Samuel Smiles：Thrift, Excerpt 171

Although mechanics' institutes are old institutions, they have scarcely been supported by working men. The public-house is more attractive and more frequented. And yet mechanics' institutes--even though they are scarcely known south of Yorkshire and Lancashire--have been the means of doing a great deal of good. By placing sound mechanical knowledge within the reach of even the few persons who have been disposed to take advantage of them, they have elevated many persons into positions of great social influence. "We have heard a distinguished man say publicly, that a mechanics' institution had _made him_; that but for the access which it had afforded him to knowledge of all kinds, he would have occupied a very different position. In short, the mechanics' institution had elevated him from the position of a licensed victualler to that of an engineer.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14418
Locator：Excerpt 171 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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