Part 2

It happened one day that a large company of gentleman and ladies were introduced to see the works. The master attended them, and explained, with great politeness, every part of his manufacture. They viewed with astonishment the different methods by which that useful and necessary ore of iron is rendered fit for human use. They examined the furnaces where it is melted down, to disengage it from the dross with which it is mixed in the bowels of the earth, and whence it runs down in liquid torrents like fire. They beheld with equal pleasure the prodigious hammers which, moved by the force of water, mould it into massy bars for the service of man. While they were busy in examining these different processes, they were alarmed by a sudden noise of discord which broke out on the other side of the building; and the master inquiring into the cause, was told, that it was only Little Jack, who was fighting with Tom the collier. At this the master cried out in a passion, “There is no peace to be expected in the furnace while that boy is employed; send him to me, and I will instantly discharge him.” At this moment Jack appeared, all covered with blood and dirt, and stood before his angry judge in a modest but resolute posture. “Is this the reward,” said his master, “you little audacious fellow, for all my kindness? Can you never refrain a single instant from broils and fighting? But I am determined to bear it no longer; and therefore you shall never, from this hour, do a single stroke of work for me.”--“Sir,” replied Little Jack, with great humility, but yet with firmness, “I am extremely sorry to have disobliged you, nor have I ever done it willingly, since I have been here; and if the other boys would only mind their business as well as I do, and not molest me, you would not have been offended now; for, I defy them all to say, that, since I have been in the house, I have ever given any one the least provocation, or ever refused, to the utmost of my strength, to do whatever I have been ordered.”--“Indeed that’s quite true,” said the foreman; “I must do Little Jack the justice to say, that there is not a more honest, sober, and industrious lad about the place. Set him to do what you will, he never sculks, never grumbles, never slights his work; and if it were not for a little passion and fighting, I don’t believe there would be his fellow in England.”--“Well,” said the master, a little mollified, “but what is the cause of all this sudden disturbance?”--“Sir,” answered Jack, “it is Tom that has been abusing me, and telling me that my father was a beggar-man, and my mother a nanny-goat; and, when I desired him to be quiet, he went baaing all about the house; and this I could not bear; for, as to my father, he was an honest soldier, and if I did suck a goat, she was the best creature in the world; and I won’t hear her abused while I have any strength in my body.” At this harangue, the whole audience were scarcely able to refrain from laughing; and the master, with more composure, told Jack to mind his business, and threatened the other boys with punishment if they disturbed him.

But a lady who was in company seemed particularly interested about Little Jack, and when she had heard his story, said, “This must certainly be the little boy who opened a gate several years past for me upon Norcot Moor. I remember being struck with his appearance, and hearing him lament the loss of the goat that nursed him. I was very much affected then with his history, and since he deserves so good a character, if you will part with him, I will instantly take him into my service.” The master replied, that he should part with him with great satisfaction to such an excellent mistress; that, indeed, the boy deserved all the commendations which had been given; but since the other lads had such a habit of plaguing, and Jack was of so impatient a temper, he despaired of ever composing their animosities. Jack was then called, and informed of the lady’s offer, which he accepted with the greatest readiness, and received immediate directions to her house.

When the lady came home, she inquired concerning Jack, and found that he had arrived some time before her. She sent for him into the parlour, and kindly entered into conversation with him concerning his situation since she had first seen him upon the common. She was greatly pleased by the feeling manner in which he described the last moments of the old Soldier; she saw very clearly that the poor boy had an excellent disposition, a warm heart, and that what he had most to dread was his hastiness of temper. She, therefore, gently, yet very forcible, laid before him the evils which follow from a quarrelsome habit; how all persons come at last to dread the company of one who is apt to fall into disputes. She told him how people are always inclined to think him in the wrong against whom complaints are most frequently made, although perhaps he may have been on the right side in every instance. She pointed out to him how willing his master was to part with him; not because he was wrong in his disputes, but because he was in so many of them. “A quarrelsome boy,” said she, “is a nuisance in a family; there is no peace where he is, and every thing is kept in constant confusion and ill blood. You know, Jack, that it is your duty, as a Christian, to forgive others their trespasses against you; if, then, you fight upon every occasion, on which you may have suffered even real injury, you disobey your blessed Saviour, by violating one of his precepts. If any of your fellow-servants should do you any harm, forgive it according to the command of our Lord; if it should be often repeated, or be of a very heinous nature, come to me, and I shall see justice done between you and him. You know you cannot be a good judge in your own case, especially when your mind is filled with anger; therefore, I forbid you to take the matter into your own hands; you must not cause noise and riot in the family by coming to blows, even where the insult you may receive has been most unprovoked.”--Jack made very faithful promises of amendment; as indeed he might very sincerely do, for except when he was hurried away for the moment, he was ever ready to confess his failing.

Jack was now in a new sphere of life. His face was washed, his hair combed, he was clothed afresh, and appeared a very smart active lad. His business was, to help in the stable, to water the horses, to clean shoes, to perform errands, and to do all the jobs of the family; and in the discharge of these services, he soon gave universal satisfaction. He was indefatigable in doing what he was ordered, never grumbled, nor appeared out of temper, and seemed so quiet and inoffensive in his manners, that every body wondered how he had acquired the character of being quarrelsome. In a short time he became both the favourite and the drudge of the whole family; for, speak but kindly him, and call him a little soldier, and Jack was at every one’s disposal. This was Jack’s particular foible and vanity: at his leisure hours he would divert himself by the hour together, in poizing a dung-fork, charging with a broom-stick, and standing sentry at the stable door. Another propensity of Jack’s, which now discovered itself, was an immoderate love of horses. The instant he was introduced into the stable, he attached himself so strongly to these animals, that you would have taken him for one of the same species, or at least a near relation. Jack was never tired with rubbing them down and currying them; the coachman had scarcely any business but to sit on the box; all the operations of the stable were entrusted to Little Jack, nor was it ever known that he neglected a single particular. But what give him more pleasure than all the rest, was sometimes to accompany his mistress upon a little horse, which he managed with great dexterity.

Jack discovered too a great disposition for all the useful and mechanic arts. He had served an apprenticeship already to the manufacture of iron, and of this he was almost as vain as of being a soldier. As he began to extend his knowledge of the world, he saw that nothing could be done without iron. “How would you plough the ground,” said Jack; “how would you dig your garden; how would you even light a fire, dress a dinner, shoe a horse, or do the least thing in the world, if we workman at the forge did not take the trouble of preparing it for you?” Thus Jack would sometimes talk upon the dignity and importance of his own profession, to the great admiration of all the other servants.

These ideas naturally give Jack a great esteem for the profession of a blacksmith, and in his occasional visits to the forge with the horses, he learnt to make and fix a shoe as neatly as any artist in the country.

Nor were Jack’s talents confined to the manufacture of iron; his love of horses, and his interest in every thing that related to them, was so great, that it was not long before he acquired a very competent knowledge in the art of sadlery.

Jack would also sometimes observe the carpenters when they were met at work, and sometimes by stealth attempt the management of their tools; in which he succeeded as well as in every thing else; so that he was looked upon by every body as a very active, ingenious boy.

There was in the family where he now lived, a young gentleman, the nephew of his mistress, who had lost his parents, and was therefore brought up by his aunt. As Master Willets was something younger than Jack, and a very good-natured boy, he soon began to take notice of him, and be much diverted with his company. Jack, indeed, was not undeserving this attention; for although he could not boast any great advantages of education, his conduct was entirely free from all the vices to which some of the lower class of people are subject. Jack was never heard to swear, or express himself with any indecency. He was civil and respectful in his manners to all his superiors, and uniformly good-natured to his equals. In respect to the animals entrusted to his care, he not only refrained from using them ill, but was never tired with doing them good offices. Added to this, he was sober, temperate, hardy, active, and ingenious, and despised a lie as much as any of his betters. Master Willets now began to be much pleased with playing at cricket and trap-ball with Jack, who excelled at both these games. Master Willets had a little horse which Jack looked after; and, not contented with looking after him in the best manner, he used to ride him at his leisure hours with so much care and address, that in a short time he made him the most gentle and docile little animal in the country. Jack had acquired this knowledge, partly from his own experience, and partly from paying particular attention to a traveling riding-master that had lately exhibited various feats in that neighbourhood. Jack attended him so closely, and made so good an use of his time, that he learned to imitate almost every thing he saw, and used to divert the servants and his young master, with acting the taylor’s riding to Brentford.

The young gentleman had a master who used to come three times a week to teach him accounts, and writing, and geography. Jack used to be sometimes in the room while the lessons were given, and listened according to custom with so much attention to all that passed, that he received very considerable advantage for his own improvement. He had now a little money, and he laid some of it out to purchase pens, and paper, and a slate, with which at night he used to imitate every thing he had heard and seen in the day; and his little master, who began to love him very sincerely, when he saw him so desirous of improvement, contrived, under one pretence or another, to have him generally in the room while he was receiving instruction himself.

In this manner, Jack went on for some years, leading a life very agreeable to himself, and discharging his duty very much to the satisfaction of his mistress. An unlucky accident at length happened to interrupt his tranquillity. A young gentleman came down to visit Master Willets, who, having been educated in France, and among genteel people in London, had a very great taste for finery, and a supreme contempt for all the vulgar. His dress too was a little particular, as well as his manners, for he spent half his time in adjusting his head; he wore a high, well stiffened cravat, which kept his head and neck in one position, as if he were in the pillory. His pantaloons were of the cossack fashion, wide enough to admit his body, and puckered from top to bottom; while his hessian boots were in the highest style, and polished in the most accurate manner. He usually carried several snuff-boxes; some of which might indeed be called snuff-chests, for they were too large to enter any but his coat pockets; and he ornamented many of his fingers with ponderous gold rings. Thus affectedly dressed out, he would sometimes strut about before a looking-glass for an hour together. This young man had a supreme contempt for all the vulgar, which he did not attempt to conceal; and when he had heard the story of Jack’s birth and education, he could scarcely bear to be in the same room with him. Jack soon perceived the aversion which the stranger entertained for him, and at first endeavoured to remove it, by every civility in his power; but when he found that he gained nothing by all his humility, his temper, naturally haughty, took fire, and as far as he dared, he plainly showed the resentment which he felt.

It happened one day, after Jack had received some very mortifying usage from this young gentleman, that as he was walking along the road, he met with a show-man, who was returning from a neighbouring fair with some wild beasts in a cart. Among the rest was a middle-sized monkey, who was not under cover like the rest, and played so many antic tricks, and made so many grimaces, as engaged all Jack’s attention, and delighted him very much, for he always had a propensity for every species of drollery. After a variety of questions and conversation, the show-man, who probably wanted to get rid of his monkey, proposed to Jack to purchase him for half-a-crown. Jack could not resist the temptation of being master of such a droll diverting animal, and therefore agreed to the bargain. But when he was left alone with his purchase, which he led along by a chain, he soon began to repent his haste, and knew not how to dispose of him. As there was, however, no remedy, Jack brought him carefully home, and confined him safe in an out-house, which was not applied to any use. In this situation he kept him several days, without accident, and frequently visited him at his leisure hours, with apples, nuts, and such other presents as he could procure. Among the other tricks which the monkey had been taught to perform, he would rise upon his hind legs at the word of command, and bow with the greatest politeness to the company. Jack, who had found out these accomplishments in his friend, could not resist the impulse of making them serve the purposes of his resentment. He, therefore, one day dressed out his monkey in the most laughable manner: he tied a piece of stiff pasteboard about his neck; put upon him a pair of loose canvas bags, as trowsers; and covered the lower parts of his legs and his feet with oil and lampblack, in imitation of boots. Jack then put into his hands a huge tobacco-box, which he taught him to use as a snuff-box; and stuck upon his fingers several curtain-rings; and, thus accoutred, led him about with infinite satisfaction, calling him Sir, and jabbering such broken French as he had picked up from the conversation of the visitor. It happened very unluckily, at this very instant, that the young gentleman himself passed by, and instantly saw at one glance the intended copy of himself, and all the malice of little Jack, who was leading him along, and calling to him to hold up his head, and look like a person of fashion. Rage instantly took possession of his mind; he seized a stone which lay near at hand, knocked the poor monkey upon the head, and laid him dead upon the ground. What more he might have done, is uncertain; for Jack, who was not of a temper to see calmly such an outrage committed upon an animal which he considered as his friend, flew upon him like a fury. The young gentleman received a fall in the scuffle, which, though it did him no material damage, daubed all his clothes, and totally spoiled the whole arrangement of his dress. At this instant the lady herself, who had heard the noise, came down, and the violence of poor Jack was too apparent to be excused. Jack, indeed, was very submissive to his mistress whom he was very sorry to have offended; but when he was ordered to make concessions to the young gentleman, as the only conditions upon which he could be kept in the family, he absolutely refused. He owned, indeed, that he was much to blame for resenting the provocation he had received, and endeavouring to make his mistress’s company ridiculous; but as to what he had done in defence of his friend the monkey, there were no possible arguments which could convince him he was in the least to blame; nor would he have made submission to the king himself. This unfortunate obstinacy of Jack’s was the occasion of his being discharged, very much to the regret of the lady herself, and still more to that of Master Willets. Jack therefore packed up his clothes in a little bundle, shook all his fellow-servants by the hand, took an affectionate leave of his kind master and mistress, and once more sallied out upon his travels.

Thus Jack, by indulging the rashness of his temper, which he had promised to correct, deprived himself of a valuable service. His conduct in the whole of the affair was wrong; in the first place, he had not any right to turn another person into ridicule; and, in the next, when he had thus given the first insult, he ought not to have been so violent in taking satisfaction for the death of his monkey. But he was still farther to blame for the obstinate manner in which he resisted the request of his mistress to make some apology: he ought to have remembered that she had been for a long time his kind friend, and that he was bound to do much more at her desire than make an apology for an action in which he was wrong. Such is however the case with rash hot-headed people; they allow their passions to blind their understanding; but they almost always suffer, as Jack did in this case, for their misconduct.

He had not walked far before he came to a town, where a party of soldiers were beating up for volunteers. Jack mingled with the crowd that surrounded the recruiting serjeant, and listened with great pleasure to the sound of the fifes and drums; nor could he help mechanically holding up his head, and stepping forward with an air that shewed the trade was not entirely new to him. The serjeant soon took notice of these gestures, and seeing him a strong likely lad, came up to him, clapped him on the back, and asked him if he would enlist. “You are a brave boy,” said he, “I can see that in your looks--come along with us, and I don’t doubt but in a few weeks you’ll be as complete a soldier as those who have been in the army for years.” Jack made no answer to this, but by instantly poizing his stick, cocking his hat fiercely, and going through the whole manual exercise. “Prodigious, indeed!” cried the serjeant; “I see you have been in the army already, and can eat fire as well as any of us. But come with us, my brave lad, you shall live well, have little to do, but now and then fight for your king and country, as every gentleman ought; and in a short time, I don’t doubt but I shall see you a captain, or some great man, rolling in wealth, which you have got out of the spoils of your enemies.”--“Well,” said Jack, “as I am at present out of employment, and have a great respect for the character of a gentleman soldier, I will enlist directly in your regiment.”--“A brave fellow, indeed,” said the serjeant; “here, my boy, here is your money and your cockade;” both which he directly presented, and thus in a moment Little Jack became a soldier.