The Bobbin Boy | Page 9

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