Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-03-20

months afterward Gifford's mother died,
leaving William and a little brother two
years old, orphans, and, it would seem,
pennlless. As no home could be found
for the infant, he was sent to the work
house. William, then thirteen years of
age, fell into the hands of a man named
Carlisle, who had stood as his godfather, a
worthless fellow, who had appropriated the
few things left by the mother, on pretense
of claiming them for debt. This man put
William to school, where he began to show
signs of ability; but he was allowed no
chance of making progress; for,
at the end of three menths. grudg-
ing the slight cost of his
tuition, Carlisle took the boy from his
books and playmates, and put him to the
pillow. 1t was soon found that he was too
weak for such heavy work. His guardian
now tried to get the boy out of hand alto
gether, by sending him off to Newfound-
laPd as an errand boy in grocery store.
This unkind project, however, being
doomed to failure, it was resolved that the
troublesome charge should be got rid of
by making him a sailor.
1t is worth while to notice that he was
but boy in his teens when he first began
to feel the noble spirit of ambition stir
within him, and cherish the laudable de-
sire to rely upon his own efforts for his
maintenance. 1t was this lofty and self
reliant spirit which carried him past all his
difficulties; and, truth to tell, no one has
ever done anything remarkable in the
world without it. The youth who is alto
gether destitute of ambition, and is ever
on the lookout for the help of friends,
lacks the first elements of success in life.
But Gitford's bravery and persistence of
mind had to be severely tested before
meeting with their due reward.
Proceeding with his pathetic story, he
says: II was about Is years of age when
L built these castles in the air. storm,
however, was collecting, which unexpected
ly burst upon me and swept them all
away. On mentioning my plan to my
guardian he treated it with the utmost
contempt, and told me he had been nego-
tlatlng with his cousin, a shoemaker of
some responsibility, who had literally
consented to take me, without fee, as an
apprentice. 1 was so shocked at this in
telligence that l did not venture
to demonstrate, but went in sullen-
ness and silence to my new mas
ter, to whom / was bound till I
should reach the age of twenty-one. At
this period I had read nothing but ro-
nance called 'Parismus,' few loose mag
aZines-the Bible, indeed, I was well &C
quainted with; these, with the limitation
of Thomas attempts which used to read
to mother on her death-bed, constituted
the whole of my literary acquisitions.''
The account which follows has few
things to equal it in the records of strug-
Cling genius. 1t will serve to show how
abject and apparently hopeless was his
condition as student at this time of his
life, and will show also what it may be
hoped no youth who reads these pages will
fail to learn, how marvellous is the power
of energy and perseverance to triumph
over apparently insupersble obstacles.
81 possessed" Clifford writes, sat
this time but one book in
the world; it was a treatise on
algebra, given to me by young woman,
who had found it in lodging house. 1
considered it a treasure; but it was treas
ure locked up, for it supposed the reader
to be acquainted with simple equations,
and knew nothing of the matter" A
friend comes upon the scene, to whose
generous interference the unhappy cob
bier owed the educational advantages he
afterward enjoyed. His obligations to
this benefactor were always most readily
and warmly expressed; for whatever faults
Clifford might have, he was never charged
with the meanness of forgetting his lowly
origin and the generous friend by whom
he had been rescued from a wretched con-
dition and introduced to happier state
of life. He speaks of his benefactor as
bearing "a name never to be pronounced
by him without veneration." This gentle
man, Mr.. Cooksley, was surgeon in the
neighborhood. He had accidentally heard
of the young cobbler's poetry, and sought
an interview with him. Clifford went down
to the surgeons house, and encouraged by
the kindness he received, told the story of
his attempts at self-culture and of the
hardships he had undergone. Deeply
moved by the touching story, and convinc-
ed of the young mans natural abilities
and desert of encouragement, Mr.. Cooks
ley resolved there and then, on liberating
the youth from the thraldom of his situa-
ton. The first thing was to free him from
the bonds of his apprenticeship, and the
next to give him the advantages of regu.
lar instruction. He was twenty years of
age, and he says: "My hand writing was
bad and my language was very incorrect"
d Was SGdFISO
to furnish funds for this twofold purpose.
1t reads as follows: "a subscription for
purchasing the remainder of the tipe of
William Clifford, and for enabling him to
improve himself in writing an English
grammar" The kindness of Cooksley and
few other friends, whose sympathies were
enlisted in his generous zeal for the youth,
enabled him to receive two years instruc-
ton from clergyman, the Rev. Thomas
Smerdon, who resided in the locality.
Such was the progress made by Clifford,
that at the end of that time his instructor
pronounced him quite prepared for the
university. Again Mr.. Cooksley proved
friend. By his efforts and promises of
support Clifford was entered at Exeter col
lege, Oxford. Unfortunately his noble
patron died before Clifford could take his
degree. But he was not suffered to leave
Oxford on account of Mr.. Coaks-
ley's death. He found a second
patron in Lord Grosvenor, by whose aid
the grateful undergraduate was enabled to
finish his term. The culture which he re-
ceived in the university must have been
very thorough and complete, evincing it.
self in refinement of manner as well as
scholarship of no ordinary degree, for in
the course of few years after leaving
Ashburton we learn that the late shoemak-