ssors and mend
kettles enough in one day to provide for a whole week; for instance, I
can grind a knife in two minutes, for which I receive twopence. Now,
allowing that I work twelve hours in the day, at the rate of one penny
per minute, I should earn 3 pounds per day, which, deducting Sundays, is
939 pounds a year. Put that against 40 pounds a year, as a drudge to a
school, or confined to a desk, in a shop, or any other profession, and
you see how lucrative mine is in proportion. Then I am under no
control; not ordered here or there, like a general or admiral; not
attacked in the House of Commons or Lords, like a prime minister; on the
contrary, half a day's work out of the seven is all I require; and I
therefore assert, that my profession is nearer to that of a gentleman
than any other that I know of."

"It may be as you style it, but you don't look much like one," replied
Joey, laughing.

"That's prejudice; my clothes keep me as warm as if they were of the
best materials, and quite new. I enjoy my victuals quite as much as a
well-dressed gentleman does--perhaps more; I can indulge in my own
thoughts; I have leisure to read all my favourite authors, and can
afford to purchase new books. Besides, as I must work a little, it is
pleasant to feel that I am always in request, and respected by those who
employ me."

"Respected! on what account?"

"Because I am always wanted, and therefore always welcome. It is the
little things of this life which annoy, not the great and a kettle that
won't hold water, or a knife that won't cut, are always objects of
execration; and as people heap their anathemas upon the kettle and the
knife, so do they long for my return; and when I come, they are glad to
see me, glad to pay me, and glad to find that their knives are sharp,
and their kettles, thrown on one side, are useful again, at a trifling
charge. I add to people's comforts; I become necessary to every poor
person in the cottages; and therefore, they like me and respect me.
And, indeed, if it is only considered how many oaths and execrations are
used when a person is hacking and sawing away with a knife which will
not cut, and how by my wheel I do away with the cause of crime, I think
that a travelling tinker may be considered, as to his moral influence
upon society, more important than any parson in his pulpit. You observe
that I have not rendered the profession degrading by marriage, as many
do."

"How do you mean?"