46 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE LOOM AND THE QUARRY FARM-WORK 

 AND SELF-EDUCATION. 



DAVID'S mother had always wished that he should 

 learn a trade of some kind, whether he kept to it or 

 not. If he did not regularly pursue it, still it might 

 stand him in good stead at some time when no other 

 employment could be procured. Although personally 

 he had no wish to learn a trade, there were several 

 things that inclined him to the proposal, and chiefly 

 a desire to learn to write. That desire was much 

 intensified by the circumstance that he had an im- 

 pediment in his speech, which was a great hindrance 

 to all intercourse with others by word of mouth. The 

 difficulty which he had to make himself rightly 

 understood gave him much pain, and often, when the 

 proper word refused to come out, rather than stick 

 altogether, he would use another word more easily 

 pronounced, though it might be far from the right or 

 most appropriate one. 



In after life among his friend she often referred to 

 this hesitation as " my hamper," although it must be 

 admitted that it has never hampered him either in 

 acquiring friends or in making his meaning and good- 



