
IN MEMORIAM—DAVID ROBERTSON. 19 
her frugal habits, the household continued to be maintained 
without any external assistance. Besides acting as the bread- 
winner, she also attended to the instruction of her children, and 
little David received from her his first lessons in the alphabet and 
spelling-book. He was also taught by her to be truthful and 
honest, and to avoid getting into debt. 
In those days it was not customary to send children to school 
at so early an age as at present; but in any case he could not 
have been sent early, owing to the weak state of his eye-sight 
through a severe attack of measles. For a time he was threat- 
ened with a total loss of sight, and his eyes were never afterwards 
able to bear the strain of continuous work. He did not therefore 
begin to attend school until nearly seven years of age, and re- 
mained there only twelve months, during which period his reading- 
lessons consisted of the Book of Proverbs, New Testament, and 
other portions of the Bible, while the only instruction he had time 
to acquire in writing was a single page of long strokes. 
Owing to the difficulties which his mother experienced in pro- 
viding for the wants of her household, she found it necessary to 
take little David from school when he was about eight years old, 
and obtain for him some employment. He accordingly entered 
the service of a farmer in South Lanarkshire, being engaged to 
herd cows during the harvest season. Although his home life 
had never been brightened by many luxuries, his experiences as 
a herd-laddie were full of hardships, which must often have 
pressed very heavily upon him. The routine of his daily duties 
was simple and rigid in the extreme, and during the five or six 
weeks of his employment at the farm it was never relaxed. He 
had to be at his post in every kind of weather. He was aroused 
from slumber before daybreak, and retired to bed after darkness 
had set in; and as he was denied the luxury of a candle, he never 
saw the interior of the loft, above the kitchen, which he occupied 
as a sleeping-apartment. 
But brighter days were in store for him. After leaving the 
place just described, he went to a moorland farm called The 
Logach, in the Parish of East Kilbride, and tenanted by Mr. 
Thomas Young, where he was much more considerately treated 
by both master and mistress. or four or five years he continued 
in the service of Mr, Thomas Young, and his son Mr, John 
