HARDSHIP. 61 



by literature does lurk, deep hidden, in his heart, she 

 will take his hand as a beneficent princess takes that of 

 a knightly though low-born suitor, and lift him at once 

 to fame and fortune. Uncle James's remark on the pro- 

 bability of his failing at labour as he has failed at study, 

 he takes note of; it may be pleasant to teach Uncle 

 James that he can will to work as well as will to play, and 

 that, though others have lost the mastership of him, he 

 has not lost mastership of himself. Enough ; he declares 

 unalterably for stone and lime, and becomes apprentice to 

 his uncle, old David Wright. The engagement is un- 

 derstood to be for three years. In the chill February 

 morning of 1820, he takes his way to the quarry. 



Relieved or not relieved by touches of romance, 

 Hugh Miller's first season of labour proves to be one of 

 sternest hardship, putting to the strain his whole faculty 

 of endurance. The dark side is given in all his con- 

 temporary or nearly contemporary renderings of the 

 subject ; the lights in the picture come out only when 

 it is seen through the vista of years. Still quite a boy, 

 slender and loose-jointed, unintermitted toil presses hard 

 on him both in mind and in body. His spirits fail. 

 He is constantly in pain, often prostrated by sickness. 

 He shows at first no quickness or dexterity in acquir- 

 ing his trade, and is the most awkward of the appren- 

 tices. Uncle David begins to be of opinion that this 

 incomprehensible compound of genius and dunce is in- 

 capable of attaining the skill of an ordinary mechanic. 

 The lad is sorely tempted to become a dram-drinker. 

 We have two accounts of his triumph over this tempta- 

 tion, the one harshly realistic, of date 1829, the other 

 more picturesque, dated 1853. 



f It is probable/ he writes to Baird, ' that the want of 

 money alone prevented me from indulging, at this period, 



