Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-09-01
The Barbor's Apprentice Boy

A poor boy in poor barber's shop at
Preston, somewhere about the year l744,
learning tho art and mystery Of razor strop-
Plug aud clean shaving! This is the open.
ing scene in the life of one of tho most
brilliant examples Oh record Of what patient
industry eau and will accomplish 10 the face
of every difficulty
In all England I dofy you to produce q
more unpromisiug specimen Of u genuine
Ounce. He has never been to school, for
his parents are too poor, and he is tho
youngest Of thirteen children. The bar
bers shop was the first employment that
offered, and, since beggars must not bo
choosers, he gladly accepts it. He can
neither read nor write. If he has any
ideas floating through his brain, they arc
wild and protitlcss ertainly useless 10 the
business of shaving. lie hasa determined
will of his own, however, andis not easily
turned from any purpose.
Now, suppose we allow our imaginations
to run riot and that we attempt to forecast
this lads future. Flo will 10 due time
learn how to shave, and will become bar
Der himself. Yes! Further he will plud
on at his business like his master before
him, and grow old and feeble and die,
worn out barber, whom nobody knows. No!
lle will on the contrary, become a man Of
much consequence, High Sheriffof Der
byshirc. He will be knighted by his SOY,
crcign, and dying, leave namc which all
men will honor. Then, to do this, he must
have some extraordinary good fortune, per-
haps some powerful friend. His greatest
good fortuue was his own industry, and his
best friend his own stout heart, which
never failed him, but carried him through
many and amazing difficulties. Having
said SO much by way of introduction, we
will now trace briefly the career of ono who
did much to promote the we'll being of his
country, and whose labors wcro carried on
under the greatest disadvantages.
Richard Arkwright was born OF Preston
on the 23d December, 1882 lie received
positively no education lIc never went to
school, und to the end of his life he could
not master the difficulties Of writing.
When he had served his time TO the barber,
be started on his own account in Bolton.
He began ow-iu cellar! aCome to the
subterrancous barber; ho shayes for o
penuyl' was the invitation ho hung in the
upper regions in sight of the uushorn pub
lie, and customers came to him in fair
numbers. ''Compctition is the life of
trade" The other barbors reduced their
charge to Arkwrights upon which ho an
nounoed he would give "a clean shave for
half penny" He found, after twelve
months experience, that he could do better
as dealer in hair, wandering over the
country and purchasing material for
wigs, which were then much worn. His
custom was to attend the Lancashire during
fairs and buy tho long ,rcsscs of those
young women who were willing to part
with them for gold. He had also scoret
process for dyeiog .,aio which brought him
in litte-it cannot have been much, for
with all his efforts he was only able to sub.
sist. The wig business declined through-
out the country, owing to change in the
fashions, aud Arkwright had serious
thoughts of giving up tho business alto
ectbcr. He had been gradually led to
little mechanical experiments, and became
bitten with the perpetual Motion" craze,
Hhich has done for mechanics what tho
"Philosopher's Stone" has douo for chem.
istry. Many mind, while searching for
the impossible, has found the practicable.
1t hos been like the treasure which man
said lay in his field, and would yield to tho
laborious efforts of his sons. Tho gold
they never found, but the produce of their
husbandry brought them honorable wealth.
Arkwright began with the little models of
what he hoped might prove perpetual mo-
ton. He ended by bostowng upon his
country the spinning machine! But the
path OF the inventor is always thorny ono.
Too frequently it ends iu poverty and death
We know very little of his ilo during this
period, but We do catch an occasional
glimpse of him, which lots in much light
upon his character and difficulties. Ono
will suffice.
In large, old fashioned farm house in
tho county of Lancashire, on a summers
evening in 1853, group of tho farmer's
family and farm servants cit in the best
kitchen gossiping in the good old style.
Ono of the farmers sons has come up from
Manchester, and is bemoaning the loss
which his uncle there must saffer owing to
the want of yarn for his looms. A young
Wig maker and hair dealer, known as
Travelling Dick,' who has como in to