22 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



better prospects of improving his position, when the seven years 

 required should have expired, than could be looked for if he con- 

 tinued to work as a farm labourer during that period. Before 

 coming to a final decision on the subject, he went to Glasgow and 

 obtained an interview with Dr. Robert Hunter, Professor of 

 Anatomy in the Andersonian University. Dr. Hunter en- 

 couraged him to persevere with his studies, and assured him that 

 students with a more defective utterance had been able to succeed 

 well in their profession. He accordingly resolved to carry his bold 

 scheme into execution. 



From combined motives of economy and comradeship, it was 

 arranged that he and his two student friends should occupy the 

 same rooms. They hired an attic with two apartments, close to 

 the Cross Steeple, and with two windows overlooking the Tron- 

 gate. Each student took his turn at the cooking and other house- 

 hold duties ; water was conveniently obtained on the stairhead ; 

 and a little girl, who lived on the same landing, acted as their 

 messenger in any necessary errands. By an ingenious device of 

 young Robertson's, the door was fitted with a latch which could 

 only be opened by those initiated into the secret of its working ; 

 and thus the three students, who returned at different hours, were 

 saved the trouble and expense of providing themselves with 

 separate keys. These preliminaries having been satisfactorily 

 arranged, David attended the lectures of Dr. Hunter, Professor 

 of Anatomy, by whose advice his new career had been adopted. 



To provide themselves with the necessaries of life, pay their 

 class-fees, and supply the books and other requisites for their 

 studies, Robert Miller and David Robertson resolved to com- 

 mence an evening school for writing and arithmetic. They 

 obtained a single apartment in a close in High Street a short 

 distance above the Cross. Having hired some old furniture, they 

 removed their belongings from the attics, and took up their abode 

 in the schoolroom. In their new quarters, just as in the old, the 

 cookinof and domestic work were shared bv them in turn. As 

 Robert Miller was a beautiful writer, he prepared a number of 

 large cards announcing the opening of the school. These were 

 exhibited in some of the neighbouring shop windows ; and as the 

 fine penmanship attracted considerable notice, the young teachers 

 were soon able to get together a fairly large class. Here their 



