole year in school, but if I did not go +out into the fields to apply what I learned to actual practice, it would +do me little good; and it is so with every thing." + +"There is a good deal of truth in that," replied Charlie; "but there is +a difference in the ability of persons to use what they acquire. Some +persons have a very poor way of showing what they know." + +It was true that Nat did not gorge his mind by excessive reading. Some +readers can scarcely wait to finish one book, because they hanker so for +another. They read for the mere pleasure of reading, without the least +idea of laying up a store of information for future use. Their minds are +crammed all the time with a quantity of undigested knowledge. They read +as some people bolt down a meal of victuals, and the consequences are +similar. The mind is not nourished and strengthened thereby, but is +rather impaired finally by mental indigestion. + +Coleridge divides readers into four classes. "The first," he says, "may +be compared to an hour-glass, their reading being as the sand; it runs +in, and it runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second class +resembles a sponge, which imbibes every thing, and returns it nearly in +the same state, only a little dirtier. A third class is like a +jelly-bag, which allows all that is pure to pass away, and retains only +the refuse and the dregs. The fourth class may be compared to the slave +in the diamond mines of Golconda, who, casting aside all that is +worthless, preserves only the pure gem." Nat was a reader of the latter +class, and, at the same time, saved every gem for _use_. He had no +disposition to _hoard_ knowledge, as the miser does his gold. He thought +it was designed for use as really as a coat or hat--an idea that does +not seem to have entered the heads of many youth, of whom it may be +said, "their apparel is the best part of them." + +It is as necessary to have a fixed, noble purpose behind a disposition +to _read_, as behind physical strength in secular pursuits, otherwise +what is read will be of comparatively little service. The purpose with +which a thing is done determines the degree of success therein, and the +principle applies equally to reading. Nat's purpose converted every +particle of knowledge acquired into a means of influence and usefulness, +so that he made a given amount of knowledge go further towards making a +mark on society than Charlie. The latter usually mastered what he read, +and he made good use of it, as the end will show, only it was done in +another channel, and in a more private way. He could not have made so +deep and lasting an impression on those around him as Nat, with even +more knowledge, if he had tried. + +"What work are you reading now, Nat?" + +"Burke's Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful," replied Nat, taking up the +volume from the table. "It is a splendid work." + +"I never read it," added Charlie; "the title is so magnificent that I +never thought I should like it. _My_ head is not long enough for such a +work." + +"You don't know what it is. It is one of the most practical and useful +volumes there is. It is not so taking a book for rapid reading as many +others; but it is a work to be _studied_." + +"What is the particular use of it?" + +"Its use to me is, the information it gives concerning those objects and +illustrations that have the most power over the hearts of men in +speaking and writing. I should think it must aid a person very much in +the ability to illustrate and enforce a subject." + +"I suppose you are right," said Charlie, "but it is all gammon to me. +That is what helped you to illustrate and enforce the claims of our +Dramatic Society in the lyceum, was it?" meaning no more than a joke by +this suggestion. + +"No; I never read it much until recently," answered Nat. + +"Well, I thought you had some of the _sublime_ in that speech, if you +had none of the _beautiful_," continued Charlie in a vein of humor. "I +concluded that Burke might have helped you some, as I thought it hardly +probable that Nat did it alone." + +"What do you think you should do, Charlie, if you had not me to make fun +of?" asked Nat. "You would have the dyspepsia right away. It is +altogether probable that I was made to promote your digestion." + +"Very likely," replied Charlie, assuming a grave appearance. "I believe +they administer rather powerful medicine for that disease. But they say +you go to college now," and here his seeming gravity was displaced by a +smile. "When are you going to graduate?" + +"About the time you know enough to enter," answered Nat, paying back in +the same coin. + +Charlie was much amused at this turn, for his allusion to college was in +a jesting way, occasioned by the fact that Nat had obtained permission +to use the library of Cambridge College, to which place he frequently +walked to consult volumes. It was a great advantage to him, to enjoy the +opportunity to examine works which he could not possess on account of +his poverty, and such works, too, as the library of his native village +did not contain. It was quite a walk to Harvard College, but necessity +made it comparatively short and pleasant to Nat. Many times he performed +the trip to settle some point of inquiry, or compass some difficult +subject; and the journeys proved to him what similar walks did to Count +Rumford many years before. He, also, was accustomed to visit the +Athenæum in Boston, at this period of his life, where he spent some +pleasant and profitable hours. To many youth it would seem too great an +outlay of labor to make for an education; but to Nat it was a cheap way +of obtaining knowledge. He was willing to make any sacrifice, and to +perform almost any labor, if he could add thereby to his mental stature. +Often a volume would completely absorb his thoughts upon a given +subject, and he could not let it alone until he had thoroughly canvassed +it; and this was one of the elements of his success--a power of +application, in which all the thoughts were concentrated on the subject +before him. It was thus with Hugh Miller from his boyhood. As an +instance, his biographer relates, that, on one occasion he read a work +on military tactics--a subject that one would think could scarcely +command his attention--and he was so thoroughly controlled by the desire +to understand the military movements described, that he repaired to the +sea-shore, where he got up an imposing battle between the English and +French, with a peck or half bushel of shells, one color representing one +nation, and another color the other nation. Time after time he fought an +imaginary battle with shells, until he definitely understood the +military tactics described in the volume which he read. + +Sometimes the perusal of a volume starts off the reader upon a career +that is really different from that which the book describes. By its +hints or suggestions, it awakens the powers to some incidental subject, +upon which they seize with an earnestness and devotion that cannot fail +of success. Thus, when William Carey read the "Voyages of Captain Cook," +he first conceived the idea of going upon a mission to the heathen +world. There was information imparted in that volume, which, in +connection with the marvellous adventures and success of the great +voyager, fired his soul with the determination to carry the gospel to +the perishing. + +Nat had such a mind, and difficulties rising mountain high could not +hinder him from examining a subject that absorbed his thoughts. A walk +of ten miles to see a book, the sacrifice of an evening's entertainment +at a party of pleasure, or the loss of a night's sleep, never stood +between him and the information he earnestly desired. His unwavering +purpose surmounted all such obstacles in the attainment of his object. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +EULOGY BY JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. + + +One of the brief periods in which Nat worked at his trade, after he +commenced to study more systematically, was spent on the Mill Dam in +Boston. At a machine-shop there, he pursued his business a short time, +for the purpose of earning the means to defray his expenses while +studying. + +"John Quincy Adams is to deliver a eulogy on Madison at the old Federal +Street Theatre to-morrow," said one of the hands. + +"At what time?" inquired Nat. + +"Ten o'clock is the time announced for the procession to form. It will +probably be twelve o'clock before they get ready for the eulogy." + +"I would go," said Nat, "if I had my best clothes here. I could go +without losing much time at that hour." + +"Did you ever hear John Quincy Adams?" + +"No; and that is one reason why I wish to hear him. I have heard many +of the distinguished men, but I have never had the opportunity to hear +him. I think I shall go as I am." + +"And have a representation of the machine-shop there," said his +companion. "The nabobs will think you are crazy to come there without +your broadcloth." + +"Perhaps they would think my broadcloth was too coarse if I should wear +it. But if they go to see my suit instead of hearing the eulogy, they +are welcome to the sight." + +"You will have to lose more time than you expect to; for there will be +such a crowd that you cannot get in unless you go early; and you will +have to go without your dinner too." + +"Dinner is nothing," replied Nat. "It will not be the first time I have +gone without my dinner, and supper too. I can leave here at half past +eleven o'clock and be in season for the eulogy, and find a place to hear +into the bargain. A very small place will hold me at such a time." + +"But I prefer a chance to breathe when I can have it as well as not. It +is no pleasure to me to go into such a crowd to hear the best speaker in +the world. But every one to his taste." + +"Yes," responded Nat; "and my taste is right the reverse. I would suffer +a pretty good squeezing, and go dinnerless besides, to hear John Quincy +Adams speak. I shall try it anyhow." + +Nat was usually quite particular in regard to his personal appearance on +public occasions. If his best suit had been at hand, he could not have +been persuaded to go to hear the eulogy in his working apparel. But he +was at work here only a short time, and was at home on the sabbath, so +that he provided himself with only his laboring suit. And now we see how +strong was his desire to hear the distinguished statesman; for it +overcame his regard for his personal appearance so far that he was +willing to appear in that assembly wearing his machine-shop apparel, +rather than forego the pleasure of an intellectual pastime. + +At the appointed time, on the day of the eulogy, Nat dropped his tools, +and proceeded to wash himself, and make ready to go. + +"Then you are determined to go?" said his companion. + +"Yes; I never shall have a better chance to hear the sage of Quincy. I +would like to show him a little more respect by donning my best suit if +I could, but as it is, he must take the will for the deed." + +"You'll cut a dash there among the gentry, I reckon, and perhaps receive +more attention than the orator himself. They'll think you are some +fellow who has got into the wrong pew." + +"You had better conclude to go with me," said Nat, "and enjoy the sight. +You will never know how much of a sensation I do create unless you are +there to see." + +"I'd rather be excused," replied his companion. "I can imagine enough +here; besides I like a good dinner too well to go." + +Nat hastened to Federal Street, and found the people crowding in very +rapidly, and the exercises about commencing. He joined the throng, and +was soon borne along with the current into the spacious building. If he +had actually wanted to have skulked into some corner, it would have been +impossible; for the assembly was so dense that he had no alternative but +to remain stationary, or to be carried along by the mass. It so happened +that he joined the multitude just in season to be borne well along into +the area of the building, in front of the rostrum; and there he was in +his working apparel, in full view of hundreds of eyes. Yet he scarcely +thought of his clothing in his eagerness to hear the eulogy. It was upon +the character of one with whose political life he was quite familiar, +and this circumstance increased his interest. His old suit did not at +all impair his sense of hearing, nor obscure the language of the orator. +He never heard better in his life, and, in but few instances, never felt +himself better paid for his effort to hear an oration. + +It was known in the shop, before work began in the afternoon, that Nat +had gone just as he was to hear the eulogy, and it created some +merriment. + +"He is a real book-worm," said one; "he always carries a book in his +pocket to read when he is not at work." + +"Well, I can hardly make out what he is, for he never says much," said +another. "He seems to be thinking about something all the time, and yet +he attends to his work. He is a queer genius, I guess." + +"He is no ignoramus, you may depend on that," said a third. "A chap with +such an eye as his knows his P's and Q's. He says little, and thinks the +more." + +"And then," added the first speaker, "a fellow who will go without his +dinner to hear a speech must have a pretty good appetite for knowledge, +unless he is obliged to diet." + +"He'll have a good appetite for supper, I'm thinking," said another, +rather dryly. + +Nat heard the eulogy, and was back again to his work within three hours. +There were some smiling faces as he entered the shop, and he could very +readily read the thoughts behind them. + +"Was you in time?" inquired the fellow-workman with whom he had the +conversation about going. + +"I could not have hit better," Nat replied, "if I had known the precise +minute the eulogy would commence. It was good, too; and a greater crowd +I never saw." + +"There would not have been room for me if I had gone, then?" + +"No; _I_ just made out the complement. I took the last place there was, +and it was a close fit for me." + +"How did you like Mr. Adams?" + +"Better than I expected. I had not formed a very exalted idea of his +eloquence, perhaps because I have heard Webster and Everett, but he was +really eloquent, and spoke evidently without any political or partisan +prejudices. He appears older than I expected." + +"He is getting to be an old man, and he has been through enough to make +him gray long ago." + +"I am glad to have heard him," added Nat. "Perhaps I might never have +had another opportunity." + +This incident is another illustration of the sacrifices Nat would make +to hear public speakers, and to acquire knowledge, whenever he could. A +commendable enthusiasm is apparent here as elsewhere, in seeking the +object desired. All those leading traits of his character, that we have +seen were so serviceable to him in other places, appear in this brief +experience, while an unquenchable thirst for knowledge lay behind them +to goad them on to victory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. + + +In Nat's boyhood the principle of total abstinence was not advocated by +the friends of temperance. He was considered temperate who drank +intoxicating liquor sparingly, and there were few persons who did not +use it at all. But a few years later, at the period of his life to which +we have now arrived, the total abstinence theory began to command the +public attention. The movement commenced with the New York State +Temperance Society, and spread rapidly over the country. It reached +Nat's native village, and considerable interest was awakened. + +"I have been thinking," said Nat to his companions, when they were +together one evening, "that we better form a young people's total +abstinence society. That is evidently the only right principle of +conducting the temperance reform." + +"_I_ am ready for it," replied Charlie. "Something ought to be done to +stop the evils of intemperance. I understand the adults are going to +organize a society, and there will be more interest awakened if we young +people have one among ourselves." + +"I suppose we can belong to the town society if we choose," said Frank, +"though I think there would be more interest, as you say, if we have one +among ourselves. I am ready to do either." + +"What do _you_ say, Marcus?" inquired Nat. + +"I say 'amen' to it, with real Methodist unction," answered Marcus, with +his usual good humor. "Any way that will smash the decanters and get rid +of the rum." + +"_You_ like it as well as anybody," said James Cole, somewhat pettishly, +as he was touched by this last remark of Marcus. "I wouldn't trust you +out of sight with a decanter, whether you join the society or not." + +"What! are you opposed to it, James?" asked Nat. + +"Yes, I am; it is all nonsense to talk about never tasting of liquor +again. The whole of you would drink wine at the first party where it is +passed around. Not one of you would dare refuse." + +"You will have a chance to see," said Frank. "The time is not far off +when no one will provide wine for a party, if the total abstinence +cause advances, as I believe it will." + +"Well, I shall not sign away my liberty," continued James, "by putting +my name to a pledge. I shall drink when I please, and stop when I +please." + +"I have no more intention of signing away my liberty," said Nat, "than +you have. But I am not anxious for the liberty of getting drunk and +lying in the gutter. I prefer to be free, and know what I am about; for +then I can walk the streets without reeling when I please." + +"A man has no need to make a beast of himself if he does not join a +total abstinence society," said James. "I don't believe in drunkenness +any more than you do, and there is no need of drinking to excess." + +"That is what every toper said once," answered Nat. "Not one of them +expected to become a drunkard, and probably they all thought there was +no need of it. When a person begins to drink, it is not certain that he +will have the ability to stop." + +"Fudge," exclaimed James. "You would make out that a man has no +self-respect, and no will to govern his appetite." + +"That is exactly what I mean to make out," added Nat. "The habit of +using intoxicating drinks nurtures an irresistible appetite, so that +there is not one hard drinker in ten who could now stop drinking if he +should try." + +"Are you green enough to believe that?" asked James, in a tone of +derision. + +"He is just _ripe_ enough to believe it," interrupted Marcus. "A +green-horn has a good deal to learn before he can believe the truth;" +and this sly hit James felt. + +"I suppose that you all expect that _I_ shall be picked out of the +gutter one day, because I can't control my appetite," said James. "I +should think so by your talk." + +"For one, I should not be at all surprised," replied Nat, "unless you +change your views. You certainly maintain the gutter theory." + +"Gutter or no gutter," added James, "I shall not sacrifice my liberty by +joining a total abstinence society. I will have people know that there +is one child who can drink when he pleases, or let it alone." + +It was usual at that time, for youth to drink, as well as adults, on +certain occasions. If a company of them were out upon an excursion, or +attending a party, they did not hesitate to take a glass of wine, and +even something stronger. It was according to the custom of the times. It +was fashionable to treat callers to something of the kind, and to +furnish it as a necessary part of the entertainment at social +gatherings. Nat and his companions were accustomed to accept the glass +on such occasions. But they were discriminating enough to perceive that +there was danger. They did not dare to trust themselves to sustain the +drinking usages of the the day. They had heard public lectures upon the +subject, in which the perils of the times, both to the young and old, in +this respect, were delineated, and they were wise enough to acknowledge +the truth of what they heard. Nat espoused the cause from the beginning, +with his usual enthusiasm and invincible purpose. + +It was decided to organize a Total Abstinence Society, and arrangements +were made to effect the object on the following week. Notice was given +accordingly, and many of the young people were spoken with upon the +subject. The friends of temperance generally encouraged the movement, as +a very hopeful one for the young. Nat, assisted by his companions, +drafted a constitution before the evening of organization arrived, in +order to facilitate the business. The proposition met with many hearty +responses. + +On the evening appointed to form the society, as many were present as +could be expected, and most of them came resolved to join the society. A +few were drawn thither by curiosity, having little sympathy with the +movement. The meeting was called to order by one of the number, and a +temporary chairman elected. + +"Mr. Chairman," said Nat, rising from his seat, "we have met here +to-night to organize a Total Abstinence Society, and most of us have +come with the intention of joining. In order, therefore, to effect a +speedy organization, I will present to the meeting the following +constitution, which some of us have prepared, for their adoption or +rejection. If the constitution is adopted, it will then be proper to +circulate it for signatures, and afterwards proceed to the choice of +officers." + +Nat read the constitution and by-laws, and they were unanimously +adopted, and then circulated for signatures. The pledge was incorporated +into the constitution, so that signing that was also signing the pledge. + +"I move you now," said Charlie, "that we proceed to the choice of +officers." The motion was carried. + +"How shall the officers be chosen?" inquired the chairman. + +"I move they be chosen by ballot," said Frank. This motion was also +carried. + +"Please prepare and bring in your votes for president," announced the +chairman. + +Two or three boys' caps made convenient ballot-boxes, so that this order +was soon obeyed. + +"Votes all in?" inquired the chairman. "If so, I declare the ballot +closed." + +After counting the ballots, the president announced the result. + +"You have made choice of Frank Martin for your president," said he. + +Frank took the chair, and the temporary chairman retired. + +"Please prepare and bring in your votes for secretary," said Frank. + +The order was speedily executed, and the president declared the ballot. + +"You have made choice of Charles Stone for your secretary," and Charles +took his place at the table. + +The remaining officers were duly elected, and other business performed, +and thus the first Total Abstinence Society, in Nat's native place, was +started by himself and associates. When we consider how long ago it was, +and the perils that surrounded the young at that time, on account of the +drinking usages, we must concede that it was a very important event to +all who put their names to that constitution and pledge. It probably +exerted a moulding influence upon their characters through life. +Possibly it saved some of them from a drunkard's grave. + +The formation of such a society was calculated to create considerable of +a sensation in the village, and to provoke many remarks for and +against. The principle of total abstinence was so novel to many, that +they thought its advocates must be almost insane. Even some temperance +men and women, who had defended the cause on the old ground, concluded +that there was more zeal than knowledge in taking such a step. In the +grog-shops the subject was discussed with much _spirit_. + +"You'll have to shut up shop 'fore long," said one customer to Miles, a +rumseller, "if the temperance folks can have their own way." + +"I guess they won't have their way," replied Miles. "Very few people +will sell their liberty out so cheap. I don't apprehend that it will +make much difference with my business, whether they have a temperance +society or not." + +"You haven't heard how swimmingly the young folks went on the other +night, I reckon." + +"Yes I have; and that was one of Nat's movements. He's dead set against +drinking, they say, but he is welcome to all he can make out of this." + +"He better be minding his own business, and not meddle with other +people's affairs. They say he studies more than he works now; but if he +had been compelled to work on at his trade, it would turn out better for +him and all concerned." + +"Nat is a smart feller," said the rumseller; "but he'll have to be a +good deal smarter before he can get many people to say they'll never +drink." + +"That's certain," responded the customer. "There is no use in trying to +do what can't be done. But boys are getting to know more than their +fathers in these ere times. I 'spose there are some folks who would like +to tell us what we shall eat and wear, and what we shan't." + +"I wonder if Jim Cole joined the society?" inquired the rumseller. + +"Jim! no! you wouldn't ketch him to make such a dunce of himself. He +believes in using a little when he wants it, and that's my doctrine." + +"Jim is steady as a deacon natrally," continued the vender, "and I +didn't know but he might be influenced by Nat to join." + +"He didn't; for he told _me_ that he shouldn't sign away his liberty for +anybody, and he said that he told Nat, and the other fellers, that they +would drink wine at the first party they went to." + +"He was wrong there, I'm thinking," answered the rumseller; "for Nat is +independent, and he don't back out of any thing he undertakes. He'll be +the last one to give it up." + +"Doesn't Jim patronize you sometimes?" + +"Yes; he occasionally drops in, and takes a little; but Jim doesn't +favor hard drinking. He thinks that many men drink too much." + +If all the remarks and discussions that were consequent upon the +organization of the Total Abstinence Society, could be collected, the +result would be a volume. But we must be satisfied with this single +illustration, and pass on. + +The members of the society studied to know how to make it interesting +and prosperous. Various plans were suggested, and many opinions were +advanced. + +"Let us invite Nat to deliver a lecture," said Frank to Charlie. "He +will prepare a good one, and it will interest the people in our +movement." + +"I had not thought of that," answered Charlie. "Perhaps it would be a +good plan. But do you suppose he would do it?" + +"I think we could urge him to it," replied Frank. "He likes to speak as +well as he does to eat, and a little better; and I know that he can give +a capital lecture if he will." + +"I think it might be the means of inducing more of the young people to +join the society," continued Charlie. "The more popular we make it, the +more readily some of them will join us." + +"I will go and see Nat at once about it if _you_ will," said Frank. "If +he does it, the sooner he knows about it the better." + +They went to see Nat, and found him in his study. The subject was duly +opened, and, after some urging, he consented to deliver a public +lecture. At the meeting of the Society on that week, a formal invitation +was voted to Nat, and the time of the lecture appointed. + +At that time, it required much more decision, perseverance, and moral +principle, to espouse the temperance cause than it does to-day. It was a +new thing, and many looked with suspicion upon it. Of course, it was a +better test of Nat's principles and purpose, than such a movement would +be now. That it was a good stand for him to take, and one suited to tell +upon his future character, we need scarcely say. It is an important +event when a youth of this day resolves that he will never tamper with +intoxicating drinks--and that he will pledge his word and honor to this +end. It was a far more important event _then_. And when we look upon +that group of youth, conferring together upon the claims of the total +abstinence principle, and their resolve to adopt it in the face of +opposition, we can but record it as one of the most hopeful and sublime +events of Nat's early life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE TEMPERANCE LECTURE. + + +The news that Nat would give a lecture on the subject of temperance soon +spread through the town, and both the friends and the foes of the cause +discussed the anticipated event. + +"So it seems that Nat is going to preach temperance to us," said a +customer of Miles, the rumseller. "I should think the little upstart +thought he was going to reform the town." + +"Nat is no upstart I assure you; but he is going a little too fast now," +replied Miles. "He is young, however, and he will learn some things in a +few years that he don't know now." + +"I 'spose every dog must have his day," continued the customer, "and so +it must be with timp'rance. It will have its run, and then die a nat'ral +death. But it makes me mad to see folks meddle with what is none of +their business. Just as if a man hadn't a right to drink when he is a +mind to!" + +"It's a free country yet," answered Miles, "and all these reformers will +find it out before long. But shall you go to hear Nat lecture?" + +"I go!" exclaimed the customer. "You won't ketch this child there, I can +tell you. Do you 'spose I would go to hear what I don't believe? It's +all nonsense, the whole of it, and it shan't have my support." + +"I can't agree with you on that point," replied Miles. "_I_ sometimes go +to hear what I don't believe, and I guess _you_ do. I think I shall go +to hear Nat if I can leave. I want to see how he makes out!" + +"You may go for all I care," added the customer, "and find yourself +insulted and abused as rumsellers usually are in such lectures." + +On the evening of the lecture, Miles actually went to hear it, and there +was a good number of his customers present. Curiosity to hear Nat +overcame their opposition to the cause, for the time being, so that they +were drawn thither. A lecture by any one else would not have called them +out, but the attraction now was too great to be resisted. The hall was +crowded with the old and young, and there was not a vacant place for +another. + +The subject of Nat's lecture was "THE FIFTEEN GALLON LAW," +which was then agitating the public mind. It was a new movement by the +advocates of temperance, and its friends and foes were arrayed against +each other for a hard contest. Nat rejoiced in the movement, and +therefore prepared himself to defend the law. We will give, in +substance, his argument. + +After portraying the evils of intemperance in language and eloquence +that riveted the attention of the audience, and confirming his +statements by unanswerable statistics, he proceeded to say:-- + +"That something must be done to stay this tide of evil, or we shall +become literally a nation of drunkards. It is vain to enact laws to +punish the drunkard, and still allow the vender of strong drink to dole +out his poison by the glass. For the poor, who need every farthing they +earn to purchase bread for their hungry families, will spend their wages +at the dram-shop, and leave their children to starve in poverty and +degradation. The 'Fifteen Gallon Law' is admirably adapted to save this +class. They are never able to purchase intoxicating drinks in larger +quantities than by the quart or gallon, so that this law will cut off +their supplies. It is true, another class, who possess the means, will +not be deterred from purchases by this law, but it is better to save the +poor than to save none at all. This appears to be the best thing that +can be done at the present time; perhaps sagacious minds will yet +discover a universal remedy for this mammoth evil. At any rate, we are +urged by the wants of suffering humanity to advocate this law, which +may redeem thousands of the poor from their cups and their misery." + +The enemies of the law contended that it was introducing "a new +principle of legislation," and that while former laws had only +"_regulated_" the sale of strong drink, this Fifteen Gallon Law was +"_prohibitory_." To this Nat replied, + +"That the legislature has power to restrain all trades which are +detrimental to the public welfare, and to regulate or prohibit them +according as the public good requires. Legislatures have always acted +upon this principle, not only in regard to other trades, but also in +respect to the traffic in alcoholic drinks. As long ago as 1680, when +the public attention was first directed to the evils of intemperance, a +law was enacted _prohibiting_ the sale of a less quantity than 'a +quarter cask,' by unlicensed persons. It also _prohibited_ all sales +after nine o'clock in the evening, and sales at any time to known +drunkards. By this law landlords were obliged to suppress excessive +drinking on their premises, and not to allow persons to sit in their +bar-rooms drinking and tippling. In 1682, intemperance prevailed to such +a degree among sailors, that a law was passed forbidding the sale of +liquors to this class, except on a written permit from the master or +ship-owner. In 1698, a statute was framed prohibiting all sales to 'any +apprentice, servant or negro,' without a special order from the master. +In 1721 another law was enacted prohibiting sales _on credit_ beyond the +amount of ten shillings; and the reason assigned for it was, 'for that +many persons are so extravagant in their expenses, at taverns and other +houses of common entertainment, that it greatly hurts their families, +and makes them less able to pay and discharge their honest, just debts.' +In 1787 this rule was rëenacted, and subsequently _all_ sales _on +credit_ were _prohibited_. Seven years after the adoption of the +constitution, a statute was passed limiting the sale to twenty-eight +gallons by unlicensed persons. The statute of 1818 prohibited the sale +of liquors 'to common drunkards, tipplers, and gamesters; and to persons +who so misspend, waste or lessen their estates, as to expose themselves +or their families to want, or the town to the burden of their support, +by the use of strong drink--or whose health is thus, in the opinion of +the selectmen, endangered or injured.' Here is prohibition with a +vengeance, going much beyond the provisions of the Fifteen Gallon Law, +and forbidding the sale to certain persons, and at certain times. A man +was even prohibited from asking for credit at the bar, and the landlord +could not grant it if he did, without violating a statute of the +Commonwealth. How, then, can the enemies of this measure be bare-faced +enough to assert that it is disregarding their inalienable rights? How +can they assert, with a shadow of truth on their side, that it is +introducing 'a new principle of legislation?' There is no other +principle involved in this law than that which is found in our statutes +controlling the shooting of certain birds, the sale of tainted meat, the +location of slaughter-houses, the existence of lotteries, and many other +things that might be named--all showing that the legislature has +authority to prohibit whatever the public good requires. That the public +good demands the suppression of intemperance, who can deny? It is the +greatest scourge of our land, and the world. It sends thirty thousand +annually, in our country, to a drunkard's grave. It tenants our +almshouses and prisons with its wretched victims, and causes three +fourths of all the crimes that fill the calendars of our courts. It +swells your taxes more than all other evils combined, and is the nursery +of blasted hopes and miseries that language cannot describe. If then, +the public good requires the suppression of any vice in our land, it is +this." + +Thus he disposed of this plea of the rumsellers, to the happy surprise +and satisfaction of the friends of temperance. He discussed other topics +connected with the law, and which we have not space to consider. For an +hour or more he held his audience in breathless interest, by the strain +of argument and oratory that he poured forth from his fruitful mind and +earnest heart. A more delighted audience never listened before to a +temperance lecture. Its depth, power, and compass were more than they +expected. A round of hearty applause told plainly how it was received, +as Nat uttered the last word, and took his seat. + +"There, Nat," said Marcus to him on the following evening, "you did more +good last night than all the temperance lecturers who have come to +town." + +"How so?" inquired Nat, not understanding his meaning. + +"They say you fairly convinced Miles, and he is going to stop selling +liquor." + +"How do you know?" asked Nat, with a very incredulous look. "I shall +want pretty good evidence of that before I believe it." + +"He has told a half dozen people so to-day, and one of his best +customers among the number." + +"Who is that?" + +"It was Johnson, who pays him as much money in a year as any other man. +Johnson got excited, and denounced him and all the friends of temperance +in strong language. He called you a 'fool,' and Miles cracked you up in +return, and so they had it for a while rather hot, much to the amusement +of Mr. Fairbanks, who happened to hear it." + +This was gratifying news to Nat, and to all who sympathized with him in +the temperance cause; and it needs some further notice. This Johnson +was the customer with whom we became acquainted in another place, a +bitter opponent of the "Fifteen Gallon Law." Curiosity, as well as +appetite, led him into Miles's shop on the morning after the lecture, +for he wanted to hear about it. He had learned in some way that Miles +went, as he intimated to him, and therefore it was a good place to go +for information. + +"So you went to hear Nat last night?" he said to Miles, as he entered +the shop. "Did he make a temperance man of you?" meaning this inquiry +for a jest. + +"Nat spoke real well," answered Miles, "and his arguments were so good +that I can't answer them. He's a mighty smart chap." + +"What did he harp on last night?" inquired Johnson. + +"The Fifteen Gallon Law; and he showed how it would remove the evils of +intemperance, which he described so correctly and eloquently that I was +astonished. I don't see where he has ever learnt so much." + +"Larnt it!" exclaimed Johnson; "he larnt it where he did his impudence. +I see that he has pulled the wool over your eyes, and you are more than +half timperance now." + +[Illustration] + +"All of that," replied Miles, coolly; "I am going to quit rum-selling at +once. If I can't get my living in an honest way, then I will go to the +poor-house." + +"I hope you _will_ go there," answered Johnson, starting up from his +chair under great excitement. "A man who has no mind of his own ought to +go there. I----" + +"I thought you was going to say," interrupted Miles, "that I ought to go +there to keep company with the paupers I have made. I am pretty sure I +should have you for a companion before long, if you don't alter your +hand." + +"I never thought you was overstocked with brains," continued Johnson; +"but if you will be hoodwinked by that fool of a Nat, you have less than +I thought you had. It is great business for a man of your age to give up +beat to a boy, and that is all Nat is, though he thinks he's a man." + +"Boy or not," answered Miles, "he spoke better last night than any man I +ever heard. He is a first-rate orator, and his defence of the 'Fifteen +Gallon Law' was unanswerable." + +"A feller ought to speak well who has studied as much as he has," said +Johnson. "He hain't earnt his salt for two or three years, 'cause he's +too lazy to do any thing but look at a book." + +"I don't care how much he has studied," answered Miles. "If I had a son +who could speak as well as he does, I should be proud of him, though he +had done nothing but study for ten years. Your talk is very +unreasonable, and you know it; and for that reason, it will not change +my opinion of Nat." + +"Run arter him, then, to your heart's content," said Johnson, turning to +go out, "and be a timperance man if you will,--it'll take more than this +to make you decent;" and with these words he left the premises in a +rage. + +Mr. Miles carried out his determination to cease the traffic in strong +drink, and engage in some more honorable business. His unexpected +espousal of the total abstinence principle, and the closing of his +dram-shop, offended many of the rum fraternity. It was a signal +achievement for the temperance cause, however, and for the welfare of +the village. + +The lecture of Nat won for him an enviable reputation, not only at home, +but abroad, and he was soon invited to deliver it in the neighboring +towns. Wherever he consented to give it, it was received with decided +favor, and the anticipations of hearers were more than realized. + +Subsequently he delivered other lectures on the subject of temperance in +his native village, and the people soon learned that no lecturer called +out so large audiences as he. There was always a desire to hear him; and +his sonorous voice, bewitching eloquence, and sensible thoughts, never +failed to entertain his auditors. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +SPEECH-MAKING. + + +At this time Nat occupied a position of honor and influence which few +persons of his age ever attain. But let not the reader suppose it was +the result of chance, or the consequence of superior talents alone. He +was more indebted for it to the studious habits which he formed from +twelve to fifteen years of age, than to any thing else. If he had wasted +his spare moments then in idleness,--as many boys do,--he never would +have surprised the lyceum with a speech of such eloquence, nor been able +to entertain an audience on the subject of temperance. The habits of +life are usually fixed by the time a lad is fifteen years of age. The +habits which Nat had established at this period of life, made him what +he was five years later. Those early years of industry and application +could not be thrown away without demolishing the fabric that was reared +upon them. They were the underpinning of the beautiful structure that so +many delighted to view when the busy architect was a little older. For, +if it could ever be truthfully said of any one, "he is the artificer of +his own fortune," it could be said of Nat. The bobbin boy was father of +the young and popular orator. + +It is generally true, as we have intimated before, that the influence of +habits at ten or fifteen years of age, is distinctly traceable through +the whole career of eminent men. Sir James Mackintosh was thirteen years +of age when Mr. Fox and Lord North were arrayed against each other on +the subject of the American war. He became deeply interested in the +matter through their speeches, and from that time concentrated his +thoughts upon those topics that contributed to make him the +distinguished orator and historian that he became. He always considered +that the direction given to his mind, at that early period of his life, +settled his destiny. The great naturalist Audubon, was just as fond of +birds and other animals, when ten years old, as he was in manhood. He +studied natural objects with perfect admiration, and took the portraits +of such birds as he particularly fancied. When he was sent to Paris to +be educated, away from the beauty and freshness of rural objects, he +became tired of his lessons, and exclaimed, "What have I to do with +monstrous torsos and the heads of heathen gods, when my business lies +among birds?" The foundation of his success as a naturalist was laid in +his sparkling boyhood. Benjamin West was made a painter, as he said, by +his mother's kiss of approbation, when she saw a picture he sketched, at +seven or eight years of age. He became just what he promised to be in +his boyhood, when he robbed the old cat of the tip of her tail out of +which to manufacture a brush, to prosecute his delicate art. Thus it was +with Eli Whitney, who proved himself such a benefactor to mankind by his +inventive genius. His sister gives the following account of his boyhood: +"Our father had a workshop, and sometimes made wheels of different +kinds, and chairs. He had a variety of tools, and a lathe for turning +chair-posts. This gave my brother an opportunity of learning the use of +tools when very young. He lost no time; but, as soon as he could handle +tools, he was always making something in the shop, and seemed not to +like working on the farm. On a time, after the death of our mother, when +our father had been absent from home two or three days, on his return he +inquired of the house-keeper what the boys had been doing? She told him +what B. and J. had been about. 'But what has Eli been doing?' said he. +She replied that he had been making a fiddle. 'Ah!' added he +despondingly, 'I fear Eli will have to take his portion in fiddles.' He +was at this time about twelve years old. This fiddle was finished +throughout, like a common violin, and made tolerably good music. It was +examined by many persons, and all pronounced it to be a remarkable piece +of work for such a boy to perform. From this time he was employed to +repair violins, and had many nice jobs, which were always executed to +the entire satisfaction, and often to the astonishment of his customers. +His father's watch being the greatest piece of machinery that had yet +presented itself to his observation, he was extremely desirous of +examining its interior construction, but was not permitted to do so. One +Sunday morning, observing that his father was going to meeting, and +would leave at home the wonderful little machine, he immediately feigned +illness as an apology for not going to church. As soon as the family +were out of sight, he flew to the room where the watch hung, and, taking +it down, he was so much delighted with its motions, that he took it all +in pieces before he thought of the consequences of his rash deed; for +his father was a stern parent, and punishment would have been the reward +of his idle curiosity, had the mischief been detected. He, however, put +the work all so neatly together, that his father never discovered his +audacity until he himself told him many years afterwards."[A] Such was +the boyhood of one who invented the _cotton-gin_, made improvements in +the manufacture of fire-arms, by which the national government saved, as +Mr. Calhoun said "twenty-five thousand dollars per annum," and +contributed largely to advance other mechanical arts. How distinctly we +can trace, in all these examples, the moulding influence of boyhood upon +manhood! And how marked the correspondence between the early life of all +these men and that of Nat! Thus it is that the beautiful poem of +Longfellow, "The Village Blacksmith," is abundantly illustrated in the +biography of both the living and the dead! A few of the verses are:-- + + "Under a spreading chestnut-tree + The village smithy stands; + The smith, a mighty man is he, + With large and sinewy hands; + And the muscles of his brawny arms + Are strong as iron bands. + + "His hair is crisp, and black, and long, + His face is like the tan; + His brow is wet with honest sweat, + He earns what e'er he can, + And looks the whole world in the face, + For he owes not any man. + + "Week in, week out, from morn till night, + You can hear his bellows blow; + You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, + With measured beat and slow, + Like a sexton ringing the village bell, + When the evening sun was low. + + * * * * * + + "Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing, + Onward through life he goes; + Each morning sees some task begin, + Each evening sees it close; + Something attempted, something done, + Has earned a night's repose. + + "Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, + For the lesson thou hast taught! + Thus at the flaming forge of life + Our fortunes must be wrought; + Thus on its sounding anvil shaped + Each burning deed and thought!" + +But to return. For some time Nat's attention had been directed to +political subjects, and he had been hither and thither to listen to +various speakers. At length he became so enthusiastic in support of his +own political tenets, that he was urged to undertake political +speech-making. There was ample opportunity for the display of his +abilities in this way, since the political excitement was strong. + +"What do you think," said he to Charlie, "about my engaging in politics? +I have been urged to speak at political meetings." + +"You better do it," replied Charlie. "You are well qualified for it; and +you always have taken an interest in politics ever since you read the +Life of Jefferson. Where do they want you should speak?" + +"Here, and in other places, too; and I scarcely know what to do about +it. In some respects I should like it, and in others I should not." + +"Do it, by all means," added Charlie. "It will not interfere much with +your studies, as you will speak only in the evening." + +"But that will interfere very much with my present plans. It will be on +my mind all the time, so that my interest will be divided at least. No +one can have too many irons in the fire, and attend to them all. One +thing at a time is about as much as any person can do well." + +"That may be very true, but why not make that one thing politics? We +must have men to manage State affairs, as certainly as to be lawyers, +physicians, and ministers. Besides, if I can read you, Nat, you are +actually cut out for this sphere of action." + +"You don't read me correctly if that is your opinion. There must be a +great many unpleasant things in such a life. If the speaking were all, I +should like that well enough, but that is a small part of political +experience." + +"Try it, try it," added Charlie, "and see how you make it go. You need +not continue in it longer than you please. I want to see you take the +stump once. Perhaps you will make a Democrat of _me_." + +Nat met the last remark with a laugh, and said "That is too much to +expect. You are a hopeless case,--too incorrigible to be won over to the +right side. I relinquished all hope of you a long time ago." + +"Now, seriously," said Charlie, "I advise you to speak at political +meetings, and I hope you will speak here first. It will be the best +thing you can do. If I possessed your abilities for public speaking, I +would do it in a minute." + +"Perhaps I shall conclude to do so," was Nat's reply, as they separated. + +The result was, that Nat decided to address a political gathering in his +native town; and soon after he visited some neighboring places on the +same errand. He soon acquired a reputation, as the "young orator," and +committees waited upon him from towns near and remote. The adventure of +one of these committees rehearsed, will show what expectations were +awakened by his spreading fame. + +A committee, in the town of ----, were instructed to wait upon him, and +secure his services at a great political gathering there. Accordingly +the committee put on their "Sunday suit," harnessed the horse into the +best carriage, and started for Nat's residence. Meeting a man, as they +entered the village. + +"Where is Esquire ---- (meaning Nat)'s office?" + +The person addressed did not understand who was meant at first, and +asked for the repetition of the inquiry, which was readily granted. + +"Oh," answered he, "it is down yonder," at the same time pointing to a +street a quarter of a mile distant or more, and scarcely able to control +his risibles as he thought of the joke he was about to perpetrate. + +"Very much obliged to you," responded the inquirer, at the same time +whipping up his horse. + +"This is nothing but a carpenter's shop," said one of them, as they +reached the place. "We must have misunderstood him." + +"It is very evident," said the other, "that we shall have to look +further yet. But let us go in and inquire." + +So they alighted, and went in. + +"We are looking for Esquire ----'s office. A gentleman directed us a +short distance back, but we find that we did not understand him." + +"Whose office did you say?" inquired Nat's father, who happened to be +the person addressed. + +"Esquire ----'s office, the young orator we have heard so much about." + +Nat's father was very much amused at this turn of matters; but he kept +on a sober face, and replied, pointing to Nat, who was planing a board, + +"That is the young man you want to see, I suppose." + +The committee looked at each other, and then at the black-haired +board-planer, with perfect amazement. Their countenances told just what +they thought; and if we should write their thoughts out in plain +English, they would run thus: + +"What! that young fellow the stump orator of which we have been told so +much. We better have staid at home, than to risk our party in his hands. +Why! he is nothing but a boy. There must be some mistake about the +matter." + +While astonishment was evaporating from the tops of their heads, and +oozing out of the ends of their fingers, Nat had turned away from the +bench to welcome the official strangers. There he stood hatless, and +coatless, with his shirt-sleeves stripped up to his elbows, and his +noble brow wet with perspiration, looking little like one who could sway +an audience by the power of his eloquence. + +"We are a committee from the town of----instructed to wait on you, and +engage you to address a political convention," said one of them, +breaking the silence. + +"When is the convention?" inquired Nat. + +"Two weeks from this time, the 15th day of October." + +"I will be there," answered Nat, "and do the best I can for you." + +The matter was adjusted, and the committee left, evidently thinking that +an orator whose office was a carpenter's shop could not be a remarkable +defender of democratic principles. On their way home, they spoke freely +to each other of their mistake in engaging one so inexperienced to +address the convention. They concluded that it would teach them a good +lesson, and that in future they would not risk the reputation of their +party in unskilful hands. + +It is sufficient to say, that Nat filled the appointment to the +satisfaction of the crowd, and the surprise of the committee. Before he +had spoken fifteen minutes, the committee discovered that they had +misjudged the orator, and that he was, indeed, the youthful champion of +their party. His speech fully convinced them that he could address a +political assembly a little better than he could plane a board. + +[Footnote A: A good sketch of Eli Whitney's Life, and the lives of some +other self-made men, spoken of in this volume, may be found in +"_Biography of Self-Taught Men_," by Professor B. B. Edwards. Every +youth in the land ought to read this work, not only for the information +it imparts, but for the incentives to "noble, godlike action," which it +presents on almost every page.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE EARLY VICTIM + + +"I have just heard," said Nat one morning to a neighbor, "that James +Cole was frozen to death last night while intoxicated. Is it true?" + +"I had not heard of it," replied the neighbor. "Some people at the head +of the street were conversing about something that had occurred as I +passed, but I did not understand what it was. Perhaps it was that. He +has conducted badly for a year past, and I suppose he is a confirmed +drunkard, although he is so young." + +Just then Frank came along, and, before Nat had time to inquire, +proceeded to say, "James Cole came very near freezing to death last +night, and the physician thinks it is doubtful whether he will recover." + +"How did it happen?" asked Nat. + +"He spent last evening at one of the grog-shops, I don't know which, and +staid drinking until it was very late; and he was badly intoxicated +when he started for home, so that he did not get far before he fell down +in the road, and was unable to get up. It was so late that no one came +along until this morning, and there he laid senseless all the while, and +was completely chilled through when Mr. Bates found him this morning." + +"Then Mr. Bates found him?" said Nat. + +"Yes; and he could scarcely tell whether he was dead or alive at first. +He carried him to his father's immediately, and sent for the doctor as +quickly as possible." + +"Do you know what time it was when he left the grog-shop?" + +"No; but I heard it was very late." + +"Well," added Nat, "a man who will sell James Cole liquor until he makes +him drunk, and then send him home alone, on such a night as last night +was, has no more feeling than a brute. If he should die, that rumseller +would be the actual cause of his death." + +"Certainly," answered Frank; "it would not have been half so bad to have +robbed him of his money, and turned him away without any drink. But I +wonder if Jim thinks now of the conversation we had with him about +forming the Total Abstinence Society?" + +"He has probably found out by this time," replied Nat, "that he can't +stop drinking when he pleases, after an appetite for it is acquired. He +was very sure that he should never be a drunkard; and that was but +little more than two years ago." + +"I never expected he would be much, but I had no idea he would come to +this so soon," added Frank. "I scarcely ever heard of a person going to +ruin so quick." + +"James was a very smart fellow, naturally," said Nat. "I once thought he +was the most talented fellow of his age in town, and it would have +turned out so if he had tried to make anything of himself." + +"I think so, too," said Frank. "But he never wanted to be respectable. +He always seemed to glory in drinking. He was earning five dollars a day +in the machine-shop when they turned him away, and was considered by far +the best workman there. He lost his place on account of his intemperate +habits; but it never seemed to trouble him. It is my opinion now, that +he had a strong appetite for intoxicating drinks at the time we +organized the Total Abstinence Society, and for that reason he opposed +it." + +"His case will be a good defence of the temperance cause," continued +Nat, "and I hope the rumsellers will never hear the last of it. I can +scarcely see what a person can say in favor of the use and traffic in +strong drink, with such an illustration of the evil before them." + +The news of James's condition spread through the village, and many +received it in a very exaggerated form. Some heard that he was dead, and +others that he was near dying, the latter rumor not being far from the +truth. Before night, however, it was announced that he was better, and +there was hope of his recovery. All sorts of stories were put in +circulation about the place of his drinking, and the circumstances +attending it. The rumseller very justly came in for his share of +condemnation, while he and his allies were disposed to say very little, +for the simple reason that there was not much for them to say. Such an +instance of degradation in the very dawn of manhood, when the dew of his +youth was still upon the victim, was an unanswerable argument for the +cause of temperance. He who could close his senses against such an +appeal in behalf of sobriety, would take the side of error in spite of +the plainest evidence to the contrary. It was not strange, then, that +much was said at the fireside, in the streets and shops, and everywhere, +concerning the event, nor that the foes of temperance were inclined to +be unusually silent. + +"Doctor! how is James Cole now?" inquired a gentleman who met him some +three or four weeks after the fatal night of drunkenness. + +"His case is hopeless," answered the doctor. "He has a hard cough, and +to all appearance is in a quick consumption." + +"Do you consider it the consequence of his exposure on that night?" + +"Certainly, it can be nothing else. If it had been a very cold night he +would have been frozen to death in the morning. I did not know that he +had become so much of a drunkard until this happened." + +"I did," replied the gentleman. "I have seen a good deal of him, and +have known something of his habits. I was satisfied, when he was but +sixteen or eighteen years of age, that he had an appetite for liquor, +and I am not surprised at the result." + +"The poor fellow will soon know the worst," added the doctor. "He can't +live many weeks at the longest." + +"I hope it will prove a warning to the young here," said the gentleman. +"The fact is, I wonder sometimes that we do not have more of such cases +when the temptations to drink are so common. But _one_ ought to be +sufficient to move the whole town on the subject." + + * * * * * + +Not quite twelve weeks have elapsed since the foregoing incident +occurred. The bell tolls out its solemn death-knell, and the sable +hearse is moving slowly on to the grave-yard. Sad, tearful mourners +follow, to lay all that remains of James Cole--the son, and brother--in +the silent "narrow house." For the demon-vice has done its worst, and +loosed the silver chord, and his youthful spirit has gone before the +drunkard's offended God. Alas! what painful memories throng the minds of +beholders at the sight of the long, mournful procession on its way to +the tomb! Never did a hearse convey more blasted hopes or wasted powers, +more abused and withered ties, or dishonored members, to the house of +the dead. Within that coffin is the bright promise of youth, the +strength of early manhood, parental expectations and love--all blighted +by the breath of the destroyer, and laid in as sad a winding-sheet as +ever wrapped a tenant of the grave. Oh! how great the woes of +intemperance appear, when these appalling realities dash earthly hopes, +and send the wretched victim away to that world "from whose bourne no +traveller returns!" So thought many as the lifeless form of James Cole +was consigned to its kindred dust. + +"Another drunkard's grave," said the sexton, as the stones rattled upon +the coffin which he proceeded to cover, when the procession had retired; +and his remark was addressed to a neighbor who stood by his side. + +"Not exactly a drunkard's grave," was the reply. "James was intemperate, +but he died of consumption." + +"And was not that consumption the consequence of his drunkenness?" +inquired the sexton. + +"I suppose it was; still I thought we could hardly call this a +drunkard's grave, though it is true enough." + +"It is too painfully true," added the sexton. "Would that it might be +called otherwise; but it cannot be. When you and I are numbered with the +dead, this spot will be known by all who have seen James Cole buried +to-day, as the drunkard's grave. There are many of them in this yard, +but _I_ never dug a sadder one than this." + +"And I hope you never will another," said the man. + +So the sexton buried the sleeper, and turned away to his home. For more +than twenty years his dust has been mingling with its native earth, +without a stone to mark the spot, nor a flower to tell of hope. But his +early companions, whose wiser choice and better resolves allied them to +the cause of virtue, know where the early victim was laid, and call it +the youthful DRUNKARD'S GRAVE. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE END. + + +Let almost a quarter of a century pass, and inquire, where and what are +Nat and his associates now? We have advocated the sentiment throughout +these pages, that the character and position of manhood are determined +by boyhood and youth. How is it with the group of boys who have figured +in the foregoing pages? Does the history of each one verify the truth we +have taught? or is even one of the number an exception to the general +principle stated? + +We have already seen one of this number laid in a drunkard's grave,--the +boy who thought he could take the social glass, according to the custom +of the times, and still be safe,--the youth who had more confidence in +his own strength to resist temptation, than he had in the wholesome +counsels of superiors. How speedily the thoughts, habits, and corrupt +principles of his youth, wrought his ruin! + +Some distance back in the story, we lost sight of Samuel and Benjamin +Drake,--the two disobedient, idle, reckless, unmanageable boys, at +fifteen years of age. What has been their history? Alas! it is written +in letters of shame! The following description of these boys, when they +became young men, taken from the records of a State prison, will show +that both of them have been there. + +"Samuel Drake: 28 years old--blue eyes--sandy hair--light +complexion. ---- Mass." + +"Benjamin Drake: 22 years old--blue eyes--light hair--light +complexion--scar on right instep. ----, Me." + +We give the true record, except that we use the fictitious names +employed in this volume, and withhold the names of the towns from whence +they were conveyed to prison. + +Five years later to the records of the same prison was added the +following: + +"Samuel Drake: 33 years old--blue eyes--sandy hair--light +complexion--second comer. ----, Mass." + +By this it appears that Samuel was twice in the State prison by the time +he was thirty-three years of age. What has been his course since that +period is not exactly known, though report said, a few years ago, that +he ended his life on board a pirate-ship. + +But the reader is surprised, perhaps, that Benjamin should become the +inmate of a prison; for the last we saw of him was when he was preparing +for the ministry--a converted youth, as he thought, of seventeen years. +We cannot furnish every link that connects his boyhood and manhood; but +the painful story is told, in substance, when it is said that his +religion proved like the morning dew, and his early vicious habits +returned with redoubled power, so that five years after he attended the +prayer-meeting with Frank Martin, he was incarcerated for theft. It is a +startling illustration of the force of boyhood's evil habits, often +lording it over a man to his shame and ruin, even when he has resolved +to lead a better life. + +The remainder of this group of boys have proved an honor to their sex, +as the principles and habits of their early lives fairly promised. + +Frank Martin stands at the head of a public institution, where great +responsibilities are devolved upon him, as a servant of the +Commonwealth. Strange as it may seem, the institution over which he +presides is the one in which his old associates, Samuel and Benjamin +Drake, were incarcerated; and Frank himself opened the prison records +for the writer to make the foregoing extracts. + +Charlie Stone has been connected with manufactures from the beginning, +advancing from one post of responsibility to another, employing his +leisure time to improve his mental faculties; and he is now the honored +agent of one of the wealthiest and most celebrated manufacturing +companies of New England, commanding a salary of THREE THOUSAND AND +FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. + +Marcus Treat, perhaps influenced by the example of Nat, devoted his +spare moments to self-culture, and made commendable progress before he +resolved to quit his trade, and educate himself for the legal +profession. Without means of his own, or wealthy friends to aid, he +succeeded in his laudable efforts, and, without being able to command a +collegiate education, was admitted to the bar. He now occupies a post of +honor and influence in a thriving State of our Union, where he is known +as one of the most popular members of the bar. + +And Nat--what and where is he? He is now known to fame as His +Excellency, The Governor of ----, the best State in the Union, which is +only one remove from the Presidency of the best country in the world. By +his own diligence, industry, perseverance, and self-reliance, he has +fully earned the confidence of his constituents. No "lucky stars," no +chance-game or accident, can make a Governor out of a bobbin boy; but +the noble qualities named can, as if by the power of magic, achieve the +wonderful transformation. It is true of him, as the poet has said of all +distinguished men,-- + + "The heights by great men reached and kept + Were not attained by sudden flight; + But they, while their companions slept, + Were toiling upward in the night." + +And now, ere the youthful reader closes this volume, let him stop and +resolve to imitate the bright example of him whom we never more shall +dare to call Nat. His business now is so different from that of carrying +bobbins, and his position and character so far removed from that of +student-boy in his father's attic, that we can only call him HIS +EXCELLENCY, as we reverently tip our hat. But the leading +characteristics of his youth are worthy of your imitation, whether you +desire to pursue the path of knowledge or any other honorable vocation. +Are you poor? So was he; poorer than hundreds of the boys who think that +poverty stands in the way of their success. Are your advantages to +acquire an education small? So were his; smaller than the opportunities +of many youth who become disheartened because they are early deprived of +school. Are you obliged to labor for a livelihood, so that your "odd +moments" are few and far between? So was he; and if ever a lad could be +excused from effort on this plea, it was he who toiled fourteen hours +per day in a factory, to earn his bread. There is no excuse for +non-exertion that will stand before the Bobbin Boy's example--not one. +Imitate it, then, by cultivating those traits of character which proved +the elements of his success. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bobbin Boy, by William M. 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