"Because, mother, Sam Peters said that I should never be good for
anything but to make flutter-wheels, and it is true, I am afraid."
"If you were a poor man's son, Davie, you might be a good mechanic," said
his mother.
That night Davie resolved to be a mechanic. "I won't be a
good-for-nothing man in the world. If I can't be a learned professor, I
may be a good carpenter or a blacksmith. If I learn to make a good
horseshoe, I'll be worth something." So the next morning he asked his
father's leave to enter a machine-shop. His father said he might, and
with all the school-boys laughing at him, he took his tin-pail with his
lunch in it, and went into the shop each morning. And now he began to
love books, too. He gathered a library of works on mechanics. Everything
relating to machinery he studied. He took up mathematics and succeeded.
After a while he rose to a good position in the shop. And he became at
last a great railroad engineer. He built that great bridge at Blankville.
"Why," said John Harlan, "I thought your Uncle David built that."
"So he did," said Harry. "My uncle was the boy that could not learn
Latin."
"I suppose," said Tom Miller, "that God has use for us all, boys.
Pages:
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144