* * * * *
"There is work enough in the world for every one to do something. There
is no proper place for idle people." This is what old Michael the basket
maker used to say to his children; and as they grew up, they found
reason enough to thank him for the lesson.
Michael had been a sailor in his youth, but when he married, he settled
in a country place, and took up the trade of a basket maker. At first,
he could hardly get money enough to buy rods: but by working very hard,
he soon got money and credit too. No one in the village was now up
before Michael, and most people went to bed before he left off work.
Small as was the sum of money that he could earn in a week, he would
always put by something, if it was but a penny. Every month he put these
savings into the savings' bank; and in the course of the first six
years, he found he had got twenty-five pounds.
By this time he had got two children, and the eldest was old enough to
learn to read. She used to sit by him with her book as he worked, and he
taught her when she wanted help. His wife was in the mean time doing
something in the house, or working for some of the farmers who lived
near.
Michael now bought a cow and two pigs, and made some profit by them. In
six years more he bought the cottage he lived in; and twelve years after
this, that is twenty-four years after he was married, he rented a little
farm. By this time he had seven children; and as he had made his cottage
larger, they all lived at home and helped him. His eldest boys worked at
the farm, and the girls milked the cows and made the butter, under the
care of their mother, and kept the poultry.
As for Michael himself, though he was well off, he kept on his old
trade, and went on in his old habits. The last time I saw him before I
left the place in which he lived, he was teaching his youngest child to
read while he was at work, just as he had taught his eldest.
I have often thought of Michael's words, "There is no place in the world
for idle people."
[Illustration: INDUSTRY]