cotton-spinning. Of this I stood greatly in need; for there were no
public schools in the neighborhood in which I was born, and my parents
had too many children to feed and clothe to be able to pay much for
schooling. We were required on Sundays, by our employer, to learn two
lessons, one in the forenoon, the other in the afternoon; after reciting
which we were left at liberty to roam at our pleasure. Winter evenings
we worked in the factory till nine o'clock, after which, and before
going to bed, we were required to recite over one of our lessons These
advantages of education were not great, but even these I soon lost.
Within five months from the time I was bound to him, my employer died.
The factories were then sold out to three partners. The one who carried
on the cotton-spinning took me; but he soon gave up the business, and
went back to farming, which had been his original occupation. I remained
with him for a year and a half, or thereabouts, when my father bound me
out apprentice to a shoe-maker.

My new bos was, in some respects, a remarkable man, but not a very good
sort of one for a boy to be bound apprentice to. He paid very little
attention to his business, which he seemed to think unworthy of his
genius. He was a kind-hearted man, fond of company and frolics, in which
he indulged himself freely, and much given to speeches and harangues, in
which he had a good deal of fluency. In religion he professed to be a
Universalist, holding to doctrines and opinions very different from
those which my mother had instilled into me. He ridiculed those
opinions, and argued against them, but without converting me to his way
of thinking; though, as far as practice went, I was ready enough to
imitate his example. My Sundays were spent principally in taverns,
playing at dominos, which then was, and still is, a favorite game in
that part of the country; and, as the unsuccessful party was expected to
treat, I at times ran up a bill at the bar as high as four or six