CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 9 



dwell a good deal upon her personality, for it was from 

 her that her son, the future Sir William Ramsay, in- 

 herited many of the qualities that made him what he was. 



Besides the young Buchanans, Mrs. Allan Buchanan's 

 own first cousins, the Ramsay family, came a great deal 

 to the house, and from the first the eldest brother 

 William and Miss Robertson were mutually attracted. 

 Probably the similarity in their history and their cir- 

 cumstances, both being at an early age obliged to take 

 up positions of authority and responsibility, drew 

 them together, and from that time forward there seemed 

 to be, if not an actual engagement, at least a distinct 

 understanding that they would wait for each other. As 

 her pupils grew up and passed beyond her care, Miss 

 Robertson moved from family to family, always making 

 lifelong friends, though none were ever quite so dear 

 to her as her first charges, the Buchanan family. It 

 was not till 1851 that circumstances permitted the 

 announcement of a formal engagement, both of them 

 being about forty, at that time considered a very late 

 period to embark on the dangers of matrimony. There 

 was much interest felt among their friends as to how 

 such an elderly pair would fit into each other's ways, 

 but a happier couple never lived, and the birth of their 

 little boy in 1852 l was the crowning joy of their lives. 



Friendly curiosity was again aroused as to how the 

 little boy would be brought up, but anxiety might have 

 been spared, for in spite of their devotion the parents 



1 2nd October, at Queen's Crescent, Glasgow. 



