1 20 mSEN B V PERSE VERANCE. 



' I read, wrote, drew,' he says, ' corresponded with my friend 

 William Ross (who had removed to Edinburgh), re-examined 

 the Eathie Lias, and re-explored the Eathie Burn — a noble 

 old red sandstone ravine, remarkable for the wild picturesque- 

 ness of its cliffs and the beauty of its cataracts. I spent, too, 

 many an evening in Uncle James's workshop, on better terms 

 with both my uncles than almost ever before — a consequence, 

 in part, of the sober complexion which, as the seasons passed, 

 my mind was gradually assuming, and in part, of the manner 

 in which I had completed my engagement with my master. 

 "Act always," said Uncle James, "as you have done in this 

 matter. In all your dealings, give your neighbour the cast of 

 the bank — ' good measure, heaped up and running over ' — and 

 you will not lose by it in the end." I certainly did not lose by 

 faithfully serving out my term of apprenticeship. It is not 

 uninstructive to observe how strangely the public are led at 

 times to attach paramount importance to what is in reality 

 only subordinately important, and to pass over the really 

 paramount without thought or notice. The destiny in life of 

 the skilled mechanic is much more influenced, for instance, 

 by his second education — that of his apprenticeship — than by 

 his first — that of the school ; and yet it is to the education of 

 the school that the importance is generally regarded as attach- 

 ing, and we never hear of the other. The careless, incom- 

 petent scholar has many opportunities of recovering himself; 

 the careless, incompetent apprentice, who either fails to serve 

 out his regular time, or who, though he fulfils his term, is 

 discharged an inferior workman, has very few; and further, 

 nothing can be more certain than that inferiority as a workman 

 bears much more disastrously on the condition of the mechanic 

 than inferiority as a scholar. Unable to maintain his place 



