Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ELIHU BURRITT. It was remarked by Coleridge that the shoemaker's trade nurtured a greater number of eminent men than any other. Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton quaintly theorizes on this assertion. In his novel of "What will he do with it?" he introduces a worthy son of St. Crispin, who, after touching on the mental peculiarities of butchers, bakers, and tallow-chandlers, establishes an agreeable comparison between his own trade and that of a tailor. " A tailor sits on a board with others, and is always a talking with 'em, and a reading the news; therefore he thinks as his fellows do, smart and sharp, bang up to the day, but nothing 'riginal, and all his own like. But a cobbler," continued the man of leather, with a majestic air, " sits by hisself, and talks with hisself, and what he thinks gets into his head without being put there by another man's tongue." A reason sufficiently philosophical for human purposes. The subject of this memoir was the son of a shoemaker of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was born at New Britain, in the same state, on the llth of December, 1811. Both his parents were of English descent; Elihu being the youngest of five brothere, who, with five sisters, comprised his father's family. This extensive home circle was swayed with upright firmness and paternal attention. The children were educated by their parents, and brought up in the fear of God, and love of liberty, so essential to the well-being of Republican youth. During the winter months Elihu and his brothers enjoyed the privilege of attending the district school, where, until he was sixteen years of age, he studied with avidity. It must be remembered, however, that it was only for three or four months in the year that he could be spared for these congenial pursuits. At other times he bore his s...