Excerpt: ?Every human being born into the world will find that happiness mainly depends upon the work that he does and the manner in which it is done. Those who imagine that the necessity for labour is only an evil must be either grossly ignorant or wilfully wicked. Whoever wastes his life in idleness, either because he need not work in order to live, or because he will not live to work, will be a wretched creature, and at the close of a listless existence will regret the loss of precious gifts and the neglect of great opportunities. Our daily work, however common or humble it may seem, is our daily duty, and by doing it well we may even make it a part of our daily worship. For these reasons the choice of a trade is a most important event in every boy?s life, and it is no less difficult than important, because when a boy has just left school he seldom knows much about the operations of any trade, and cannot be expected to express any preference[iv] for one more than another. Whether this book will be of any use in this respect, by directing attention to some of the principal industries of the country in which we live, must after all depend upon the tastes of each particular reader; but it may at all events claim to be useful in making known what are the operations necessary to some of our great manufactures, and in explaining the method of using the tools employed by those engaged in them.
