HIS OTHER FRIENDS AT NETHERTON. 2O3 



received a severe accident that left him disfigured for life. 

 Willie possessed rare ability in several directions, and 

 received an education better than common. His enjoyment 

 of external nature was intense, and he spent his early years 

 in the closest observation of animal life, which his surround- 

 ings gave him unwonted opportunities of doing, especially 

 of the varied bird-world on the mosses braes and moors 

 near his home, and on the hill pastures where in summer 

 he herded the cows. Art also claimed his attention, and 

 the lad became famous for the fine carvings he executed 

 with his pocket knife and for his skill as a violinist. The 

 father wished him to aspire to one of the professions, but his 

 son's love of nature became too enthusiastic for that, and he 

 settled down at the Craigh, to become in time his father's 

 successor and a famous farmer. 



When Duncan came to Netherton, the boy was in his 

 teens, and the two took to each other with instinctive attrac- 

 tion. The quaint weaver, with his love of nature and plants 

 so much akin to his own, at once drew the lad's attention, 

 and Willie became a frequent visitor at the weaving shop at 

 Marnock's. They were soon fast friends, and they con- 

 tinued so, with growing respect and affection, throughout 

 life. John made the Craigh one of his haunts, and their 

 intercourse increased with mutual benefit, during the 

 thirteen years in which they lived together in that neigh- 

 bourhood. With his taste for mechanics, Willie had 

 peculiar pleasure in watching John at work, hands, feet and 

 eyes being all equally and actively engaged ; while John 

 instructed him in the mysteries of the craft. They talked 

 about the flowers a collection of which lay preserved on 

 the top of the loom above his head and other natural 



