CHAP. III. 



CHARLES BEGG. 



55 



at last lie arrived at Aberdeen, where he married and 

 settled. Begg was a good workman ; though, apart 

 from shoemaking, he knew next to nothing. It is well, 

 however, to be a good workman, if one does his work 

 thoroughly and faithfully. The only things that Begg 

 could do, besides shoemaking, were drinking and 

 fighting. He was 

 a great friend 

 of pugilism ; 

 though his prin- 

 cipal difficulty, 

 when he got 

 drunk, was to 

 find anybody to 

 fight with in 

 that pacific 

 neighbourhood. 

 It was a great 

 misfortune for 

 the boy to have 

 been placed un- 

 der the charge 

 of so dissolute a vagabond. He had, however, to do his 

 best. He learnt to make pumps and cut uppers, and 

 proceeded to make shoe-bottoms. He would, doubt- 

 less, have learnt his trade very well, but for the 

 drunkenness of his master, who was evidently going 

 headlong to ruin. He was very often absent from 

 the shop, and when customers called, Edward was 



CHARLES BEGG'S SHOP, GALLOWGATE. 



