“Oh, nonsense! How is it possible that you could have done that?”
“By never losing a single minute, nor any part of a minute, that I could by any means improve.”
“Did you ever hear of any one else who had ever done the like before?”
“No. But thousands might have done it, and much more too.”
“Well, I don’t believe it. I have never heard of such a thing, and I have never read of such a thing!”
“But I never thought,” said Edward, “that I was doing anything, that any one else might not have done. I was quite unaware of the fact that I was doing anything in the least way meritorious. But if I have, as a journeyman shoemaker, done anything worthy of praise, then I must say that there is not a working man on the face of the earth that could not have done much more than I have done; for of all the occupations that are known, that of shoemaking is surely the very worst.”
THE THING “IMPOSSIBLE.”
“Had you been an outside-worker, I would not have thought so much about it; but even then it would have been surprising. But having to work from morning to night in a shoemaker’s shop—where these things can neither be seen nor found—the thing is perfectly inconceivable. I’ll give my oath that, so far as Aberdeen is concerned, or I believe any other place, there is not a single working-man who could, by himself, have done anything of the sort. I tell you, that there is no person who knows the labouring people and their circumstances, better than I do; and I tell you again, that, situated as they are, the thing is quite impossible. They have neither the learning nor the opportunities necessary for scientific pursuits; nor yet the time nor the money to spare for the purpose. No, poor devils! they need all their time and all their money to eke out their bare and half-starved existence.”
“I quite agree with you,” replied Edward, “in some of your remarks; but I am sorry to say that the wretchedness you allude to, is in too many cases attributable to themselves, and also to their slatternly and improvident wives. They do not go into the fields to drink in the sweets of nature, but rush unthinkingly into the portals of hell, and drown their sorrows in whisky. In this way they beggar themselves and pauperise their families.”
“There is doubtless something in that,” said the doctor, “but I spoke in general. Of course, there are exceptions. It would appear that you are one, and a most extraordinary one too. And here it is that I am most puzzled. I can’t understand how you have done all this single-handed. Besides, you must have read a great deal. You must have had access to the best scientific works; and you must also have possessed sufficient means to enable you to collect and arrange these things as they now are.”