6 The Naturalist of C^tmbrae. 



and it need hardly be said that the working of the 

 machine which his own hands had made gave a far 

 greater delight to the child than he would have 

 derived from anything of the kind which his mother's 

 money could have purchased for him. 



When close upon seven years of age, David was at 

 length sent to school. He could not have been sent 

 much earlier, even had it been customary, for after 

 the measles, to use the expression of the country 

 people, the dregs fell into his eyes. It was feared for 

 a time that he would lose his sight altogether. His 

 eyes were long sore and longer weak, and were never 

 afterwards able to bear prolonged fatigue, although it 

 must be allowed that they have done a vast amount 

 of work, and are still very serviceable. Before going 

 to school he had learned the alphabet and a little of 

 what was called the "wee spell," being taught so 

 far by his mother, whose teachings, moreover, ever 

 impressed upon him the duty of speaking the truth, 

 of keeping his word, and of not getting into debt. 



At school he was soon promoted to the "big spell," 

 then to the Book of Proverbs, and from that to the 

 New Testament. On the second day after this 

 promotion, at the first reading lesson he got up to be 

 dux, or head of the class. The teacher was rather 

 surprised to find him there so soon, since the class 

 contained between twenty and thirty boys. " David," 

 he said, " if you keep there till night, I will put you 

 in the Bible to-morrow." That the condition would 

 be fulfilled, the teacher himself had probably not 

 the least expectation, but what he had said put the 

 whole class on the alert to have the new-comer 



