"I hold that, whatever may be the means of a gentleman, he must be
considered to lose the most precious advantages appertaining to his
profession when he marries; for he loses his liberty, and can no longer
be said to be under no control. It is very well for other professions
to marry, as the world must be peopled; but a gentleman never should.
It is true, he may contrive to leave his clog at home, but then he pays
dear for a useless and galling appendage but, in my situation as a
travelling tinker, I could not have done so; I must have dragged my clog
after me through the mud and mire, and have had a very different
reception than what I have at present."

"Why so?"

"Why, a man may stroll about the country by himself--find lodging and
entertainment for himself; but not so, if he had a wife in rags, and two
or three dirty children at his heels. A single man, in every stage of
society, if he pays his own way, more easily finds admission than a
married one--that is, because the women regulate it and, although they
will receive him as a tinker, they invariably object to his wife, who is
considered and stigmatised as the tinker's trull. No, that would not
do--a wife would detract from my respectability, and add very much to my
cares."

"But have you no home, then, anywhere?"

"Why, yes, I have, like all single men on the _pave_, as the French
say--just a sort of `chambers' to keep my property in, which will
accumulate in spite of me."

"Where are they?"

"In Dudstone, to which place I am now going. I have a room for six
pounds a year; and the woman in the house takes charge of everything
during my absence. And now, my boy, what is your name?"

"Joey Atherton," replied our hero, who had made up his mind to take the
surname of his adopted sister, Nancy.

"Well, Joey, do you agree with me that my profession is a good one, and
are you willing to learn it? If so, I will teach you."

"I shall be very glad to learn it, because it may one day be useful; but
I am not sure that I should like to follow it."

"You will probably change your opinion; at all events, give it a fair
trial. In a month or so you will have the theory of it by heart, and
then we will come to the practice."

"How do you mean?"

"It's of no use your attempting anything till you're well grounded in
the theory of the art, which you will gain by using your eyes. All you
have to do at first is to look on; watch me when I grind a knife or a
p