speak in this article. First of the senior partner of the house.

Born at the "North End," in Boston, on the seventeenth of April, 1826;
early put to school, and taken out of it at the age of eleven, at which
time he was left fatherless, the eldest of six children; with a good
mother to whisper words of encouragement in his ear, when everything in
the world and the future before him looked dark,--such was the start of
William Lee in life. Thousands before him, and since, have had the same
infelicitous experience; but how few have had the courage to overcome
the obstacles which he succeeded in overcoming? While other young men of
his age, many of them his playmates, were planning to fit themselves, by
a long course of study, for the duties of life, he was at once
confronted with the duties and burdens of life, without such advantages
as an education affords, and he met them with a manliness and a
self-reliance which now seem truly marvelous. I have often heard him
tell of these early days; but I will pass by the recollections for fear
that the recital of them might discourage many who read these lines.

After leaving school young William was offered a situation in the
bookstore of Samuel G. Drake, then located at No. 56 Cornhill. Mr. Drake
was himself a famous "book-worm," was familiar with the authorities and
the history of Boston, and, in after life, achieved a reputation as an
author. He was what one would term now an "old-fashioned bookseller,"
but what he did not know of the book trade in his day was not worth
knowing. William Lee entered his employ for two purposes--to learn the
trade and, in a very small way, to help support the family which was, in
a large sense, dependent upon him. During the three years of his
apprenticeship he showed himself an apt scholar, a patient worker, and
gifted with indomitable will and ambition.