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The country labourers there get a dollar a day , and the carpenters and cabinet-makers four dollars . But father , you remember the cabinetmaker ' s shop in the Calle de ******* . He could earn eight dollars a day at making rose-wood furniture . That was a good man , he taught me to work when I went to play there .
He was a remarkable man , boy . He could do more work than any two men , and he was industrious into the bargain . Thou didst not know that he also was a Scotchman . His history was somewhat remarkable . He left Scotland at twenty , and went to Canada , where he earned money easily , and expended it in the same way , in what workmen are accustomed to call ' enjoying themselves . ' At twenty-five he first resolved to become a rich man , and began to save his money . After a few months , he received information of the want of
cabinetmakers in Southern America . His mind was soon made up , and he embarked for **** # . The rosewood of Brazil was in abundance , but there was no one to make it up into articles of furniture . He hired a large room , took orders , and set to work in earnest . For six years he scarcely ever stepped out of his workshop , which served him both to eat and sleep in . He lost no time . His dinner was brought to him , and placed on his work-bench , ready cut up , and he ate while he
wrought , the stroke of the plane accompanying the movement of the jaws . If any one came to him with an order , he did not cease working-. He gave them a piece of chalk to write their commission on the wall , while he continued his labour . When the light of day ceased , an artificial light enabled him to continue , and when worn out with sleep , his hard bench was his only couch , and a mallet his pillow . Nay , to such an extent did he carry his perseverance , that on many
occasions he was accustomed to place a sharp piece of wood beneath his head , to prevent his sleeping long together . While he vvas thus disciplining himself to labour , foregoing all relaxation , others in a similar situation were accustomed only to work two days in the week , and pass the rest of their time in excitement . He continued this course of life several years , and accumulated many thousand dollars , when he found his health somewhat affected , and he relaxed in
his exertions . He was then informed that there was a city of the interior , which was a perfect Eldorado , in want only of cabinetmakers , and he determined to go there on a speculation . He consequently engaged several workmen , and carried with him a considerable amount of property . The speculation failed , and he lost several thousand dollars . He did not repine , but returned to his old quarters , and his health being improved by travel , he recommenced his work ,
though not so intensely as before . It was at this period that thou wert acquainted with him , and in conversation with me , he repined that he had not a wife and children to help him to look after his constantly accumulating property . His habits had become grave , and to some austere , and he began to ask himself what was the utility of
Aveaith , yet from long custom still went on accumulating * . What became of him , father , afterwards ? He deliberated long upon returning- to Scotland , but all his kindred , i . v . his near kindred , were dead , and at last he resolved to purchase a large cattle-breeding estate in the ***** ••**** . It was a glorious
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Juvenile Lessons . 767
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312
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1833, page 767, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2626/page/35/
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