“Ay, master, and I never was so happy in my life. I thought, like a foolish old fellow, that a beggar’s life must at least be an easy one; but at last I found out, that, though I had nothing to do, I often had nothing to eat. So, one day, I thought to myself, thinks I, ‘I’ve a vast mind to bestir myself, and work for my living, for after all this idling, I don’t see that I am much of a gentleman for it.’ So I bought this grinding barrow, and began business for myself; and now I earn a comfortable living, and am as happy as the day is long:
“And so every body who tries it, will find:
I wish you good morning, Sir—Scissors to grind!”
46. The Chair-mender.
Old chairs to mend! old chairs to mend!
If I’d as much money as I could spend,
I’d leave off crying, old chairs to mend!
Perhaps so, but then you might not be more healthy, useful, or happy, than at present. Exercise and sobriety contribute to health, and industry produces the means of procuring wealth sufficient to live in a comfortable manner. A chair-bottomer is a very useful man: he contributes to the ease and comfort of many of his employers; yet, one cannot help asking, Has every chair which wants a new bottom, been worn out fairly? What! have no little boys, or great girls, been standing up in them? or drawing them up and down the house and yard, to wear out the rushes?
During the war with Holland, rushes for bottoming chairs were very scarce and dear, so that the poor men in that line of business found a great difficulty to obtain materials and employment.
This man, although he appears poor, yet he occupies the highest situation in the city of London, having taken his seat in Panyer Alley, leading from Newgate Street to Paternoster Row; where a stone is placed, in the wall of one of the houses, with the following inscription in old English verse:
WHEN Y HAVE SOVGHT
THE CITTY ROVND,
YET STILL THS IS
THE HIGHST GROVND.
AVGVST THE 27,
1688.