When a very little fellow, if he got a sarcenet^
roller from a draper, he would cut it into short lengths,
and carve it with his knife into little windmills of
the most perfect construction. They were not such
mills as rise in a regular cone from the base, but of
that kind which are built of wood, and stand upon a
stout pillar and frame, on which they are turned to
the wind as it may vary ; they had their sails, door,
window-holes, and steps, all constructed with the
nicest accuracy. He used to make for the kitchen,
spill-boards, rolling-pins, towel- rollers, toasting-forks,
working in all kinds of wire — of which he made two
beautiful bird-cj^es. When he was ten or twelve
years of age, I first became acquainted with him, and
then he had his own little shop over the stable, with
his turning-lathe and tools of all sorts ; and he never
was so happy as when he could find out that he could
make any thing for you. A screw nutcrack, a wafer-
seal, tobacco-stopper, a snuff-box, a set of nine-pins,
anj thing, he was ready to make for his different



COUNTRY-BOOK. 127

acqufdntances. Going on a visit to a relative of his
at a distance (when about fourteen), who was a large
fanner, he set on and mended up rakes, forks, flakes,
gates, posts, rails, paling of the garden, every thing,
in fact, that wanted doing. If a lock was out of
order, he soon had it off, and put it to rights ; in
short, there was no mechanical job that he was not
master of, and quickly accomplished, to the astonish-
ment of the family. In fact, had he been thrown,
like Robinson Crusoe, on an uninhabited island, he
would have speedily out-Crusoed Crusoe himself, and
have surrounded himself with protection from the
elements and domestic comforts. To such a lad as
this, it is astonishing how all odds and ends of things
become treasures — nothing is lost: bits of wood,
scraps of leather, tin, iron, old nails, screws, &c., are
hoarded up, and turn, in his hands, into things of
account. 