"If any one intends to improve his condition," said the late William
Felkin, Mayor of Nottingham, himself originally a working man, "he must
earn all he can, spend as little as he can, and make what he does spend,
bring him and his family all the real enjoyment he can. The first saving
which a working man makes out of his earnings is the first step,--and
because it is the first, the most important step towards true
independence. Now independence is as practicable in the case of an
industrious and economic, though originally poor, workman, as in that of
the tradesman or merchant,--and is as great and estimable a blessing.
The same process must be attended to,--that is, the entire expenditure
being kept below the clear income, all contingent claims being carefully
considered and provided for, and the surplus held sacred, to be employed
for those purposes, and those only, which duty or conscience may point
out as important or desirable. This requires a course of laborious
exertion and strict economy, a little foresight, and possibly some
privation. But this is only what is common to all desirable objects. And
inasmuch as I know what it is to labour with the hands long hours, and
for small wages, as well as any workman to whom I address myself, and to
practise self-denial withal, I am emboldened to declare from experience
that the gain of independence, or rather self-dependence, for which I
plead, is worth infinitely more than all the cost of its attainment;
and, moreover, that to attain it in a greater or less degree, according
to circumstances, is within the power of by far the greater number of
skilled workmen engaged in our manufactories."




CHAPTER V.