GOSSIP.
One such youth as Nat in a country village is the occasion of a good
deal of gossip. Many opinions are expressed in regard to his motives and
prospects, though in this case there were few conflicting sentiments. In
the sewing circle, a good old lady, who could not appreciate education
because she had none herself, said,
"Nat is a smart feller, but I'm feared he'll never be nothin' he thinks
so much of book larning. I 'spose he thinks he can get a living by his
wits."
The old lady had a half dozen champions of the tongue down upon her at
once.
"No, no, Mrs. Lane," said one, "you judge Nat too severely. There is no
one who attends to his work more closely than he does. You never heard
one of his employers complain that he was indifferent to his business."
"He only employs his leisure moments in study," said another; "and I
think that is much to his credit. If more boys in the village were like
him, it would be vastly to our credit, and theirs, too."
"Yes," added a third; "and you may be sure that when a boy is reading
during his evenings, and at other spare moments, he is out of mischief,
and that is something in these days. There are parents in this town who
never know that their sons are spending their leisure time well, because
they are so often getting into bad scrapes. I guess if we could look
into the tavern some evenings, we should find some of them there smoking
and drinking."
"Wall," replied the old lady, "that may all be true enough, but too many
edicated men are worse than none at all."
"Not if they earn their living, as Nat does, and get an education into
the bargain," said one of the former speakers. "There is no danger that
our sons and daughters will know too much. Most of them are satisfied
with knowing too little."
"Wall, edication is good enough in its place," added Mrs. Lane, "but
what does Nat 'spect to do with it in the machine-shop? You won't make
me b'lieve that larning is good for anybody who will have no use for it.
'Spose a farmer studies the lor, what good will it do him if he only
farms it? It will do him more hurt than good, because he will be nuther
one thing nor 'tother. If we have farmers, let's have farmers, and if we
have machinists, let's have machinists."
"Perhaps Nat will not always work at his trade," suggested one of the
company. "There are many self-made men who are now serving society much
better than they would be if they had continued to work at manual
labor."
"Yis, that's it," exclaimed the old lady, with some earnestness; "that
is jist what it will come to. These boys who take so to book larning
will stop working soon as they b'lieve they can get their bread and
butter by their wits. That's jist what I meant in the fust place. I hear
'um tell that Nat goes to Boston nights to hear some great speakers, and
comes home afterwards, and I thinks it is ventersome. I'd never let a
son of mine do it, in this world."
"Why? why?" inquired two or three voices at once.
"Why? a good reason why. You never know'd a boy who can be trusted in
Boston nights. You don't know where they'll go to, and if ye do, there
are sharpers on the lookout to lead them into evil. And who knows but
robbers might seize him on his way back? I should think the boy was
crazy."
"It is only an illustration of his energy and perseverance, Mrs. Lane,"
said one of the ladies. "He is determined to know something, though he
has no time to learn except in his leisure hours; and it is really
surprising how much a person may acquire by industry in these fragments
of time."
"There's a nuther thing, too," continued Mrs. Lane. "I hear 'um tell
that Nat carts a book about in his pocket all the time he works. Pretty
business, I think, for a youngster like him to try to be a scholar and
worker at once! It's all proof to me that taking to books so will spile
him for any thing."
"One thing is certain, Mrs. Lane, that he does not mean to waste any
time; for the book in his pocket is to take out when he has a minute to
spare. If he gets only ten minutes in a day to read, that will be one
hour in the six working days, which is worth saving. That single hour a
day, in a lifetime, would give a man considerable knowledge."
"Wall, it's no use arguing about it. Times are so diff'rent now from
what they was when I was young, and peoples thinks so diff'rent, that it
'pears to me sometimes that the world is going to rack and ruin. We got
along well 'nough fifty or sixty years ago without so much edication.
But folks are got to be so stylish now, and boys know so much more than
their grandpas, that I railly don't know what'll come on us."
"After all, Mrs. Lane, I think you would rather have more boys like Nat,
than like some others I could name," said a former speaker.
"Lor, yis," she replied; "I guess I should. I allers liked Nat. He's a
rale clever feller as ever lived, and he ain't stuck-up by his
smartness, and he likes to see everybody well used. I larfed myself most
to death when I heard about his waitin' on Hanner Mann to the party.
It's jist like Nat, he can't bear to see anybody slighted."
"I like to see that," answered one of the number; "it is a good sign. He
thought Hannah and her sister were slighted because their father was
poor and intemperate, and they were not able to dress quite so well as
some others, and this excited his sympathies, so that he was determined
they should go to the party."
"I know'd all about that," replied Mrs. Lane, "and that's what pleased
me so, to see a youngster like him so inderpendent, and stand up for
good folks if they are poor."
The reference here to an incident of Nat's youthful experience needs
explanation, as the fact illustrates an element of his character from
childhood, and furnishes additional reason for the course in which his
sympathies and better feelings ran thereafter. Nat and Charlie had
received invitations to a social gathering, in connection with their
companions, and the following conversation and decision occurred with
reference to attending.
"There is Hannah Mann, and her sister," said Nat, "they never go. Nobody
thinks they are good enough to associate with them, because they are
poor and unable to dress as well as some others."
"I have observed it," answered Charlie. "Some of the girls are always
making sport of them, and I doubt if any of the fellows ever waited upon
them. Yet they are as good as the best of them, for aught I know."
"That is true," added Nat; "they appear well, and are good scholars, and
know twice as much as some of the girls who slight them. A splendid silk
dress would not improve their characters at all, though it might their
personal appearance. I will tell you what I will do, Charlie; if you
will wait upon one of them, I will upon the other. What do you say to
it?"
"I say amen to it," answered Charlie. "They are as good as I am any day,
and I ought not to endanger the characters of those who are better by
going with them."
"I am in earnest. I mean just what I say," continued Nat.
"So am I in earnest," said Charlie, smiling. "Did you think I am
joking?"
"I thought you looked rather unbelieving, as if you imagined _I_ was
jesting."
"No such thing; your proposition rather pleased me than otherwise."
"Well, then," said Nat, "it is settled that we go to the party, and wait
upon these girls, is it?"
"Certainly, if you say so."
This decision was carried out. The two sisters were escorted to the
party by Nat and Charlie, to the surprise of some of the better
apparelled girls, who were secretly hoping to be the fortunate ones
themselves. The incident created quite a sensation among the young
people. At first, they did not quite understand it; but they were not
long in discovering that Nat intended to rebuke their ungenerous
treatment of these girls. Some were inclined to exhibit a little
resentment; but they soon perceived that it would only make a bad matter
worse. Nat "laughed behind his ears" to see how the thing worked, and
many a knowing glance was exchanged with Charlie in the course of the
evening. Before sun-down, on the following day, the facts in the case
were known by many of the villagers. The aristocratic ones sneered at
the act, while others commended it as the fruit of a generous spirit. On
the whole, it did much good in the community, because it caused many
persons to see the unkindness and even cruelty of slighting the worthy,
on account of their humble origin and circumstances.
That decision and independence, which aided Nat so much in his studies,
enabled him to perform this act. An irresolute, dull, stupid,
inefficient youth, would not have braved the current of feeling that had
set against the girls. In this way it is, that the leading elements of
character hitherto discussed assist a youth in all circumstances. He is
more of a man in doing both little and great things. They dignify common
politeness as really as they do achievements in art and science. They
make the gentleman as truly as the scholar. Robert Burns was once
walking in the streets of Edinburgh, in company with an aristocratic
associate, when the latter rebuked him for stopping to speak to a rough
but worthy farmer who had come to market, and Burns' reply evinced just
the spirit which Nat admired. "Why, you fantastic gomeral," said he, "it
was not the great coat, the scone bonnet, and the saunders boots hose
that I spoke to, but _the man_ that was in them; and the man, sir, for
true worth, would weigh down you and me, and ten more such, any day."