Certain, I am, that their sense
never made much impression on me, for, when questioned by the
teacher, I was always sent to the bottom of the class, though
apparently I had learned my exercise to perfection.
"When I was twelve years old, I made the acquaintance of a very
ingenious boy, who came to our school. Samuel Bridge was a born
mechanic. Though only a year older than myself, such was his
ability in the use of tools, that he could construct a model of
any machine that he saw. He awakened in me a love of mechanical
construction, and together we made models of colliery
winding-frames, iron-rolling mills, trip-hammers, and
water-wheels. Some of them were not mere toys, but constructed
to scale, and were really good working models. This love of
mechanical construction has never left me, and I shall always
remember with affection Samuel Bridge, who first taught me to use
the hammer and file. The last I heard of him was in 1875, when
he passed his examination as a schoolmaster, in honours, and was
at the head of his list.
"During the next two years, when between twelve and fourteen, I
made comparatively slow progress at school. I remember having to
write out the fourth commandment from memory. The teacher
counted twenty-three mistakes in ten lines of my writing. It
will be seen from this, that, as regards learning, I continued
heedless and backward.
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