APPRENTICESHIPI was taken from school at once upon my father's death (in 1847) and
placed in the office of the Hannibal Courier as printer's apprentice,
and Mr. Ament, the editor and proprietor of the paper, allowed me the
usual emolument of the office of apprentice--that is to say, board and
clothes but no money. The clothes consisted of two suits a year but one
of the suits always failed to materialize and the other suit was not purchased
so long as Mr. Ament's old clothes held out. I was only about half as
big as Ament, consequently his shirts gave me the uncomfortable sense
of living in a circus tent, and I had to turn the pants up to my ears
to make them short enough. |
Photo from the |
 Sam as apprentice pilot. Illustration from St. Nicholas, January 1916 |
Even Noah got no salary for the first six
months--partly on account of the weather and partly because he was learning
navigation. - Mark Twain in Eruption |
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