The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1846-10-01
J. HOLCOMB, Editor & Publisher


poor all their days, and poorer than he,
the nail business should continue to grow
worse. If he could only give them the let
ters, or the alphabet as they called it, ii
would make them like the rich for then they
could read the Testament. He could reac
the Testament a little, for he had learned the
letters by fre-light. 1t was good book, was
the Testament; never saw any other book
heard tell of some in rich peoples houses
| but it mattered little with him. The Tesla
mont, he was sure it was made for nailers and
such like. 1t helped him wonderfully when
the loaf was small on his table: He had but
little time to read it when the sun was up,
and it took him long time to read a little,
for he learned the letters when he was Old
But he laid it beside his dish at dinner time,
and fed his heart with it, while his children
were eating the bread that fell to their share.
And when he had spelt out a line of the short
est words, he read them aloud, and his eldest
boy, the one on the block there, could say
several whole verses he had learned in this
way. 1t was great comfort to him to think
that Jeemes could take into his heart so many
verses of the Testament which he could not
read. He intended to teach all his children
in this way. 1t was all he could do for them,
and this he had to do at meal times; for all
the other hours he had to be at the anvil
The mailing business was growing harder, he
was growing old, and his family large. lie
had to acorG from four O'Clock in the morning
till ten o'clock al night to earn eighteen pence.
His wages averaged only about Segen ShjliRgS
per aceeh; and there were five of them in the
family to live on what they could earn. 1t
was hard to make up the loss of an hour
Not one Of their hands, however little, could
be spared. Jenny was going on nine years
of age, and helpful lad was he F.; and the
poor man looked at him doatingly. Jenny
could work off thousand nails a day, of the
smallest size. The rent of their little shop,
tenement, and garden, was five pounds a
year and a few pennies earned by the young
est Of them was of great account
But, continued the father, speaking chceri-
ly, ] am not the one that ought to complain.
Many is the man that has q harder lot of it
than l. among the nailers along these hills
and in the valley. My ncighbor in the next
door could tell you something about labor you
may never have heard the like of in your
country. lie is an older man than l. and
there is seven Of them in his family; and for
all that, he has no boy Ike Jenny here to
help him. Some of his little girls are sicldy,
and their mother is not over strong, and it all
comes on him. He is an oldish man, as l
was saying, yet he not only works eighteen
hours every day at his forge, but cre,y Friddy
IN the gear he ,rorls all night long, and never
lays off his clothes till late of Saturday night.
A good ncighbor is John Stubbins and the
only man just in our neighborhood who can
read the newspaper. 1t is not SO often he gets
a newspapers for it is not the like Of us that
can have newspapers and bread, too, in our
houses at the same time. But now and then
he bcgs an old one, partly torn, at the bakers,
and reads it to us Of Sunday-night. So
once i'll two or three weeks we hear something
of what is going on in the world-somctling
about corn-aws, and the Duke Of wellington,
and Oregon, and India, and other places in
England. We heard tell, awhile ago, that
the poor people would not have to make so
many nails fer loaf of bread much longer
because Sir Robert Peel, and some other
men, were going to take off the port-locks,
and othcr taxes, and let us buy bread Of them
that could sell us the cheapest When we
heard this talked Of without knowing the
truth of it, John .Stubbins took penny and
went to the White Hart aud bought drink
of beer, and then the landady let him look
into the newspaper which she keeps for her
customers. When he came back, he told us
a great deal of what was going on, and said
he was sure the times would be better one OF
these days.
The man was interrupted here by the en-
trance of his neighbor, who had been attract
ed in by the sound Of an unusual converse
ton in his fellow -nailers end of the building.
pulled off my lnapsack and did what |
could to teach them the alphabet Of the
Kings English with regard to the National
Debt, and all the other burdens which the
poor laboring people of the realm had to
bear. l think | succeeded in imprcssing
their minds with few salutary convictions
with regard to the connection between mill
tary glory and poverty l shall reserve for
another Leaf Of the Editors journal, my ex-
position of the Excise duty to those honest,
unlettercd nailcrs. i. b.