"What, young man! have you got my secret
away from me? Prove it."
"Gaffer used to mean grandfather,
or old man. Now, in some shops, the boss is called old man.
Just so, I suppose, he used to be called gaffer; and the
name has stuck to him, even after its original meaning has been
forgotten."
"Very well! capital! But why is it that
it is applied only to the glass-house foreman?"
That Lawrence could not explain. But
the gaffer himself had an idea on that point, which, coming from
one of the name and trade, was certainly entitled to consideration.
"I imagine," he said, "that generally the
foremen of glass-houses were older men than the bosses of other
trades, for it takes a man who has spent his life in the business,
and grown gray in it, to take the management of it. I believe
there is no other trade that requires so much care and experience;
that must have been especially the case before our modern improvements
in building furnaces. Then again, even if other foremen were called
gaffers, they might have lost the name, as it went out of use outside
of the shop. But while the men of other trades have changed their
habits and expressions to suit the times, glass-makers, until within
a few years, never changed anything. That was owing to their
exclusiveness. They were a class by themselves. Their art was a
wonderful one; it was the most ancient of arts,-- it was thought perfect,
and not to be
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