A Boy of Iron.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1466, 28 September 1885, Page 4

A Boy of Iron.

A yeav or more ago, the foreman of one of the ironworks of Cleveland, Ohi«>, »va* crossing the p;irk , when lie espied a little skip of a boy, seem, j ingly not over eleven voaix old, seated ' on a bi£ fly-wheel, ami chewiii" iho cud of bitter reflections. 1 Who lire you?' •I'm Jack.' 'What are you doing here?' • Hosting.' \ ' • 1 What do you want V '■''-. < A job.' Those were the questions and answers. The boy Was pule and ragged, but m his steel blue pyes the foreman saw game. Ami, to >, the idea of a waif like him, setting out to battle the world, touched a tender chord m the heart of the man, who had boys of his own, and so he set Jack to work m tho yard. No one thought the boy would stay a week, and no one oare.l to ask where he came from or who he whs. But he stuck. Fie' wan hardworking and faithful, and as the weeks went by, he made friends. One day he walked up to the foreman and said: — f I want to leiirn the trade,' 'You? Ha, ha, ha ! Why, Jack, yon are not big enough to handle a cold chisel.' '.I can whip any apprentice boy m -this -shop,' -was the boy's earnest declarator* 'just hear him? Why, any of the i lot coald turn you inside out ! When you get big enough to whip the smallest one, you come to irie for a job.' At noon Jack walked up to the biggest apprentice and said : * Gome out doors.' I "What do you w -nt V * I'm going lo lick you.' •What for V * Because I want a chance to learn the trade.' The two went out, and ii sight of twenty witnesses. Little Jack won a vi**torv. At one o'oclock he touched his cap and said to ihe foreman : C I ha\e licked your biggest 'prentice, and 1 want to go to work.' Ten minutes -later he had become a machinist's apprentice, and ..if -you go m there to-day you will find him with greasy hands, oily face, and a head full <»f business ideas. Jack carries the keys to the drawer* where the steam gauges, safety valves, and other trimmings are kept, and ihe knows the use of every tool, the working of every piece of machinery, and there is a constant call for Jack here, and Jack the'e. Betore he is twenty he will be a finished machinist, and before he is twenty-five he will be foi'eman m some great shop. He is quiet, earnest, respectable, and observing. What he does is well done. What he is told lie never forgtts.