12 farmers' and mechanics' journal. 



We would suggest the giving of premiums to apprentices for 

 well made models of machinery, or for superior workmanship of 

 any kind ; the premium to he paid in books or in tools. Would 

 not this be an incentive to trials of skill among them and thereby 

 be productive of much good ? It would be the means of getting 

 up a cabinet of models and designs, which would be highly valua- 

 ble to the Society. It would rouse a spirit of industry and a de- 

 sire to excel, and it would enable the apprentice to acquire a little 

 property, which would be thrice more valuable to him on account 

 of its being a token of the approbation of his superiors. 



In reflecting upon the exertions which are now making for the 

 benefit of the productive classes of men, one cannot help remark- 

 ing the wide difTerence there is between the condition of the ap- 

 prentice of the present day and those in the times of our grand- 

 fathers. Then he was made a servant boy. If he had time to 

 learn to read the Psalter, work out the four fundamental rules of 

 Cocker, and write his name, he had reason to be thankful for his 

 advantages. In those days, a homespun jacket with pewter buttons 

 and a pair of leather breeches, formed his freedom suit. The ave- 

 nues of learning were guarded with jealousy from their unhallow- 

 ed approach, and those who had been to college and acquired 

 something of the rudiments of Mechanics and Philosophy were 

 viewed by them with a reverence and an awe due to some supe- 

 rior being. 



Now, every avenue of science is thrown open to them, and 

 every facility and every encouragement given them to enter and 

 store their minds with such knowledge as will make them learned 

 and wise. They are looked upon as the bone and sinew of the 

 republic, — as the hope of a mighty nation. We would earnestly 

 and anxiously repeat our wish, that the apprentices who are bless- 

 ed with such means of improvement shoald not let slip the golden 

 opportunity which is presented to them, and we hope these insti- 

 tutions will increase and extend until every village and every hamlet 

 in the United States shall boast of its Mechanic Association, and 

 point to it as a fountain of benevolence and enterprise. 



