io PARENTAGE AND YOUTH CHAP, i 



must bear in mind how unhappily I was placed - 

 first with - , when a system of miserable petty- 

 tyranny was carried on from beginning to end, with 

 other disagreeables going much against the grain ; 

 then with , a falling, low concern from the 

 beginning, and then something still worse behind. 



The island of Arran has been for the last two or 

 three generations one of the chief centres of attrac 

 tion in the west of Scotland. To the inhabitants of 

 Glasgow it has offered a much-prized retreat, where 

 pure air and charming scenery can be reached after a 

 journey of only a few hours. It was the custom of the 

 Ramsay family, and of many families of their acquaint 

 ance, to spend as much of the summer as possible 

 in this delightful island. In those days the accommo 

 dation to be had in Arran was of a far more primitive 

 kind than it is generally now. Almost the only 

 available lodging was to be found in the little thatched 

 cots of the peasantry, and the unpretending farm 

 houses, where the rooms were few and small, and the 

 furnishing generally scanty. Yet into one of these 

 lowly dwellings a large family would contrive to 

 squeeze itself, laughing at the discomfort with the 

 light-heartedness of holiday-makers who were pre 

 pared to enjoy everything. The conventionalities of 

 town life were left behind. Except for the hours of 

 meals and of sleep, and the intervals of bad weather, 

 the time of the visitors was spent entirely out of 

 doors. Bathing, boating, climbing, and walking or 

 driving to different parts of the island filled up each 

 day, and the evenings brought pleasant interchanges 

 of hospitality, with music and dance and endless merri 

 ment. If at the end of the week the heads of families 

 brought down with them more guests than the capa- 



