SIXTEEN TO TWENTY. 55 



become reporter for the local press, it was the 

 perusal of a descriptive paper by Mr. Morris, 

 on the " Lakes of Killarney," which decided 

 the lad upon seriously attempting the literary 

 career. 



What inclined the lad to become a journal- 

 ist ? First of all, the narrow family circum- 

 stances prevented his being brought up to one 

 of the ordinary professions : he might have 

 become a clerk ; he might have gone to London, 

 where he had friends in the printing business ; 

 he might have emigrated, as his brother after- 

 wards did ; he might have gone into some 

 kind of trade. As for farming, he had no 

 taste for it; the idea of becoming a farmer 

 never seems to have occurred to him as possi- 

 ble. But he could not bear the indoor life ; 

 to be chained all day long to a desk would 

 have been intolerable to him ; it would have 

 killed him ; he needed such a life as would 

 give him a great deal of time in the open air. 

 Such he found in journalism. His friend, Mr. 

 Morris, gave him the first start by printing 

 for him certain sketches and descriptive papers. 

 And he had the courage to learn shorthand. 



