Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-03-21
FORGED A GREAT NAME.
Story Of Elihu Burritt, Who Began as
a Blacksmith.

fOHGED n GHEAI NAME.
Story Of Elihu Burritt, Who Began as
Blacksmith.
One hundred years ago there was
born in the town of New Britain,
Conn, a boy-the youngest Of ten
children.
The boys name was Elihu Burritt.
His father was a farmer and a shoe
maker, and the boy himself, as he
grew up, followed these pursuits and
many others, generally those of a
mechanical nature.
Though Elihu Burritt attended dis
trict school, his opportunities to learn
were few, for the family required the
income of his working power for its
support.
When the boy was Is years old his
father died. Then he anprenticed
himself to a blacksmith in New Bri-
tain. Even in his teens, the boy had
acquired hunger for knowledge. He
read the books, particularly the his
torical works, in the local library.
While he stood at his anvil he work.
ed out problems In mathematics. Here
are some of them, home made and ex-
acting:
How many barley corns, at three
to the inch, will 1t take to go around
the earth at the equator?"
How many yards Of cloth, three
feet in width, cut into strips an inch
wide, and allowing half an inch at
each end for the lap, would 1t require
to reach from the center Of the earth
to the SUM-"
How much will all this cloth cost
at shilling yard?"
All this, remember, was done with
out writing down single figure. He
carried on all the operations In his
head, and at night submitted problem
and answer to his brother, who was
skilled in mathematics, for vertical
ton
Then it entered the boys head that
he should study Latin. In the even
ings of one winter, with the help Of
an elder brother who had been to COL
lege. he finished reading Virgil. Then
he read other Latin authors, and COM
pleting these, took up the study OF
Greek.
At this time, every hour Of daylight
and often other hours beyond day
light, had to be spent at the forge.
But this offered no permanent obsta-
Gle to Elihu Burritt. II carried" he
said, my Greek grammar in my nat,
and often found a moment, when l
was heating some large irons. when l
could place my book open before me.
against the chimney Of my forge, and
sat down, unassisted and alone, to the
Iliad and Homer, twenty books Of
which measured my progress In that
language during the evenings OF an
other winter"
Burritt had occasionally sought in
structiOn during his apprenticeship,
but it cost him the loss of his wages,
dollar a day, and such opportunities
| he could scarcely afford. But after
mastering, to an extent the Latin and
Greek languages, he saw that they
| furnished him with the key to many
| of the modern European languages.
He saw the relation and derivation of
| these languages, and determining to
| learn them, left his work and went to
| New Haven, where he had instruction
| in French, German, Spanish and ltal-
| ian.
Then he went back to the forge and
resumed his work as a blacksmith.
But he was not puffed up with the
vanity of a scholar who knew six or
eight languages. He next turned to
| Hebrew. In a few weeks he mad so
| well mastered the principles OF this
language that he set himself the task
of reading two chapters OF the Hebrew
Bible every day before breakfast.
He next turned his attention to
| Oriental languages. But he could find
no teacher who would aid him to be-
gin that study. He determined then to
give up his work and to ship as sail
or on a vessel that put In at various
European ports, where he hoped to
collect books on modern and oriental
| languages.
He walked to Boston, over 100 miles,
but found no opportunity to snip as
sailor.
| Then he heard of the American An
tiouarian society in Worcester, and
thither he walked in order to discover
what II had to offer. The library or
the society was rich in the very books
he wanted, and he was granted the
freest use of them. ,o
| What was the result Of this find!
| This, in Burritts own WORDS:
Through the facilities afforded Dy
this institution, / have been aple 10
add so much to my previous acquaiht-
ance with ancient, modern and Orlen-
tal langua ges as to be able to read up
ward of fifty of them with more or less
facility"
From Mr.. Burritt's diary. written
when he was 81 wears old, the follow
| ing is taken:
"All that I have accomplished. or
expect, or hope to accomplish mas
been. and will be, by that piodding'
patient, persevering process OF accre-
ton which builds the ant-heap. par
ticle by particle thought by thought
fact by fact" or,,u,.
| Now. it may be said that poor
blacksmith who mastered fifty or more
languages has done the world little
good. Mr.. Burritt, however, ala not
| look upon his success as a studeht III
that light. His ambition was to turn
his knowledge over to the heheht ol
mankind. A..
hostage movement. He labored as
earnestly as ever Mr.. Carnegie has IN
the interest of universal peace. He
spread his message throughout maga-
zines and papers of his own publica-
tion. He went frequently to Europe
and placed his plans for the better
ment of mankind before others.
| when. after one of his European
trips. he returned to his native town
| New Rritain-he was honored by ms
townsmen. not as a blacksmith alone,
but as a man who. by the use OF MS
moments when standing at the forge
had moved steadily onward into inter-
national prominence.
The finest tribute, in my mimu. that
he rncaived in his remarkable life was
also from his townsmen. They named
one Of the public schools the Burritt
school. l.,
| He was denied much opportunity IN
schools when a boy. but he shoWed
that even the art of going to school 10
| nra', oy-p ambition is wOnderiul