CHAPTER V. 



THE APPRENTICE WEAVER IN THE SUNSHINE ENTERING 

 THE TEMPLE OF LEARNING. 



BUT in spite of these miserable and depressing external 

 conditions under which he lived in this otherwise pleasant 

 village, his inner life of growing intelligence and thirst for 

 knowledge which, innate as it was, had been nurtured by 

 the seashore rapidly progressed, and became the talk of 

 the place. From the very first, he was seen to be a quiet, 

 retiring, harmless being, not given to gossiping or to 

 making many friends, pleased rather with the joy of his 

 own thoughts. He sought the seclusion of a solitary walk, 

 when time was allowed him, and never frequented the 

 open street, with its many groups of aproned workmen. 

 He was then a short, lank lad, having much more bone 

 than muscle, and so near-sighted that he required to 

 examine all he looked at with a smile-provoking closeness. 

 He had an absurdly shy and backward manner, and 

 his home treatment induced a half-furtive look, as of a 

 hunted hare ; and he was dressed in poverty-stricken clothes. 

 Altogether, he was a peculiar-looking young man, generally 

 viewed as a " queer sort of creature." Gradually, how- 

 ever, he won the growing regard of all, as they witnessed 

 his life and perceived his studious habits, and this was 



