CHAPTER XIL 



DEATH OF DICK'S FATHER THE BOULDER 

 CLAY. 



IT will be remembered that Thomas Dick, supervisor, 

 loft Thurso in 1834, shortly after his son Robert had 

 begun business as a baker. Mr. Dick was appointed to 

 the office of Collector of Customs at Haddington. He 

 did his duty there in a quiet, unostentatious manner, 

 and gained the respect of everybody who knew him. 

 After his term of service had expired, he removed to 

 Dovecot, Tullibody, where he ended his days in peace 

 and quiet. 



Robert Dick continued to keep up a correspondence 

 with his father, though none of his letters have been 

 preserved. The last letter of his father (22d April 1846) 

 informed Robert of his last illness. "My complaint," 

 he said, " is in the heart. I am sometimes alarmingly 

 ill. At other times, though very weak, I am able to be 

 up. . . . There is no prospect of my recovery. I have 

 been preparing for the last change, and have laid my 

 hope on the Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Dear Robert, pray 

 for me. May the blessing of God attend you through 

 this life, and afterwards receive you into glory." 



This was his .father's last blessing. He died five 



