Year: 1875

that is, until he twenty-one years old II was
then considered legal duty Of masters TO afford their
apprentices opportunity acquire the rudments OF
common education Henry permitted to have
four weeks for attending school in every year Az the
end Of his time OF serytude he TO receive six sheep
and yoke Of six-year old He faithfully served
his time Of eleven years and he sold his sheep and
oxen for $s4 But though the weeks OF his school life
were few number he had employed his leisure
time to advantage in miscellaneous reading lawyer
in his neghborhood, Mr. Eastman, afforded
him the use OF his library and Mrs Eastman,
noticing the boys thirst for knowledge, assisted him in
selecting books Sometimes he up all night, and,
having no oil the only light he could obtain was from
the dismal burning Of pine knots. 1t seems as il his
whole life took color from their gloomy glare He spent
all his Sundays in reading. AT the expiration Of his
apprenticeship he had read 700 volumes ohstorcal and
4 biographical works, In his studies he assisted by
Judge Whtehouse, kind neghbor, of the village


At the age Of twenty one young Wilson worked for
eight months on the farm mainly at chopping wood
at hfty cents cord In December, 1888 he
left his home and walked to Natck, Mass,
with the purpose OF learning to make shoes.
So he apprenticed himself to a shoemaker of that viii
lage for nve months agreeing give his time in pay
ment for tutoring in the mystery Of putting soles upon
sale shoes But at the end of six weeks he found
he knew all that his master could teach him. and he
purchased back the remainder of his time. There
upon he set up to work for himself For two years he
worked steadily at his trade, giving himself only 1--WE
hours day for sleep. Sometimes he worked all
night His health became impaired and he sold his
business and won't to Virginia It was there that
became mbued with sincere hatred Of slavery and of
Southern politicians While in Washington he visited
the House OF Representatives and from the
gallery heard Mr. Pnckney bring forward the Gag
resolution of 1886 He was also brought under the
magical influence OF John Quincy Adams who refused
to vote. That Southern visit gave America ono OF
the foremost champions OF ant-savery.


Having some money young Wilson returned to New
Hampshire with the strong purpose OF obtaining an
academica education and therefore, he entered the
school at Stafford HIS savings were intrusted to tho
care Of man who failed and after two years Wilson
obliged to resume work Meanwhile he gave con
siderable time to the business OF teaching school, IL
was in 1888 that he resumed tho making of snoes at
Natiok place which thereafter TO have its name
ndissoluby associated with his. His business quaid-
cations were not among the least Of those which
made him distinguished in liie and in time
he became the master OF sixty hands, and supplied
shoes largely to the Southern and Western trade
Among the young mechanics OF Natck he formed a de-
batting society which, with recollectlons his visit
TO Virginia and his sight Of Williams prison pen he
was never tired of speaking against slavery.
In l840 Wilson, at the age of twenty eight stepped
into that arena of politics from which he predes-
tined never to retire until death should strike him





made memorable by the cry OF 'Tippecanoe and Tyler
too" He had already been beaten in quiet way
wing candidate for the Legislature During the
campaign he made than sixty effective
stump speeches for the whig The local papers
the democratic side derded him 'he Natick Cob
bier and the name never left him. His share of the
victory for the wing party was his election to the Mas
sachusetts Legislature as the representative from
Natick In the following year he elected, and
after three terms of service he the State
Senate He was known in those years a ubiquitous
worker at political caucuses and radical debater
The subject of anti-savery that about which he
most delighted to talk, but he also known a sly
schemer in politics. He had the instincts OF a Yankee
shoemaker aud tho habits OF a sincere agitaor and
by this reversal of the natural methods Of
public men, he achieved uninterrupted success
His cunning revealed to the eyes
of men; he was always willing do


Ill that good might come; and he would give his
for half good cause II any opponent could be found
who would compensate him with vote for a wholly
good cause, Sometimes his critics believed that his
ambition of strenuous character that he cared
for tho victory than for the He the
admission Of colored children to the public schools
the protection Of colored seamen in South Carolina
and be opposed the admission Of Texas to the Union
In long speech in the Senate he advocated the
extension Of slavery in the Territories and urged that
the y At should employ all for the extinction OF
the evil This speech s',pss aad by William Lloyd
Garrison to be the most comprehensive and OK.
hausve speech ever made on the subject OF
slavery in any legislative body in the United
States He succeeded in carrying the Legislature That
year 1S45 he with the poet Whittier was sent
delegate to Washington present the petition Of
Massachusetts against the annexation of Texas
in the leading tslavery Of Union and CON
stanty sought TO represent IT. His vocation that
OF crystallizng the sentiment of Garrison, Phillips,
Whittier and Charming and putting it upon the statute
books.


In 1s4s Mr. Wilson was a delegate to the whig Ma
tional Convention which nominated General Taylor
In that Convention resolutions were offered in favor of
the Wilmot Proviso but they rejected, and Mr..
Wilson, after denouncing the Convention, with |
drew From his action this pcca-
sion grew forth the free soil party for Mr. I
Wilson, with the tireless instincts of politician was
unsatished with denunciation, and he called meeting
Of delegates who subsequently formed the nucleus OF
the Buffalo Convention. More than anything else this
action tended disrupt the wing party in Massachu
setts His activity so great that he sought new
field of discussion by purchasing the Boston RepubG
cdf daily newspaper which Tor two years he edited
with vigor As pecuniary venture, however the in
vestment failure. He lost 81 GOO in the years
He the head OF the free soil movement
in Massachusetts, He was the candidate of his party
for the Speakershp In the State Assembly As mem
Der he prompt and industrious During all his life
he who always the spot In 1850 and
1851 he was elected President OF the State Senate Even
his political opponents praised him for his success in
the office He was In 1851 the President OF the Free
Democratic National Convention. which met at Pitts
burg and chairman of the National Committee OF
his party He took the stump and made many popular
speeches But in his district he was in 1852 defeated
for Congress, though he within few votes of
being elected Not only his town, but a
naighboring town also elected him delegate To the
he defeated the candidate of tho free soil party
for Governor Of the State He was considered as the


In 1855 Edward Everett resigned the position Of
United States Senator from Massachusetts and Mr.
|
bier had at last won great victory the old ee
ment of whg arstocracy-the Lawrences the Win
throps and the Appeton2 They felt the sting keenly
Soon after he took his seat he made speech advo-
eating the repeal OF tho Fugitive Slave law. Said he -
We mean, sir, to place in the councils of the nation
men who IN the words Of Jefferson, have sworn, on
the altar OF God, eternal hostility every kind OF
oppression over the mind and body of man. y He was
warm and earnest abotionist AT the American Ma
onal Council Philadelphia 1855 he led the oppo
OF slavery and when Southern left his place
apd with his hand his revolver sat down beside Mr.


aAa lat rhroaf hnva /
or ipoemep. am rcy ta pss! SSSnment with argu
ment with scorn, ana, neea oe PlQw WIN ps2H,
Il is time that the champions Of slavery sh5si@ reauzQ
he fact that the past Is theirs-the future oursn
In that year Mr.. Wilson Joined the American or
Know Nothing party, which subsequently chose Fill
more for its representative But his membership in
hat party OF short duration; for no sooner did
the first of republcanism come swelling in from
the West than he hailed them OF anti
slavery victory He did as much any to organ
ize the republican party; for this ubiquitous schemer
was great organizer OF sentiments and Of men. IL