I hear the pounding of metal and smell the smoky air around me. The blacksmith is to my right, and he is currently making a sword. I am hauling the coal from the back for the blacksmith to use. I am the blacksmith’s apprentice, my name is John Adams and I am 15 years old. I am from England and in the middle class. When I was 13 my father signed an indenture (also known as a contract) for the blacksmith to care for me until I am 21 and have learned the skills of the trade. Everyday I wake up and get right to work from sunrise to sundown. Sometimes I miss my family because I rarely get to see them. I live with the Blacksmith now and watch him everyday. I admire his skills and think that if I put in a lot of dedication some day I will have the same skills as he does. It is difficult not seeing my family in the morning but I must get used to it.

         Every morning I wake up to the sound of pounding metal. When I get up I get right to cleaning and running errands for the blacksmith. Now that I am 15 I don’t clean as much as I did when I was younger, only in the mornings. For the first two years of my apprenticeship all I did was clean and run errands. By 11 AM we start making nails. At first, the Blacksmith instructs me how to heat the iron safely. Once I have become good at this and am not burning myself, he will show me how to shape the iron. I can feel the smooth iron as I place it into the fire. When the tip becomes orange, I take it out and put it on the anvil. When I hit it with the hammer I hear the ear-piercing sound as the hammer hits the metal and I cringe. I am used to the sound but I’m never this close because I used to always be busy cleaning and running errands.

Once I have flattened the metal the Blacksmith teaches me how to turn the iron so that the iron becomes more circular like a nail. Then he shows me where to put the iron so I can sharpen it. I stare in amazement because this is the first time that I have ever made something out of iron. Now it’s time to put the hot iron in the water.  There’s a bucket of water located next to the anvil so I pick up the nail and drop it into the water. When the hot iron touches the cold water smoke immediately comes up, making a hissing noise. I watch as the iron slowly changes from orange to the normal dark grey color.  The blacksmith watches me make a few more nails until he feels I am ready to make them by myself.  In a couple hours I have made about 90 nails. I smile at them, proud of my accomplishment and the blacksmith comes in and tells me, “You are doing a great job, John.” “Thank you, Sir.” We share a quick smile before I get back to work. What a great day so far.

         Together, the blacksmith and I, have a very important role in the community. We make so many things that almost everyone uses on a daily basis. We make iron tools such as chisels, hammers, axes, fire pokers, shovels, hoes, drill blades, corn grinders, saws, and more. We also make iron armor and weapons such as swords and knives. Sometimes, if people bring their children, the blacksmith will make the iron hoops out of scrap metal. The children use these to race down hills. If the hoops break, the children can bring them back to the “Smithy” (this is a name sometimes used for the blacksmith) and he will fix them. The blacksmith is a significant person who makes many useful things, which is why his shop is located on the corner of two main roads. This is so everyone can get to the shop easily. Without the blacksmith and I making materials everyday, our community would be struggling because they don’t have the resources that they need. We would be defenseless, we wouldn’t have the tools used for cooking, we wouldn’t be able to cut wood to make houses, we couldn’t do things that everyone does daily. I am proud to be apprenticed to a very important and helpful figure in the community – the blacksmith.