Grandpapa! s Stone. 357 



not the proverbial Jack of all trades and master of 

 none but behaving well in all, gathering some enrich- 

 ment of his mind from each, passing from one to the 

 other by a natural transition, not out of frivolous 

 caprice, but for some sound and well-considered 

 reason. When he left business to follow the pursuits 

 of natural history, he relinquished, with his eyes open 

 and without regret, the chances or rather the not 

 doubtful prospect of making an ample fortune. He 

 was minded like the wise man of old, who prayed the 

 prayer of temperance and the golden mean, ' Give me 

 neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food conve- 

 nient for me.' Those who have seen him in his own 

 home cannot but consider him wise in his resolve and 

 happy in its results. 



The house or cottage called "Fern Bank," the scene 

 of so much genial hospitality, is separated only by the 

 front garden, the road, and a strip of green, from the 

 sandy shore of Kames Bay. 



On this shore, immediately in front of the house, a 

 boulder, which is uncovered only at low water, has 

 acquired in the family the name of "grandpapa's 

 stone," it being with him a favourite locality at which 

 to dig in the sand for the small marine animals that 

 there and thereabouts abound. The rocks to the right 

 are sometimes visited with hammer and chisel for the 

 purpose of digging out the shell Pholas crispata, which 

 there bores its hole into the volcanic ash. Between 

 these rocks and Millport pier is Garrison Bay. About 

 two miles further on, and on the other side of the 

 island, is Fintry Bay. Proceeding from the house in 

 the other direction, after passing Portloy, where at 



