I would not
imply that John thought of the matter in these terms, but his
reflections bore this significance. Bob was raised for ever above
the rank of those who depend merely upon their muscles, even as
Clara was saved from the dismal destiny of the women who can do
nothing but sew.
There was, on the whole, some reason why John Hewett should feel
pride in his eldest son. Like Sidney Kirkwood, Bob had early shown a
faculty for draughtsmansbip; when at school, he made decidedly
clever caricatures of such persons as displeased him, and he drew
such wonderful horses (on the race-course or pulling cabs), such
laughable donkeys in costers' carts, such perfect dogs, that on
several occasions some friend had purchased with a veritable
shilling a specimen of his work. 'Put him to the die-sinking,' said
an acquaintance of the family, himself so employed; 'he'll find a
use for this kind of thing some day.' Die-sinking is not the craft
it once was; cheap methods, vulgarising here as everywhere, have
diminished the opportunities of capable men; but a fair living was
promised the lad if he stuck to his work, and at the age of nineteen
he was already earning his pound a week.
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