istake as common as it is fatal. I had already seen
several poor wrecked mechanics, who, believing themselves to be poets,
and regarding the manual occupation by which they could alone live in
independence as beneath them, and become in consequence little better
than mendicants,--too good to work for their bread, but not too good
virtually to beg it; and looking upon them as beacons of warning, I
determined that, with God's help, I should give their error a wide
offing, and never associate the idea of meanness with an honest calling,
or deem myself too good to be independent."

At the same time, a man who feels that he has some good work in him,
which study and labour might yet bring out, is fully justified in
denying himself, and in applying his energies to the culture of his
intellect. And it is astonishing how much carefulness, thrift, the
reading of books, and diligent application, will help such men onward.

The author in his boyhood knew three men who worked in an agricultural
implement maker's shop. They worked in wood and iron, and made carts,
ploughs, harrows, drilling-machines, and such-like articles. Somehow or
other, the idea got into their heads that they might be able to do
something better than making carts and harrows. They did not despise the
lot of hand-labour, but they desired to use it as a step towards
something better. Their wages at that time could not have exceeded from
eighteen to twenty shillings a week.

Two of the young men, who worked at the same bench, contrived to save
enough money to enable them to attend college during the winter. At the
end of each session they went back to their hand-labour, and earned
enough wages during the summer to enable them to return to their classes
during the winter. The third did not adopt this course. He joined a
mechanics' institute which had just been started in the town in which he
lived. By attending the lectures and reading the books in the library,
he acquired some knowledge of chemistry, of the principles of mechanics,
and of natural philosophy. He applied himself closely, studied hard in
his evening hours, and became an accomplished man.

It is not necessary to trace their history; but what they eventually
arrived at, may be mentioned. Of the first two, one became the teacher
and proprietor of a large public school; the other became a well-known
dissenting minister; while the third, working his way strenuously and
bravely, became the principal eng