When I Had Got Through, He Took The Liberty Of
Differing From Me, And, To My Surprise, Brought Arguments And
Facts Connected With The Subject Which Were New To Me, To Which
I Was Entirely Unable To Reply.
I confessed that I knew almost
nothing of the subject, and expressed my surprise at the extent
of his information.
He said that, a number of years before,
while at a boarding-house in Liverpool, he had fallen in with
a pamphlet on the subject, and, as it contained calculations,
had read it very carefully, and had ever since wished to find
some one who could add to his stock of knowledge on the question.
Although it was many years since he had seen the book, and it was
a subject with which he had no previous acquaintance, yet he had
the chain of reasoning, founded upon principles of political
economy, perfect in his memory; and his facts, so far as I
could judge, were correct; at least, he stated them with great
precision. The principles of the steam engine, too, he was very
familiar with, having been several months on board of a steamboat,
and made himself master of its secrets. He knew every lunar star
in both hemispheres, and was a perfect master of his quadrant and
sextant. Such was the man, who, at forty, was still a dog before
the mast, at twelve dollars a month. The reason of this was to
be found in his whole past life, as I had it, at different times,
from himself.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 292 of 618
Words from 79772 to 80030
of 170236
