20 THE BOY. 



and mechanics of the olden time used to be. 'I never 

 knew a man/ says Miller, ' more rigidly just in his deal- 

 ings than Uncle James, or who regarded every species of 

 meanness with a more thorough contempt/ What a 

 grand contribution to the education of Hugh Miller was 

 made by Uncle James in leaving that impression on 

 his memory and his heart ! When Miller first heard Dr 

 M'Crie preach, he wrote to his Uncle James, ' In age 

 and figure I know not where to point out any one who 

 more resembles him than yourself/ Collating this with 

 his description of the military bearing and combined 

 modesty and dignity of demeanour of Dr M'Crie, we are 

 led to form a favourable idea of Uncle James's outer man. 

 Uncle Sandy had been in the navy, had fought in many 

 engagements in the great French war, and had settled 

 down in his native place to a life of happy industry, dig- 

 ging his sawyer's pit in summer in some protected nook 

 of the green wood, and finding entertainment at eventide 

 in the wonders of the field or the shore. He fought 

 his battles over again and yet again for the benefit 

 of little Hugh ; but it was from others, not from himself, 

 that the boy heard of his personal exploits ; and his 

 estimate of military splendours was not extravagant. 

 ' Prophecy, I find/ he said, ' gives to all our glories but a 

 single verse, and it is a verse of judgment/ In after life 

 Miller thought of writing a life of Alexander Wright. 



Such were Hugh Miller's instructors from the end of 

 his fifth year, instructors to whom, as he justly testi- 

 fies, he OAved more than to any of the teachers whose 

 schools he afterwards attended. The tales with which 

 they charmed him called intellect and imagination 

 into genial and healthful exercise. ' I remember/ he 

 says, in an account of his early years, composed for 

 Principal Baird when he was twenty-seven, and largely 



