The Bobbin Boy | Page 2

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