A YORKSHIRE NATURALIST 5 



the wrong side ; finding the lads disinclined to yield 

 at command, which they had predetermined not to 

 do, one of the officers struck my grandfather with 

 his cane. In response the assailant received a 

 skilful blow, which promptly levelled him with the 

 ground. 



Reflection soon showed the young athletes that 

 in the then despotic state of military feeling, serious 

 consequences might ensue. Hence, the same night, 

 they fled across the border, and ultimately reached 

 Whitby. 



My grandfather at once obtained work in a watch- 

 maker and jeweller's shop ; which inclines one to 

 believe that a part of his Scotch training had been 

 in a similar establishment. A young farmer's 

 daughter, who rode on horseback past his window, 

 on her way to Whitby every market-day, attracted 

 his attention, and he ultimately married her, the lady 

 bringing him at the same time a thousand pounds. 

 The young couple soon came to Scarborough, where 

 my grandfather established himself, and of their 

 thirteen children my mother was the eldest. 



My own affection for this fine Scotchman when I 

 was a very young child was intense. One part 

 of his business was the cleaning of clocks, and 

 when he had such duties to perform at the farm- 

 houses of villages surrounding the town, he would 

 take me along with him, bird-nesting by the way 

 dividing the time with clock cleaning. One of 

 this old gentleman's accomplishments was the 



