A Memoir of Robert Blincoe, an Orphan Boy: Sent from the workhouse of St. Pancras, London, at seven years of age, to endure the horrors of a cotton-mill, through his infancy and youth, with a minute detail of his sufferings, being the first memoir of the kind published. — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
A Memoir of Robert Blincoe, an Orphan Boy: Sent from the workhouse of St. Pancras, London, at seven years of age, to endure the horrors of a cotton-mill, through his infancy and youth, with a minute detail of his sufferings, being the first memoir of the kind published.
John Stuart Mill · en
esteemed it as a positive state of happiness.” Such was the philosophical
reasoning of Robert Blincoe, in 1822. But, to proceed,—steady to his
purpose, he embraced the first favourable opportunity of making the
projected attempt to escape! He considered his great danger to lie in
being retaken on the road between Lowdham and Nottingham; but he knew
no other way, and was afraid to make inquiry! When the manager and
overlooker of the room he worked in were busy, Blincoe set off, dressed
in his working clothes. His progress began in a sort of canter, looking
behind him every fifty yards for the first half mile, when, finding
he had not been seen or pursued, he continued his rapid flight till
he reached Burton, and there, as fate decreed, that flight suddenly
terminated; for, as he trotted onwards, a long-shanged, slip-shod tailor,
who worked for Lowdham Mill, slid nimbly from his shop-board, which,
unfortunately for Blincoe, faced the road, and, placing himself full in
the way, with a malicious kind of grin upon his long, lank visage, said
“O! young Parson, where art thou running so fast this way?” saying this,
he seized him by the hand, and led him very loath into his cottage, and,
giving him a seat in the back part of the room, placed himself between
his captive and the door.
Blincoe saw, at one glance, by these precautions, that he was caught.
His indignation was so great at first, he would not give any answer;
noticing which, his false and artful host said to his wife, “Give the
young Parson something to eat and drink,—he is weary, and will be better
able to pursue his journey, after he has rested and refreshed himself!
The Lord commands us to give food to the hungry, and I dare say,”
addressing himself to him, “thou art not so full, but thou canst eat a
bowl of bread and milk.” “I must own, to my shame,” said Blincoe, “the
carnal man, the man of flesh was caught by the bait! I hungered and I
ate, and he gave me so much, and I drank so heartily, that my teeth
disabled my legs! To be sure, my fare was not very costly:—it consisted
of some oaten bread and butter-milk!”