Or make our mere chippers and filers a match for such workmen as him.
He had been through the mill, a rare grind, for apprenticeship then meant it's name.
I have known him take ten quid a week, only wish I could earn half the same.
Times altered? Of course; so have systems, and not for the better some ways.
I've read, for I can read, you know, of the wild old apprentices' days,
When the shout of "Clubs! Clubs!" roused the town, and political feelings ran high,
And the stiff Spanish courtiers went weak in the hams at the ominous cry.
Wild blades!—but the youngsters could work, knew their craft; but you pale, loose-limbed lout,
The sort of crammed hobbledehoy that the School-Board appears to turn out,
Who can spell out Sedition in penn'orths, and howl it out hot in the Square,