Business did not prove very prosperous at Carrick-on-suir; the
town was small, and the trade was not very brisk. Accordingly,
Bianconi resolved, after a year's ineffectual trial, to remove to
Waterford, a more thriving centre of operations. He was now
twenty-one years old. He began again as a carver and gilder; and
as business flowed in upon him, he worked very hard, sometimes
from six in the morning until two hours after midnight. As
usual, he made many friends. Among the best of them was Edward
Rice, the founder of the "Christian Brothers" in Ireland. Edward
Rice was a true benefactor to his country. He devoted himself to
the work of education, long before the National Schools were
established; investing the whole of his means in the foundation
and management of this noble institution.
Mr. Rice's advice and instruction set and kept Bianconi in the
right road. He helped the young foreigner to learn English.
Bianconi was no longer a dunce, as he had been at school; but a
keen, active, enterprising fellow, eager to make his way in the
world. Mr. Rice encouraged him to be sedulous and industrious,
urged him to carefulness and sobriety, and strengthened his
religions impressions. The help and friendship of this good man,
operating upon the mind and soul of a young man, whose habits of
conduct and whose moral and religious character were only in
course of formation, could not fail to exercise, as Bianconi
always acknowledged they did, a most powerful influence upon the
whole of his after life.
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