Bl'Rxs — On Alexander Wilson. 5 



"Be't kent to a' the world in rhime, 

 That wi' right mickle wark and toil, 

 For three long" years I've ser't my time, 

 Whiles feasted wi the hazel oil." 



An itinerant peddler when nothing better offered ; or to 

 satisfy his longing for travel : 



"Hard fate has this ordain't, that I 

 Maun dauner thro the warl'. 

 The wants o' thousan's to supply, 

 An' heavy lades to harl ; 

 Sae aft, when E'ening brings the Night, 

 In lanely desolation, 

 I seek a corner, out o' sight, 

 To mourn my condemnation." 



—The Pack. 



And ill-paid schoolmaster, of which he writes : 



"Of all professions that this world hath known, — : 

 From humble cobblers upwards to the throne. 

 From the great architects of Greece and Rome 

 Down to the maker of a farthing broom, — 

 The worst for care and undeserving abuse. 

 The first in real dignity and use 

 (If kind to teach, and diligent to rule), 

 Is the learned master of a little school." 



— Tlic Dominie. 



Disappointed in love, a stranger to prosperity though help- 

 ing others poorer than himself ; yet desiring so earnestly that 

 he "might at least leave a small beacon to point out where 

 he perished." 



Audubon, on the other hand, was the son of an admiral 

 of France. "Educated with all the advantages wealth could 

 bestow, and his natural taste for painting had been earl\ 

 trained into a rich development under the guidance of the 

 celebrated David." ^ 



^ Brewer's Reminisceuees of Aiuliibon. 



