CH\P. ii. BARONY SCHOOL, TULLIBODY. 9 



it was his business to attend daily at the Cambua 

 Brewery, close at hand. 



Margaret Gilchrist was Robert Dick's mother. Very 

 little is known of her, excepting that she was a very 

 delicate woman, and died shortly after having given 

 birth to her fourth child. Thomas Dick was thus left 

 without a wife, and his children without a mother. 



The house in which the Dick family lived, and in 

 which Robert was born, is situated in the principal 

 street of the village. It is a two-storied, red-tiled, 

 " self-contained" house. Looking down the street from 

 the Tron Tree, you see the Ochil hills forming the 

 back-ground of the village ; the Devon winding in the 

 valley below. 



The children, as they grew up, were sent to school. 

 Tullibody was fortunate in its Barony School, founded 

 and partly endowed by the Abercromby family. Thus 

 all the children in the village were able to obtain a fair 

 education at a moderate, price ; for in Scotland it is 

 considered a disgrace if a parent, of even the meanest 

 condition, does not send his children to school. 



Mr. Macintyre was the teacher of the Barony School 

 He was a man of considerable attainments. Above all 

 things, he was an enthusiastic schoolmaster. He main- 

 tained discipline, inculcated instruction, and elevated 

 the position of his school by steady competition. He 

 endeavoured to avoid corporal punishment, and only 

 appealed to it as the last resource. 



Robert Dick was one of his aptest scholars. He 

 learned everything rapidly. When he had mastered 



