CHAPTER II. 



SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. 



EDWARD was between four and five years old when 

 he went to school. He was sent there principally 

 that he might be kept out of harm's way. He did 

 not go willingly ; for he was of a roving, wandering 

 disposition, and did not like to be shut up anywhere. 

 He hated going to school. He was confined there 

 about four hours a day. It might seem very little 

 to some, but it was too much for him. He wanted 

 to be free to roam about the Inches, up the Denburn, 

 and along the path to Eubislaw, bird-nesting. 



The first school to which he was sent was a dame's 

 school. It was kept by an old woman called Bell 

 Hill. It was for the most part a girls' school, but 

 Bell consented to take the boy because she knew his 

 mother, and wished to oblige her. The schoolroom 

 was situated at the top of a long stair. In fact, it 

 was the garret of an ordinary dwelling-house. 



We have said that Tom did not like school. He 

 could not be reconciled to spend his time there. 

 Thus he often played the truant. He was sometimes 

 arrested on his way to school by the fish-market. It 

 was then held in the Shiprow, where the post-office 



