eptic! It is doubtful whether his
"skepticism" really consisted of anything more than the consciousness
that there were apparent contradictions in the Bible, a discovery which
many a precocious lad has made at quite as early an age, and the failure
of the usual theological subterfuges to satisfy a boy's frank spirit.
Still, it is worthy of note as indicating his inquiring spirit.

The great dream of his childhood was that he might become an educated
man. He thirsted for knowledge and wanted above all things a university
education. A passion for knowledge was the controlling force of his
life. But his parents were too poor to gratify his desire for an
extensive education. He was barely ten years old when his scanty
schooling ended, and he set out to fight the battle of life for himself
in London.

He was apprenticed to a draper, named McGuffeg, who seems to have been a
rather superior type of man. From a small peddling business he had built
up one of the largest and wealthiest establishments in that part of
London, catering to the wealthy and the titled nobility. Above all,
McGuffeg was a man of books, and in his well-stocked library young Owen
could read several hours each day, and thus make up in a measure for his
early lack of educational opportunities. During the three years of his
apprenticeship he read prodigiously, and laid the foundations of that
literary culture which characterized his whole life and added
tremendously to his power.

This is not in any sense a biographical sketch of Robert Owen.[12] If it
were, the story of the rise of this poor, strange, strong lad, from
poverty to the very pinnacle of industrial and commercial power and
fame, as one of the leading manufacturers of his day, would lead through
pathways of romance as wonderful as any in our biographical literature.
We are concerned, however, only with his career as a social reformer and
the forces which molded it. And that, too, has its romantic side.

II

The closing years of the eighteenth century marked the beginning of a
great and far-reaching industrial revolution. The introduction of new
mechanical inventions enormously increased the productive powers of
England. In 1770 Hargreaves patented his "spinning jenny," and in the
following year Arkwright invented his "water frame," a patent spinning
machine which derived its name from the fact that it was worked by water
power. Later, in 1779, Crompton invented the "mule," which was really