in his
strength as well as any man. His mother did not much like this part
of his general apprenticeship, for he would get his hands so black
sometimes on a Saturday afternoon that he could not get them clean
enough for church the next day; and sometimes he would come home with
little holes burnt here and there in his clothes by the sparks from the
red-hot iron when beaten on the anvil. Concerning this last evil,
she spoke at length to Hector, who made him a leather apron, like Mr
Willett's, which thereafter he always wore when he had a job to do in
the smithy.

It is well, I say, that the utility of such of his doings as these will
be admitted by all; for some other objects upon which he spent much
labour would, by most people, be regarded as utterly useless. Few, for
instance, would allow there was any value in a water-wheel which could
grind no corn, and was of service only to wake him in the middle of the
night--not for work, not for the learning of a single lesson, but only
that he might stare out of the window for a while, and then get into bed
again. For my part, nevertheless, I think it a most useful contrivance.
For all lovely sights tend to keep the soul pure, to lift the heart
up to God, and above, not merely what people call low cares, but what
people would call reasonable cares, although our great Teacher teaches
us that such cares are unjust towards our Father in Heaven. More than
that, by helping to keep the mind calm and pure, they help to keep the
imagination, which is the source of all invention, active, and the
judgment, which weighs all its suggestions, just. Whatever is beautiful
is of God, and it is only ignorance or a low condition of heart and soul
that does not prize what is beautiful. If I had a choice between two
mills, one that would set fine dinners on my table, and one that would
show me lovely sights in earth and sky and sea, I know which I should
count the more useful.

Perhaps there is not so much to be said for the next whim of Willie's;
but a part at least of what I have just written will apply to it also.

What put it in his head I am not sure, but I think it was two things
together--seeing a soaring lark radiant with the light of the unrisen
sun, and finding in a corner of Spelman's shop a large gilt ball which
had belonged to an old eight-day clock he had bought. The passage in
which he set it up was so low that he had to remove the ornaments from
the top of it, but this one was