Until the late nineteenth century, apprenticeship was the main way in which young people were trained in crafts and trades. Given that most apprenticeship terms lasted approximately seven years, young people could expect to spend a large part of their youth in service to another. Apprenticeship therefore coincided with an important phase in the life cycle of many young men (and women) during this period. A study of apprenticeship not only tells us how young people learned the skills with which they made their future living, it also casts light on the process of ‘growing up’. However, we still know little about the everyday lives of apprentices, their relationships with their masters, and how young people themselves understood the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Drawing largely on the diary of John Tennent (1772–1813), a grocer’s apprentice who kept a record of his time spent in service, this article aims to broaden our understanding of these themes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Ireland. It demonstrates that, for young middle-class men like Tennent, apprenticeship played a key role in the transition from boy to manhood.

中文翻译：

---

“我经历了多么美妙的变化……在地位、知识和思想上都发生了如此大的变化！”

直到 19 世纪后期，学徒制是年轻人接受手工艺和贸易培训的主要方式。鉴于大多数学徒期大约持续七年，因此年轻人可以期望将他们青年的大部分时间用于为他人服务。因此，学徒期恰逢这一时期许多年轻男性（和女性）生命周期中的一个重要阶段。一项关于学徒制的研究不仅告诉我们年轻人如何学习他们未来生活所需的技能，还揭示了“成长”的过程。然而，我们对学徒的日常生活、他们与师父的关系以及年轻人自己如何理解从青​​春期到成年的转变仍然知之甚少。主要借鉴约翰·坦南特 (John Tennent) (1772–1813) 的日记，作为一名杂货店学徒，他记录了他在服务中花费的时间，本文旨在拓宽我们对 18 和 19 世纪爱尔兰这些主题的理解。它表明，对于像 Tennent 这样的年轻中产阶级男性来说，学徒制在从男孩到成年的转变过程中发挥了关键作用。