RANGE OF APPRENTICESHIP. 77 



paign in more temperate climates. I was again an apprentice and 

 as " brisk as a bee." The first person I met was well-known — 

 indeed, who could be otherwise in a limited neighbourhood, 

 and during a working residence of at least ten years ? After a 

 hearty shake, and how d' ye do, my inquiry was for Nancy — a 

 little girl whose neat appearance and needle excellence made her 

 an early and particular favourite. — " How is my little maid 



Nancy," asked I. '^ Lor' Mr. ," answered she, " little 



maid d' ye call her, why she is as big as I, and has a boy almost 

 as big as you." " Eh, ma'am," said T, " the boy at that rate 

 is a wonderful prodigy — elephant-growth, surely, instead of hu- 

 man ; do let me see him : — it appears but the other day its mothei- 

 was a child." " Well, now, what be'e talking about. 'T is full 

 ten years ago you were in the lane — for Mr. Crumplehorn, 

 your old friend, has left for — let me see — Nancy left school and 

 lived with Madam Somerank six years — and he was living here 

 when she left her ladyship — there now !" " Is it possible?" said 

 I. " And where," I continued, " is Nancy now living — how is 

 she." " O !" said her mother, *^ she is like the rest of you — the 

 lane is not good enough for your master's shop — nor for Nancy's 

 dwelling. She is off, and you are off — but I am here — and, I 

 suppose, to stay." " You are here, it is true," said I, " and as 

 true it is that I am here — but is Nancy here ? if she be I should 

 very much like to see her." " Well then," said her mother, 

 '' she is here — and, as we are all here, we shall presently all 

 meet." As I was proceeding through the passage, Nancy's mo- 

 ther remarked, much to my satisfaction, that her daughter was a 

 very good child. When her household work was attended to, 

 she spent the remainder of the day with her, in needle-work, 

 and Sundays, all the day — during her husband's absence at sea. 

 Such a child, thought I, is worth waiting ten years to see — and 

 ten times ten, without fatigue ! " Shew me up," I said ; but 

 there was little occasion, for Nancy, who had overheard our 

 conversation, was on the ground to supersede her mother as con- 

 ductor. " A good little child," said I, as I ascended stair by 

 stair — " a good big child — what follows, Nancy ?" " What you 

 please, sir," said she.— "A good wife," I continued, "a good 



mother, a good neighbour, and " stepping into her mother's 



room of three centuries old, with a honey-comb floor, new 

 patched, and almost as white as a pastry-cook's apron, " a good 

 little boy to make mother and grandmother happy, and a genera, 

 tion after them.'^ " Well," said Nancy, " we shall, at this rate. 



