At the age of fourteen young Maxim left school, and became apprenticed
to a carriage-builder, although he had previously learned the use of
tools in his father’s mill. He was a stockily built lad, and was noted
for his physical strength and daring. His father was not an ardent
advocate of “turn the other cheek” policy. On the contrary, he used
to say: “If any one assails you, sail into him.” Once Hiram’s father
promised to bring him a present if he would be good. The little fellow,
then six years old, looked forward to the fulfilment with impatience.
At length, the elder Maxim, returning from the village, brought a puppy
as a playmate for his little son. Hiram regarded the animal with
amazement for a few moments; then, bursting into tears, he rushed to
hide his face in his mother’s lap, exclaiming: “I am afraid of it, it
looks so much like a dog.” The two finally became great friends. One
day the dog bit Hiram, and the lad asked his father what he ought to do
under the circumstances. “Bite him back,” was the verdict. In pursuit
of this suggestion, the lad examined the dog and concluded that the end
of his tail was about the most vulnerable point. Accordingly, he took
that member between his teeth and began to put on pressure, raising the
dog from the ground, in order to swing him once or twice. All the while
the lad had tears in his eyes, for he loved his little play-fellow;
but, with true Puritanical instinct, he deemed the chastisement just
and necessary. The dog, however, did not join him in this view of the
matter, and, in an attempt to escape, carried away one of his young
master’s upper front teeth. It is also said that one of Hiram’s young
brothers, in pursuit of this policy of retaliation, almost decapitated
the family goose, which they were saving up for Christmas, which had
savagely attacked the calf of the youngster’s leg.
It is easier to give Mr. Maxim’s manner of speech than his manner of
speaking. He has wonderful brown eyes,—very honest eyes,—that stare
at you inquiringly as he talks, and an extremely gentle voice of an
almost hypnotic quality,—very attractive and soothing. Marvelously
quick-witted himself, he has little patience with dullness in others.
His power of explanation, too, is very great. He always uses language
and methods according to the understanding of the listener. With a
scientific man, he employs forms of speech that convey much in little,
while to the ordinary layman he expresses himself in popular English.
“To what do you attribute your early success?” Mr. Maxim was asked.
“In the first place, I was a very large and strong boy, and, no matter
where I worked, I always succeeded in doing more than any other man or
boy in the shop. I was never absent from work or school.”