24 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



Domestic Manufactures. 



There were presented, among other articles, copies of a vol- 

 ume of Prose and Yerse, composed and printed in the leisure 

 hours of the author, while an apprentice in a newspaper print- 

 ing office. A most commendable instance of the pursuit of 

 knowledge under difficulties, and a good example of applica- 

 tion to all apprentices, in whatever avocation, by Charles W. 

 Swasey, Salem, and we award him $1. 



This is an elegantly printed and bound volume, of which a 

 dozen copies only were issued for distribution to a few friends. 

 From prologue to epilogue, from title-page to colophon, the 

 author states, it is the work of his own labor, both mental and 

 manual. It occupied about three hundred and eighty hours in 

 the printing, from June 15, 1849, to April 25, 1850. 



Mr. S. has been employed in the Salem Register Office since 

 he commenced his apprenticeship in 1837 ; and to show what 

 young men can do by a systematic and judicious occupation of 

 their time, we present a few facts stated in the volume alluded 

 to. It must be remembered that his usual avocations in the 

 office, (always well and faithfully performed,) occupy him, on 

 an average, about ten hours a day, and that he has also served 

 as an active and efficient member of several societies and on 

 various committees. The volume spoken of, comprising 212 

 pages, contains but from one sixth to one eighth of all he has 

 written, including many contributions to newspapers and 

 monthly and annual publications. In addition to all this, he 

 kept a brief daily journal for some eight years ; — ten copies of 

 the first year, ending March 12, 1843, with an Appendix, he 

 printed in a small book of 142 pages, which occupied a con- 

 siderable portion of leisure time from April 15, 1843, to May 7, 

 1844. He has also read, in the twelve years and a half, one 

 hundred and seventy-one volumes, several of them from two 

 to five times each, and an aggregate of more than forty-one 

 thousand pages, or on an average, about sixteen and a half 

 pages per day. This is exclusive of miscellaneous reading, 

 and of some entire volumes which probably escaped recollec- 

 tion. Such an example of persevering industry is rare indeed. 



