THE DARK SHADOW. 



Of course this was a very bad training for an intelli- 

 gent, high-spirited boy. It was not calculated to liber- 

 ate the ideal human being which lies concealed in every 

 child. It was, on the contrary, calculated to sour the 

 boy's nature, and to thwart his temperament at every 

 point. It threw a dark shadow along the whole of his 

 future life. 



Long afterwards, in speaking to Charles Peach about 

 his early struggles, he said " All my naturally buoyant, 

 youthful spirits were broken. To this day I feel the 

 effects. I cannot shake them off. It is this that still 

 makes me shrink from the world." It will be necessary 

 to bear these facts in mind while reading the story of 

 Robert Dick's after life. 



There were, however, two or three things that 

 Eobert had already learnt. He was educated, as Scotch 

 boys usually are, at the parish school. He had learnt 

 reading, writing, arithmetic, and a little Latin. It did 

 not amount to much, but it was the beginning of a 

 great deal. The rest of his education he owed to him- 

 self. As Stone, the son of the Duke of Argyll's gardener, 

 said, " One needs only to know the twenty-six letters of 

 the alphabet to be able to learn everything else that one 

 wishes." 



Another thing that he learnt during this trying 

 period of his life, was self-control. Though treated with 

 capricious restraint, he never retorted. He bore uncom- 

 plainingly all that was laid upon him. Though strong 

 and spirited, he was a good-natured boy. He felt that, 

 under the circumstances, the ill-treatment of his step- 



