Thomas Day

“ I have avoided perhaps many faults and many uneasinesses, which I should have incurred had I been in another situation; and though I have often wanted a meal, and always fared hard, I have enjoyed as much health and life as usually fall to the lot of my betters. I am now going to die; I feel it in every part; the breath will soon be out of my body; then I shall be put in the ground, and the worms will eat your poor old daddy.” At this Jack renewed his tears and sobbings, for he was unable to restrain them. ”

“ You must than endeavour to get into service, and work for your living; and if you are strictly honest, and sober, I do not doubt but you will find a livelihood, and that God, who is the common father of all, if you serve and love him truly, will protect and bless you.—Adieu, my child, I grow fainter and fainter; never forget your poor old daddy, nor the example he has set you; but in every situation of life, discharge your duty, and live like a soldier and a Christian. ”

“ He was scarcely awake the next day, when the master of the forge came in to overlook his men, who finding Jack, and hearing his story, began to reproach him as very lazy, and asked him why he did not work for his living. Jack assured him there was nothing he so earnestly desired, and that if he would please to employ him, there was nothing that he would not do to earn a subsistence. “Well, my boy,” said the master, “if this is true, you shall soon be tried; nobody need be idle here.” ”

“ As the old man knew but little of accounts he was not able to give much assistance in them, but the little he did know he soon taught Jack. Thus, without books or paper, which the poor old soldier could not buy, Jack was enabled to read, write, and do some little matter in accounts. Indeed it is quite wonderful how persons overlook the means which are in their power. We have just seen how the old man made a smooth board covered with sand, and then a slate which he had found lying upon the highway, answer all the purposes which expensive books and papers could. ”

“ When they come in sight of the herd they pursue the horse they wish to take at full speed, come up with him in spite of his swiftness, and never fail to throw the noose about his neck as he runs. They are frequently known to jump upon young horses that have passed their whole life in the desert, and, with only a girth around the animal’s body to hold by, maintain their seat in spite of all his violent exertions, until they have wearied him out, and reduced him to perfect obedience. Such was the nation with whom it was the lot of Jack now to reside ”

“ THE HISTORY OF LITTLE JACK.
There was once a poor lame old man that lived in the midst of a wide uncultivated moor, in the north of England. He had formerly been a soldier, and had almost lost the use of one leg by a wound he had received in battle, when he was fighting against the enemies of his country. This poor man when he found himself thus disabled, built a hut of clay, which he covered with turf dug from the common. He had a little bit of ground which he made a shift to cultivate with his own hands, and which supplied him with potatoes and vegetables. ”

“ The Khan, for so he is called among the Tartars, seeing his horse grow hourly worse, at length applied to the Europeans to know if they could suggest any thing for his recovery. All the officers were profoundly ignorant of farriery; but when the application was made to Jack, he desired to see the horse, and with great gravity began to feel his pulse, by passing his hand within the animal’s fore-leg, which gave the Tartars a very high idea of his ingenuity. Finding the animal in a high fever, he proposed to the Khan to let him blood, which he had learned to do very dexterously in England. ”

“ This was Jack’s particular foible and vanity: at his leisure hours he would divert himself by the hour together, in poizing a dung-fork, charging with a broom-stick, and standing sentry at the stable door. Another propensity of Jack’s, which now discovered itself, was an immoderate love of horses. The instant he was introduced into the stable, he attached himself so strongly to these animals, that you would have taken him for one of the same species, or at least a near relation. Jack was never tired with rubbing them down and currying them ”

“ But he was still farther to blame for the obstinate manner in which he resisted the request of his mistress to make some apology: he ought to have remembered that she had been for a long time his kind friend, and that he was bound to do much more at her desire than make an apology for an action in which he was wrong. Such is however the case with rash hot-headed people; they allow their passions to blind their understanding; but they almost always suffer, as Jack did in this case, for their misconduct. ”

“ It may be observed, that all his early mishaps arose from an ungovernable temper: but that when time and experience had moderated his temper, things went well with him, and even matters, at first sight unfortunate, turned out advantageously. It was with him, as it will be with every one; a violent disposition, prone to anger, and unwilling to listen to reason, always brings a man into misfortunes; for it is not only unreasonable but unchristian. An useful lesson may be thus learned from the History of Little Jack ”

“ The Tartars, among whom Jack was now to reside, constitute several different tribes or nations, which inhabit an immense extent of country, both in Europe and Asia. Their country is in general open and uncultivated, without cities or towns, such as we see in these countries. The inhabitants themselves are a bold and hardy race of men, that live in small tents, and change their place of abode with the different seasons of the year. ”

“ These ideas naturally give Jack a [Pg 34] great esteem for the profession of a blacksmith, and in his occasional visits to the forge with the horses, he learnt to make and fix a shoe as neatly as any artist in the country.
Nor were Jack’s talents confined to the manufacture of iron; his love of horses, and his interest in every thing that related to them, was so great, that it was not long before he acquired a very competent knowledge in the art of sadlery. ”

“ Jack often went on shore with the officers, attending them on their shooting parties, to carry their powder and shot, and the game they killed. All this country consists of very lofty hills, covered with trees and shrubs of various kinds, which never lose their leaves, from the perpetual warmth of the climate. Through these it is frequently difficult to force a way, and the hills themselves abound in precipices. It happened that one of the officers, whom Jack was attending upon a shooting party, took aim at some great bird, and brought it down ”

“ Not contented with this, he procured some iron, and made his horse shoes in the European taste; this also was matter of astonishment to all the Tartars, who are accustomed to ride their horses unshod. He next observed that the Tartar saddles were all prodigiously large and heavy, raising the horseman up to a great distance from the back of his horse. Jack set himself to work, and was not long before he had completed something like an English hunting saddle, on which he paraded before the Khan. All mankind seem to have a passion for novelty ”

“ Jack was not unacquainted with the use of money, as he had often been sent to the next village to purchase bread and necessaries; but he was totally unacquainted with the use of shoes and stockings, which he had never worn in his life, nor felt the want of. The next day, however, the old man bade him run to town and lay his money out as the lady had desired ”

“ The only regret I feel, is for you, my dearest child, whom I leave unprovided for. But you are strong and vigorous, and almost able to get your living. As soon as I am dead, you must go to the next village, and inform the people, that they may come and bury me. ”

“ She therefore looked at Jack with amazement, admired his brown but animated face, and praised his shape and activity. “Will you go with me, little boy?” said she, “I will take great care of you, if you behave well.”—“No,” said Jack, “I must stay with my daddy; [Pg 14] he has taken care of me for many years, and now I must take care of him; otherwise I should like very well to go with such a sweet, good-natured lady.”—The lady was not displeased with Jack’s answer, and putting her hand in her pocket, gave him half a crown, to buy him shoes and stockings, and pursued her journey. ”

“ When they want any of these animals for use, a certain number of their young men jump upon their horses with nothing but a halter to guide them, each carrying in his hand a pole, with a noose of cord at the end. ”

“ All their property consists in herds of cattle, which they drive along with them from place to place, and upon whose milk and flesh they subsist. They are particularly fond of horses, of which they have a small but excellent breed, hardy and indefatigable for the purposes of war ”

“ What he earned was, however, enough to purchase clothes and the few necessaries he wanted. But, though poor, he was strictly honest, and never failed, night and morning, to address his prayers to God; by which means he was respected by all who knew him, much more than many who were superior to him in rank and fortune. This old man had one domestic. ”