80 



CHAPTER IV. 



RETURNS TO CONON-SIDE - MAKES HIMSELF RESPECTED IX THE 

 BARRACK -- COMPANIONS - ATTEMPTS GEOMETRY AND ARCHI- 

 TECTURE HARDSHIPS - EXPERIMENT IN NECROMANCY - 

 DREAM - THE BOTHY SYSTEM - LITERARY RECREATIONS 

 TEDIUM - END OF APPRENTICESHIP - THE BLESSING OF 

 LABOUR - PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY. 



working season of 1822 finds him again on 

 -L Conon-side. He is now in the third year of his 

 apprenticeship, and he feels that he has a position in the 

 barrack. ' I had determined ' the words are from the 

 letter to Baird ' early this season to conform to every 

 practice of the barrack, and as I was an apt pupil, I had 

 in a short time become one of the freest, and not the least 

 rude of its inmates. I became an excellent baker, and 

 one of the most skilful of cooks. I made wonderful 

 advances in the art of practical joking, and my Ion-mots 

 were laughed at and repeated. There were none of my 

 companions who could foil me in wrestling, or who 

 could leap within a foot of me ; and after having taken 

 the slight liberty of knocking down a young fellow who 

 insulted me, they all began to esteem me as a lad of spirit 

 and promise/ 



The foreman of the squad with which he worked 

 appears to have exerted some influence upon his 

 mind. 'When a young man,' writes Miller, 'he had 



