The Monitor-register., 1896-05-22
HOW SERVED MY APPRENTICE
SHIP AS A BUSINESS MAN.

HUW SERVED III 7 APFkENT1CE
SHIP AS A BUSINESS MAN.
It is a great pleasure to try to tell you
readers "How / Served My Apprentice
ship as a Business Man." But there
seems to be a question preceding this;
| Why did I become a business man /? l
am sure that I should never have selected
a business career if I had been permitted
to choose.
The oldest son of parents who were
themselves poor. l had, fortunately, to
begin to perform some useful work in the
world while very young, in order to earn
an honest livelihood, and was thus shown
even in early boyhood that my duty was
to assist my parents, and like them be-
come. as soon as possible. also q ''bread.
winner" in the family. What I could get
to do, not what / desired, was the ques-
ton.
When l was born my father was q we'll
to do master weaver in Dnnfermline,
Scotland. He owned no less than four
damask looms and employed apprentices.
This was before the days of steam factor
les for the manufacture of linen. A few
large merchants took orders and employed
"master-weavers," such as my father, to
weave the cloth, the merchants supplying
the materials.
AS the factory system developed, hand
loom weaving naturally declined, and my
father was one Of the sufferers by the
change. The first lesson of my life came
to me one day when he had taken in the
last of his work to the merchant and re-
turned to our little home greatly dis
tressed because there was no more work
for him to do. l was then just about
ten years of age, but the lesson burned
into my heart and l resolved then that
''the wolf of poverty" would be driven
from our door some day, if 1 could do it.
The question of selling the old looms
and starting for the United States cam
up in the family council, and l heard it
discussed from day to day. 1t was finally
resolved to take the plunge and join
relatives already in P%ittsburg. 1 we'll
remember that neither father nor mother
thought the change would be otherwise
than a great sacrifice for them, bat that
sit would be better for our two boys"
In after life, if you can look back as l
do and wonder at the complete surrender
of their own desires which parents make
for the good of their children, you must
reverence their memories with feelings
akin to worship.
EARNING H FIRST DOLLAR
Arriving in Allegheny City, fuurof us,
father, mother, my younger brother.
and myself, father entered a cotton fac
tory. l soon fol lowed and served as a
''bobbin boy" and this is how I began
my preparation for subsequent appren.
ticeship as a business man. / received
one dollar and twenty cents a week, and
was then just about tive I've years old.
I cannot tell you how proud l was when
| received my first weeks own earnings.
One dollar and twenty cents made by
myself and given to me because I had
been of some use in the world No
longer entirely dependent upon my
parents, but at last admitted to the family
partnership. as a contributing member
and able to help themi I think this
makes a man cut a boy sooner than
almost anything else, and a real man,
too, if there be any germ Of true man
hood in him. 1t is everything to feel that
you are useful.
l have had to deal with great sums,
Many millions of dollars have since
passed through my hands. But the
genuine satisfaction l had from that one
dollar and twenty cents outweighs my
subsequent pleasure in money getting.
1t was the direct reward of honest,
manual labor; it represented a week of
very hard work, SO hard that but for the
aim and end which sanctified it, slavery
might not be much too strong a term to
describe it.
For a lad of twelve to rise and break.
fast every morning, except the blessed
Sunday morning, and go into the streets
and find his way to the factory, and begin
work while it was still dark outside, and
not be released until after darkness came
again in the evening, forty minutes'
interval only being allowed at noon was
a terrible task.
But l was young and had my dreams,
and something within always told me
that this would not, could not, should
not last should some day get into a
better position. Besides this, l felt my.
self no longer a mere boy but quite "a
little man." and this made me happy.
A change DOR came, for a kind old
Scotsman, who knew some Of our rela-
tives, made bobbins and took me into his
factory before | was thirteen. But here
for a time it was ever worse than in the
cotton factory, because I was set to fire a
boiler in the cellar, and actually to run
the small steam-engine which drove the
machinery.
BAD DREAMS ABOUT A BOILER.
The firing of the boiler was all right.
for fortunately we did not use coal, but
the refuse wooden chips. and l always
liked to work in wood. But the RESPONSE.
bility of keeping the water right and
running the engine, and the danger of
my making a mistake and blowing the
whole factory to pieces, caused too great
a strain, and l often awoke and found
myself sitting up in the bed through the
night trying the steam-gages. But l
never told them at home that l was hav-
ing a ''hard tussle." Mol mol everything
must be bright to them.
This was a point of honor, for every
member of the family was working hard
except, of course, my little brother. who
was then a child, and we were telling
each other only the bright things. Beside
this no man would whine and give up
he would die first.
There was no servant in our family,
and several dollars per week were earned
by "the mother" by binding shoes after
her daily work was done! Father was
also hard at work in the factory. And
could complain?
My kind employer, John Hay, peace to
his ashesl o relieved me of the undue
strain, for he needed some one to make