Euclid at last. 53 



On returning to Burntisland, I played on the 

 piano as diligently as ever, and painted several 

 hours every day. At this time, however, a Mr. 

 Craw came to live with us as tutor to my youngest 

 brother, Henry. He had been educated for the 

 kirk, vas a fair Greek and Latin scholar, but, 

 unfortunately for me, was no mathematician. He 

 was a simple, good-natured kind of man, and I 

 ventured to ask him about algebra and geometry, 

 and begged him, the first time he went to Edin- 

 burgh, to buy me something elementary on these 

 subjects, so he soon brought me "Euclid" and Bonny- 

 castle's "Algebra," which were the books used in the 

 schools at that time. Now I had got what I so 

 long and earnestly desired. I asked Mr. Craw to 

 hear me demonstrate a few problems in the first 

 book of " Euclid," and then I continued the study 

 alone with courage and assiduity, knowing I was on 

 the right road. Before I began to read algebra I 

 found it necessary to study arithmetic again, having 

 forgotten much of it. I never was expert at 

 addition, for, in summing up a long column of 

 pounds, shillings, and pence, in the family account 

 book, it seldom came out twice the same way. In 

 after life I, of course, used logarithms for the higher 

 branches of science. 



I had to take part in the household affairs, and to 



