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Article AN OLD WORTHY. ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Old Worthy.
vigour he set to work to repair the mischief , and by carefully considering the cause of his misfortune avoid a recurrence . Hutton was a very remarkable man , and there is maich in his life that is instructive to all ranks and conditions of society ; but to the ambitious one it is full of inspiration . He commenced his life ' s trials
by being half-starved at home . When the distress of the famil y became very severe he was sent to reside with three aunts in Swithland . They told him he was " an ugly lad . " During this period , too , he had occasionally stayed a short time with an uncle , who was a grocer at Monntsorrel . His mother fetched him home in 1728 . For two years
he helped her by taking care of the children in her absence , but the pressing needs of the family compelled them to seek out some employment for William , that he might contribute something to the household expenses . He was therefore apprenticed to work in a silk mill ( the first in England ) for seven years . To make up for the shortness of his stature , a pair of clumsy pattens were made and fastened to his feet in order that he might reach the engine . The period is
graphically described by his own pen : " I had now to rise at five every morning during seven years ; submit to the cane whenever convenient to the master ; be the companion of the most vulgar and rude of the human race—beings never taught by nature , and never wished it . To be on equal terms , a lad , let his mind be in what state it will , must
be as impudent as they , or be hunted down . I could not consider this place in any other light than that of a complete bear-garden . " He endured his term of apprenticeship with much pain and suffering , and found himself free again at Christmas , 1737 , being then only fourteen years of age . He was next apprenticed with his uncle at
Nottingham , which proved to be a somewhat happier lot . He tells us that here he " found a generous uncle , a close , sneaking aunt ; he a serious religionist , she as serious an hypocrite ; two apprentices , one a rogue , the other a greater . " He had plenty of task work to do , but little food to eat . His work was very disagreeable to him , and therefore
performed with little desire to do more than was absolutely necessary . By a little over-work he earned sufficent to purchase a " genteel suit of clothes , " of which he was exceedingly proud .
Hutton quarrelled with his uncle and ran away from his situation , taking with him his new suit wrapped up in a handkerchief , which was stolen from him on the way and caused him much grief . He was soon reconciled to his uncle , and completed his second term of apprenticeship in 1744 . For a time he stayed as journeyman with his uncle ,
but being uncongenial employment he longed to be out of it . In his biography , under the head of 1746 , he says : " An inclination for books began to expand ; but here , as in music and dress ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Old Worthy.
vigour he set to work to repair the mischief , and by carefully considering the cause of his misfortune avoid a recurrence . Hutton was a very remarkable man , and there is maich in his life that is instructive to all ranks and conditions of society ; but to the ambitious one it is full of inspiration . He commenced his life ' s trials
by being half-starved at home . When the distress of the famil y became very severe he was sent to reside with three aunts in Swithland . They told him he was " an ugly lad . " During this period , too , he had occasionally stayed a short time with an uncle , who was a grocer at Monntsorrel . His mother fetched him home in 1728 . For two years
he helped her by taking care of the children in her absence , but the pressing needs of the family compelled them to seek out some employment for William , that he might contribute something to the household expenses . He was therefore apprenticed to work in a silk mill ( the first in England ) for seven years . To make up for the shortness of his stature , a pair of clumsy pattens were made and fastened to his feet in order that he might reach the engine . The period is
graphically described by his own pen : " I had now to rise at five every morning during seven years ; submit to the cane whenever convenient to the master ; be the companion of the most vulgar and rude of the human race—beings never taught by nature , and never wished it . To be on equal terms , a lad , let his mind be in what state it will , must
be as impudent as they , or be hunted down . I could not consider this place in any other light than that of a complete bear-garden . " He endured his term of apprenticeship with much pain and suffering , and found himself free again at Christmas , 1737 , being then only fourteen years of age . He was next apprenticed with his uncle at
Nottingham , which proved to be a somewhat happier lot . He tells us that here he " found a generous uncle , a close , sneaking aunt ; he a serious religionist , she as serious an hypocrite ; two apprentices , one a rogue , the other a greater . " He had plenty of task work to do , but little food to eat . His work was very disagreeable to him , and therefore
performed with little desire to do more than was absolutely necessary . By a little over-work he earned sufficent to purchase a " genteel suit of clothes , " of which he was exceedingly proud .
Hutton quarrelled with his uncle and ran away from his situation , taking with him his new suit wrapped up in a handkerchief , which was stolen from him on the way and caused him much grief . He was soon reconciled to his uncle , and completed his second term of apprenticeship in 1744 . For a time he stayed as journeyman with his uncle ,
but being uncongenial employment he longed to be out of it . In his biography , under the head of 1746 , he says : " An inclination for books began to expand ; but here , as in music and dress ,