The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-12-27
From Dickens Christmas IStoru e,ati-
tied "Mug6y Junction.
THE ENtctMEER'S STORY

mlne Is BenJam1n Hardy. We were
born within few days of each other;
bred up in the same village; taught
at the same school. cannot remem-
ber the time when we were not close
friends. Even as boys, we never
knew what it was to quarrel. We
had not thought, we had not pos
session, that was not in common.
We would have stood by each other
fearlessly, to the death. It was such
a friendship as one reads about some
times in books-fast and firm as the
great Tors upon our native moor
lands, true as the sun in the Heavens.
The name OF our village was Chad
leigh. Mat was the son of sma,,l |
farmer, named William Price, and
the eldest of family of seven; I
was the only child of Ephraim Hardy,
the Chadleigh blacksmith-a we'll
known man in those parts, whose
memory is not forgotten to this day.
Just so far as q farmer is supposed to
be bigger than q blacksmith, Mats
father might be said to have better
standing than mine; but William
Price, with his small holding and his
seven boys, was, in fact, as poor as
many a day laborer; whilst the
blacksmith, well-to-do, bustling,
popular, and open-handed, was a
person of some Importance in the
place. All this, however, had no.
thing to do with Mat and myself.
1t never occurred to either of us that
his jacket was out at elbows, or that
our mutual funds came altogether
from my pocket. 1t was enough for
us that we sat on the same school
bench, conned our tasks from the
same primer, fought each others
battles, screened each others faults,
fished, nutted, played truant, robbed
orchards and birds nests together,
and spent every half-hour, author
lied Or stolen, in each others society.
1t was a happy time; but it could not
go on forever. My father, being
prosperous, resolved to put me for
ward in the world. I must know
more and do better than himself.
The forge was not good enough, the
little world of Chadleigh not wide
enough, for me. Thus it happened
that [ was still swinging the satchel
when Mat was whistling at the
plough, and that at last, when my
future course was shaped out, we
| separated, as it then seemed to us,
for life. For, blacksmith's son as T
was, furnace and forge, in some form
or other, pleased me best, and l
chose to be o working engineer So
my father, by-and-by, apprenticed
me to a Birmingham iron-master;
and, having bidden farewell to Mat
and Chadleigh, and the gray old L ors
In the shadow of which 1 had spent
all the days of my life, 1 turned nv
face Northward, and went over into
''the Black country
I am not going to dwell on this
part of my story. How worked out
the term of my apprenticeship; how,
when had served my full time, and
become a skilled workman, L took
Mat from the plough and brought him
over to the Black Country, sharing
with him lodging, wages, experience; !;
all, in short, that [ had to give; how
he, naturally quick to learn, and
brimful of quiet energy, worked his
way up, step at a time, and came,
by-and-by, to be a ''irst hand in
his own department.; how, during all
these years of change and trial, and
effort, the old boyish affection never
wavered or weakened, but went on,
growing with our growth and
strengthening with our strength-are
facts which 1 need do no more than
outline in this place.
About this time-it will be remem-
bered that [ speak of the days when
Mat and 1 were on the bright side of
thirty-it happened that our firm
contracted to supply six frst-class To-
comotives, to run on the new line,
then in process of construction, be-
tween Turin and Genoa. It was the
first italian order we had taken. We
had had dealings with France, Hol-
land, Belgium, Germany; but never
with Italy. The connection, there
fore, was new and valuable-all the
more valuable because our trans-Al-
pine neighbors had but lately begun
to lay down the iron roads, and would
be safe to need more of our good
English work, as they went on. So
the Birmingham firm set themselves
to the contract with a will, length
ened our working hours, increased
our wages, took on fresh hands, and
determined, if energy and prompti-
tude could do it, to place themselves
at the head of the Italian labor-mar-
ket, and stay there. They deserved