o maintain.
There will be required a very great share of moderation and wisdom,
indeed, under such circumstances, to prevent such a boy from wasting
his money in ways that will incapacitate him from living easy when he
shall become a father of a family himself, or from idling away the
spare time that his gains afford him. He will, naturally, do part of
both: but the way that is generally done is this. Without controul from
a master, and totally independent of parents, who are quite left behind
in poverty, (not having more to maintain their whole family than the
youth himself earns,) he despises them, saves a little money at first,
and purchases finery. The novelty of dress soon wears off, and the
more immediate pleasures of eating, drinking, and keeping company,
as it is termed, take the lead. The consequence of the same is idleness
and rags. Ashamed to shew himself amongst persons of better
conduct, the youth changes his place of residence and work; habit has
got hold of him, and labour becomes hateful; a soldier's life appears
the best for a youth of such a description; and, it is an undoubted fact,
that, at those places where trades are carried on, that can be learnt in a
short time, {179} there are more recruits obtained for the army than in
any other districts of equal population. It is also an undoubted fact,
that, in these same districts, the most respectable people bind their
sons apprentices; and, in doing so, they are guided by experience, and
affection for their children, not by interested motives.

---
{179} This is not the case with many trades, and Mr. Smith is under a
mistake as to the fact; but, granting it to be true, the places in
question, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, and other towns where the
division of labour reduces every operation to great simplicity, are the
best for recruiting the army. In those places, all respectable people,
who can afford it, bind their sons apprentices, to prevent the danger.
-=-

[end of page #221]

In the other case, again, where a trade is not easily learnt, how is skill
to be obtained but by an apprenticeship. The bringing the son up to his
father's trade, a practice that prevails in the eastern parts of Asia, is
one way; parental authority needs not the aid of a written indenture;
but, where this is not the case, who is to teach a youth, if he is not to
be bound for a certain number of years, but to go away as soon as he
has learnt a trade? The father, in som