132 WHAT I HAVE SEEN WHILE FISHING 



play-acting in our barn, where he showed us how 

 Shakespeare was, and should be, acted, kept every 

 boy's mouth widely open. We wondered how he 

 could be spared from London town and thought of 

 the grand reception he would get on his return. 

 Un r ortunately, his parents, unmindful of his great 

 talents, had put him in a business that did not suit 

 him and he lost his fortune. Soon afterwards, in 

 response to a letter from London, a pig was killed 

 and sent him, and when the hamper came back I 

 saw it opened. Just inside the cover there was a 

 picture plate of a boy of about my own age, dressed 

 in such a splendid Highland costume that I then 

 and there longed to be dressed as he was. Care- 

 fully, and all too slowly, the next covering was 

 taken off, and there came to view a layer of 

 Glengarry caps, and under those another layer 

 of Glengarry caps, and then the white cloths the 

 pork had been wrapped in. On the surface, Mr. 

 Sarly, this would appear, to mere men, an unpro- 

 fitable exchange of pig for caps ; but we boys 

 recognised the cloth. It was the great actor's 

 trousers, the very garment he wore when acting 

 in our barn, that had been cut up to make those 

 caps." 



