Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1855-01-12

anttss uuu One CidnSe vi ouFi Cio'u-
ing at the same time, till he was Of
age. Father and son walked, side
by side, to Ponl,ney, the boy carry
ing his possessions upon a stick over
his shoulder.
At Pouliney, an unexpected DIFF
ficuliy arose which for time made
Horace uembic in his high-low
shoes. The terms proposed by MIR.
Bliss were, that the boy should he
bound for five years, and receive his
board aud twenty dollars a year.
Now, Mr.. Greeley had his own
ideas on the subject of apprentice
ship, aud he objected to this propos-
al, and to every particular Of it. In
the first place, he had determined
that no child Of his should ever be
bound at all. In the second place,
he thought five years an unreasona-
bic time and in the third place, he
considered twenty dollars a year
and board compensation ridicul-
ously disproportionate to the servi-
ces which Horace would be requir-
ed TO render and finally, on each
and all of these points he chung to
his opinion with the tenaciiy of a
Greeley. Mr.. Bliss appealed to the
established custom of the country
five years was the usual period /;
the compensation offered was the
usual thing the binding was a
point essential TO the employers
interest. And at every pause in the
conversation, the appealing voice Of
Horace was heard: Father, |
guess you'd better make bargain
with Mr.. Bliss or, Father,
guess it wont make much differ
ence !" or, "Don't you think you'd
better do it. father y At one mo-
ment the boy was reduced to de-
spar. Mr. Bliss had given it as his
uttinofam that the proposed bnd-
ing was absolutely Indispensable I;
he "could do business in no other
way" " Well, then, Horace" said
the father, let us go home" The
father turned to go; but Horace
fingered he could not give it up !;
aud so the father turned again the
negotiation was reopened, and after
a prolonged discussion, compro-
mise was effected. What the terms
were, that were finally agreed to,
cannot positively state, for the three
memoirs which l have consulted
upon the subject give three different
replies. Probably, however, they
were-no binding, and no money
for six months then the boy could,
if he chose, bind himself for the re-
mainder of the five years, at forty
dollars a year, the apprentice to be
boarded from the beginning. And
so the father went hsme, aud the
son went straight to the printing
Office aud took his first lesson in the
art of setting type.
A few months after, it may be
well to mention here, Mr.. Greeley
removed TO Erie county, Pennsyl-
vania, aud bought some wild land
there, from which he gradually
created farm, leaving Horace alone
in Vermont. Grass now grows
where the little house stood in
Westhaven, in which the family
lived longest, and the barn in which
they stored their hay and kept their
cattle, leans forward, like kneeling
elephant. and lets in the daylight
through ten thousand apertures.-
But the neighbors point out the
tree that stood before their front
door, and the tree that shaded the
kitchen window, and the tree that
stood behind the house, and The
tree whose apples Horace liked, aud
the bed of mint with which he re-
galed his nose. Aud both the peo-
pie OF Westhaven and those of
Amherst assert that whenever the
Editor OF the Tribune revisits the
scenes of his early life, at the sea
son when apples are ripe, one of the
things that he is surest to do, is to
visit the apple trees that produce
the fruit which he liked best when
he was boy, which he still prefers
before all apples i'll the world.
The new apprentice took his
place at the font, and received from
the foreman his copy composing
stick, and a few words Of instruc-
ton, and then he addressed himself
to his task. He needed no further
assistance. The mysteries of the
ia ii a '"eR Frs n "a rQRR SRasEf 81 lis
chosen vocation for many years he
had formed a notion how type must
be arranged in order to produce the
desired impression, and, therefore,
all he had TO acquire was manual
dexterity. In perfect silence, with
ont looking to the right hand or TO
the left, needless of The sayings and
dolngs Of the other apprentices.
though they were bent on mischief,
and tried to attract and distract his
attention. Horace worked on, hour
after hour, all that day and when |
he left the Office that night he could !
set type better and faster than many |
apprentices who had had a months
practice. The next day he worked
with the same silence and intensity.
The boys were puzzled. They
thought it absolutely incumbent on
them to perform an initiating rite of