Little Abe | Page 4

many
were maimed or killed. They therefore determined that their son should
be a mechanic, and learn to earn his bread above ground. After a while
they found a master who was willing to take him into his employ and
teach him his handicraft. It was customary in those days for a master to
take the apprentice to live with him in his house, and find him in food
and clothes. So Abe was given over to his new master, with the hope
that he would do well for him, and the boy would turn out a good
servant.
Now it is quite possible all this was done by the kind parents without
consulting Abe's mind on the subject, which certainly had a good deal
to do with the realization of their hopes, more perhaps than they
thought; however they soon discovered it, for in a day or two Abe
returned home with the information that he didn't like it, and should not
be bound to any man. It was a sad disappointment to the honest pair,
who had begun to indulge in expectations that some time "aar Abe may
be mester hissen;" they however saw that it was of no use pressing him
to go back, and so they compromised the matter by setting about to find
him another master. Abe was again despatched from home with many a
kind word of advice, and the hope that he would mind his work, learn
the trade, and turn out to be a good man. But what was their surprise
and pain at the end of about a week to see Abe walk into the house
again with a bundle in his hand. "Oh, Abe, my lad, what's brought thee
here so sooin? what's ta gotton in th' bundle?" exclaimed his mother.
"Why, gotton my things to be sure; I couldn't leave them behind when
I'm going back no maar;" and sure enough he had come home with the
information as before, he didn't like being bound to any man.
The probability is that there was something in the kind of treatment
Abe met with in both those cases that helped to set his mind so much
against the life of an apprentice away from home. All masters in those
days were not particularly kind in their manners towards apprentices:

some honourable exceptions could easily be found no doubt, but as a
rule, boys in such positions were not very kindly used; hard work from
early morning to late at night, hard fare at meal times, hard cuffs
between meals, and a hard bed with scanty covering at nights,--it was
no very enviable position for a youth to occupy, and certainly not one
to which a spirited lad would quietly submit. It may be that Abe, during
the short probations he had served at these two places, had learnt too
much of the ways of the establishments for so young a hireling, and
found they would not suit his peculiar tastes, and therefore he decided
twice over to return home, bringing his bundle of clothes without
giving any explanations or notice to any one.
Be that as it may, here he was at home again a second time, much to the
annoyance of his father, who was bent upon the lad learning some
handicraft. Abe remained at home a short time, when one day his father
told him he had got another place for him, with an excellent man, who
would take him a little while on trial, and if they liked each other he
might then be indentured. His father had been at some trouble to find a
master farther away from home, in the hope that when once Abe was a
good way off he might be induced to stay; in this he was acting on the
principle that the power of attraction is weakened by a wider radius,
which may be correct when applied to some things, but not to all. This
new master lived in Lancashire, and thither young Abraham was sent in
due course. A month or so passed away, and all seemed to promise a
satisfactory arrangement, until one morning Abe heard a conversation
in the family, from which he gathered that his master was going to
Marsden, where he expected to meet Mr. Lockwood at a certain inn,
and make final arrangements for Abe's apprenticeship. This opened the
old sore; Abe couldn't rest: "he wouldn't stay, that he wouldn't, he
would be off home;" but how was he to get there? he didn't know the
way, and thirty miles or more was a long journey in those days. He
determined therefore to keep his eye on his master until he saw him off
for Marsden, which was more than half the distance to his home,