“I look back,” Mr. Nasmyth says, “to the hours of Saturday afternoons spent in having the run of the workshops of this small foundry as the true and only apprenticeship of my life.  I did not trust to reading about such things.  I saw, handled, and helped when I could; and all the ideas in connection with them became in all details, ever after, permanent in my mind,—­to say nothing of the no small acquaintance obtained at the same time of the nature of workmen.”

In course of time, young Nasmyth, with the aid of his father’s tools, could do little jobs for himself.  He made steels for tinder-boxes, which he sold to his schoolfellows.  He made model steam-engines, and sectional models, for use at popular lectures and in schools; and by selling such models, he raised sufficient money to enable him to attend the lectures on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry at the Edinburgh University.  Among his works at that time, was a working model of a steam carriage for use on common roads.  It worked so well that he was induced to make another on a larger scale.  After having been successfully used, he sold the engine for the purpose of driving a small factory.

Nasmyth was now twenty years old, and wished to turn his practical faculties to account.  His object was to find employment in one of the great engineering establishments of the day.  The first, in his opinion, was that of Henry Maudslay, of London.  To attain his object, he made a small steam-engine, every part of which was his own handiwork, including the casting and forging.  He proceeded to London; introduced himself to the great engineer; submitted his drawings; showed his models; and was finally engaged as Mr. Maudslay’s private workman.

Then came the question of wages.  When Nasmyth finally left home to begin the world on his own account, he determined not to cost his father another farthing.  Being the youngest of eleven children, he thought that he could maintain himself, without trenching farther upon the family means.  And he nobly fulfilled his determination.  He felt that the wages sufficient to maintain other workmen, would surely be sufficient to maintain him.  He might have to exercise self-control and self-denial; but of course he could do that.  Though but a youth, he had wisdom enough and self-respect enough to deny himself everything that was unnecessary, in order to preserve the valuable situation which he had obtained.

Well, about the wages.  When Mr. Maudslay referred his young workman to the chief cashier as to his weekly wages, it was arranged that Nasmyth was to receive ten shillings a week.  He knew that, by strict economy, he could live within this amount.  He contrived a small cooking apparatus, of which we possess the drawings.  It is not necessary to describe his method of cooking, nor his method of living; it is sufficient to say that his little cooking apparatus (in which he still takes great pride) enabled him fully to accomplish his purpose.  He lived within his means, and did not cost his father another farthing.