300 TELFOIIB'R EARLY READING. PART VIII. 



elderly lady, Miss Pasley, 1 one of the family of the 

 Pasleys of Craig. As the town was so small that 

 everybody in it knew everybody else, the ruddy- 

 cheeked, laughing mason's apprentice soon became gene- 

 rally known to all the townspeople, and amongst others 

 to Miss Pasley. AVhen she heard that he was the 

 poor orphan boy from up the valley, the son of the hard- 

 working widow woman, Janet Jackson, so " eident " and 

 so industrious, her heart warmed to the mason's appren- 

 tice, and she sent for him to her house. That was a 

 proud day for Tarn ; and when he called upon her, he 

 was not more pleased with Miss Pasley 's kindness than 

 delighted at the sight of her little library of books, 

 which contained more volumes than he had ever before 

 seen. He had by this time acquired a strong taste 

 for reading, and indeed exhausted all the little book 

 stores of his friends. His joy may therefore be ima- 

 gined when Miss Pasley volunteered to lend him some 

 books from her own library ! Of course the young 

 mason eagerly and thankfully availed himself of the 

 privilege ; and thus, while working as an apprentice 

 and afterwards as a journeyman, he gathered his first 

 stores of information in British literature, in which he 

 was accustomed to the close of his life to take such 

 pleasure. He almost always had some book with 

 him, which he would snatch a few minutes to read 

 during the intervals of his work ; and in the winter 

 nights he occupied his spare time in poring over the 

 volumes that came in his way, usually with no better 

 light than what was afforded by the cottage fire. On 

 one occasion Miss Pasley lent him 'Paradise Lost,' and 

 he took the book with him to the hill-side to read. 

 His delight was such that it fairly taxed his powers 

 of expression. He could only say "I read and read, 





Aunt of Sir Charles Pasley, lately deceased. 



