BOYHOOD OF SIR WILLIAM ARMSTRONG.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2177, 22 December 1885, Page 2

BOYHOOD OF SIR WILLIAM ARMSTRONG.

From the days of his childhood Sif William displayed the possession of iih venture genius, and even in fcl\e matter oil liia. toys, indulged in meohanical arrange--of bis. o,vm devising which fa? in advance of his years. He'was a delicate boy, and in order to protect him from the vigour of the northern climate his parents used to keep him confined to the house for months together during the vyintor, when he took advantage of hia enforced seclusion to exercise his ingenuity upon such unpromising material as happened to be at hand. When only five or six years old he was accustomed to amuse himself'with setting a number of old spinning wheels in motion by means of weights descending on strings from top to bottom of his' father's house, over the staircase railings, making the wheels perform evolutions in imitation of pumping water and grinding corn. The days passed pleasantly enough to him while superintending these diverting operations; and so long as his mechanical served to make his continement&coeptablel to him, hiß parents looked on with gratification, without;' however, for a moment suspecting that in these early evidences of ingenuity there was foreshadowed' the| strong genuis of ,'ijhe inventor. Friends relatives bought mechanical,toys, for. the, little prisoner! but'they could not bring themselve'stdregard tion'hia mania fqf pulling them, to piece?) With |im this a matter'bf simple, investigation' not robe resisted; to them, it looked muoh more like : pure ' mischief. When the cold' winds had gone, and the, atmosphere was tempered with ho was allowed to the We, ai4 would often of fys'm internal grandfather, who. ijras guilderand in'tha joiners' al\op there, ,who?o " old John Fordy " the pveaidiiig genius," yonngAvmstrong would spend hour after hour in working out his . meohanioal nbtloiiß, with wonderful patience and industry, for though as yet Ms vision had not extended beyond the realm of toyland, he showed the true spirit of invention in all he undertook, and improved upon most of the toys that were presented to him, Sometimes he would pretend to assist" old John" in the regular work of ' joinering, and, happy in the thought that he was rendoring useful services, would look up into the face of the old workmanj' and ask, with nq earnest wi|»s()i]ii§takjng; iriiich 'money 1 do you think! could earn John ?.". The': kindly-joiner had to confess this to be il ! i question 1 beyond'the power Of answering; but as'he scanned the pale face and; transparent hands of the little workman,' and called him his" canny bairn," lie smilingly encourage him to further effort^,' much as he deluded regarding the "Fortunes'Made m Bu'slns3S|'' : in '/London'Society'.'