2 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. I. 



that it was not expected she could reach maturity, and her 

 mother tried to prepare her for early death. But the race 

 is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong ; and the 

 tender mother was the first to go, leaving her desolate little 

 girl to the chill of an unsympathizing world, and disposed 

 to envy every one who had a mother. At the time of her 

 marriage Janet had passed through years of grief and change, 

 and only a sister and a brother remained of her family circle. 

 Both were married, and home had long been to her a word 

 of little meaning. 



The bridegroom, Archibald Wilson, had, a few years before, 

 come from Argyleshire to settle in business in Edinburgh, 

 and thus, to each, " our own romantic town " had few per- 

 sonal associations. Yet at this, their wedding-time, how fresh 

 and beautiful it looked ! How pleasant in the clear morn- 

 ings and long evenings to watch the Firth and the distant 

 hills peeping in and out in the varying lights ; to feast the 

 eye on the crags and on the battlements of the dear old 

 castle in its nest of green, and on a thousand pictures of 

 living beauty which refresh the eye at every turn ! Might 

 not the fine old city seem to say to each of the two young 

 hearts, ' " Forget also thine own people, and thy father's 

 house," and in me thou shalt have a home dearer than those 

 of the past 1 ' 



The first pledge of this unspoken promise was given in 

 the birth of a daughter in the spring of the following year. 

 When Mary was a year old, there came a fair little brother 

 again to open the fountains of love ; and, when John was 

 nearly two years of age, the group received a fresh addition 

 in the arrival of a second boy, who was named Daniel, and 

 is the only son who has survived till now. 1 



i Dr. Daniel Wilson, Professor of History and English Literature, 

 University College, Toronto, Canada. t - 



