18 LIFE OF A BAKER. CHAP. in. 



flour is mixed with yeast and salt and water, laboriously 

 kneaded together. The sponge is then set in some warm 

 place. The dough begins to rise. After mingling with 

 more flour, and thorough kneading, the mass is weighed 

 into lumps of the proper size, which are shaped into 

 loaves and "bricks," or into "baps," penny and half- 

 penny. This is the batch, which, after a short time, is 

 placed in the oven until it is properly baked and ready 

 to be taken out. The bread is then sold or delivered to 

 the customers. When delivered out of doors, the bread 

 is placed on a flat baker's basket, and carried on the 

 head from place to place. 



Eobert Dick got up first and kindled the fire, so as to 

 heat the oven preparatory to the batch being put in. 

 His nephew, Mr. Alexander of Dunferrnline, says " he 

 got up at three in the morning, and worked and drudged 

 until seven and eight, and sometimes nine o'clock at 

 night." - 



As he grew older, and was strong enough to carry 

 the basket on his head, he was sent about to deliver the 

 bread in the neighbouring villages. He was sent to 

 Menstrie, to Lipney on the Ochils, to Blairlogie at the 

 foot of Dunmyat, and farther westward to the Bridge 

 of Allan, about six miles from Tullibody. 



The afternoons on which he delivered the bread were 

 a great pleasure to Dick. He had an opportunity for ob- 

 serving nature, which had charms for him in all its moods. 

 When he went up the hills to Lipney, he wandered on 

 his return through Menstrie Glen. He watched the 

 growth of the plants. He knew them individually, one 



