Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-09-15
MEN OF Humble origin.

From the Philadelphia Ledger.l
Appropos to letter in which the
writer seems disposed to controvert the
poetic maxim asserting that honor and
fame from all conditions rise" we may
say that almost any collection OF distin-
guished names may set him to further
reflection on the subject. The history
of our own country is full Of illustrations,
from John Adams, who was the son OF q
humble farmer, and Franklin, who was
the son of tallow chandler, down to
the men of our own time. 1t finds bril-
liant examples even under aristocratic
institutions. Pope, one of the greatest
of English poets, was the son OF linen
draper. Bloomfield wrote his best poem,
1.-THE Farmers Boy" while working in
garrett as q shoemaker. Clifford, the
frs editor of the Quarterly Review, be-
gan life as sailor boy, and afterward
served an apprenticeship to shoemaker:
Ben Johnson, the dramatic poet, worked
for some time as q bricklayer. Shaks-
peare was the son Of poor man who
could not write his name. Burns was
the son of q small farmer; Allan
Cunningham of a gardener; Hogg
was shepherd; Ebenezer Elliott worked
in an iron foundry; Falconer was a
sailor boy; Thomas Moore was the son
of grocer, who, however, contrived to
give him classical education. Gerald
Massey is the son of canal boatman,
and began life as an errand-boy, and was
next an operative in silk mill. Dan
| iel DeFoe, the author of Robinson
Crusoe," began life as hosier, and was
almost wholly self-taught. Corbett was
in early life farmers boy, and after
ward a private soldier. Isaac Walton,
the Complete Angler" was linen
draper. DR.. Isaac Miller, Dean of Car
Isle, and his brother Joseph, author of a
History of the Church, began life as
weavers. DIR. John Prideaux, Bishop Of
Worcester, got his education at Oxford,
by entering the University as kitchen
boy. John Bunyan, author of the Pill
grims Progress" was tinker, and en-
tirely selftaught. Joseph Ames, the
antiduary, was an ironmonger. Hugh
Miller, the geologist and journalist, was
a uuarryman. Camden, the great histo-
rian, was the son Of house painter.
Caxton, who was the first to set up a
printing press in England, was appren-
ticed to weaver. The dramatist, Hol-
craft, was a groom. Tom Paine was
the son of staymaker. Sam Pepys
was the son of tailor Richardson,
the novelist, was the son of a
Joiner. Among scientific men, Simp-
son, the mathematician, was a weaver.
Captain Cook was the son OF a
peasant, who at seventy years of age
learned to read that he might peruse the
narrative of his sens voyages. Sir
Richard Arkwright, the inventor Of the
cotton spinning machine, commenced
life as barber. Brindley, the engineer,
began life as mechanic. Sir William
Herschel, the illustrious astronomer,
was a musician in the band Of regi-
ment. Farraday, the chemist and natu-
raj philosopher, was the son of black
smith. Ferguson, the astronomer, was
a shepherd. John Hunter, the cele-
brated surgeon, and his brother William,
the eminent physician, we're sons OF a
farmer. Chantrey, the sculptor, was a
milk-boy; and Flaxman, another great
sculptor, was the son Of a plaster-cast
maker. Sir Thomas Lawrence, the
painter, was the son Of an inn-keeper.
Opie, the painter, worked in a saw-pit
and Hogarth, the satirist, began life as a
working engraver Of coats Of arms. Cob
den, the statesman, was the son Of a
farmer. Sir John Hawkins, the famous
general, began life as householder.