would never grow dim.

Less than any one else, perhaps, did the boy dream of future
greatness. For a year he served his employer faithfully in his
capacity of errand boy, and, in 1805, at the age of fourteen, was
apprenticed to a bookseller for seven years, as was the custom in
England, to learn the combined trades of bookbinding and book-
selling.

The young journeyman had to exercise all his self-control to
confine his attention to the outside of the books which passed
through his hands. In his spare moments, however, he made himself
familiar with the inside of many of them, eagerly devouring such
works on science, electricity, chemistry, and natural philosophy,
as came within his reach. He was especially delighted with an
article on electricity, which he found in a volume of the
"Encyclopedia Britannica," which had been given him to bind. He
immediately began work on an electrical machine, from the very
crudest materials, and, much to his delight, succeeded. It was a
red-letter day in his young life when a kind-hearted customer,
who had noticed his interest in scientific works, offered to take
him to the Royal Institution, to attend a course of lectures to be
given by the great Sir Humphry Davy. From this time on, his
thoughts were constantly turned toward science. "Oh, if I could
only help in some scientific work, no matter how humble!" was the
daily cry of his soul. But not yet was his prayer to be granted.
His mettle must be tried in the school of patience and drudgery.
He must fulfill his contract with his master. For seven years he
was faithful to his work, while his heart was elsewhere. And all
that time, in the eagerness of his thirst for knowledge, he was