SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 



Irish have "borne up against the calamities of fa- 

 mine. 



John Younger was a manly-hearted boy, and strove 

 to utter no murmur in his hard pressed father's 

 hearing. He bore up against despondency, and like 

 Bunyan, he even owned to a bit of monologue ; for 

 one day, while staring into a pool of water, he fancied 

 his shadow accosted him by saying, "keep up yer 

 heart Jock Younger, keep up yer heart ma man 

 Jock." Jock took the hint, and heaven sent brighter 

 days. 



John's first contact with literature deserves to be 

 noted. He had read Jack the Giant Killer, and 

 scarcly dreamed of anything higher than the great 

 nursery epic. A blacksmith in advance of his time 

 repeated a portion of "Doctor Hornbook," mention- 

 ing the name of Burns, who was then only a few years 

 dead. The slenderly versed shoemaker asked " whae 

 was Burns?" il Burns, man (was the rejoinder), 

 have ye never heard of Burns the poet, who beats Allan 

 Ramsay, and the whole lot of Scotch poets to sticks !" 

 John heard the bookish Burnewin with melancholy 

 curiosity, and sighed at the idea of exclusion from 

 such poetic wealth. But St Boswells' fair came, 

 and he sallied up the thronged alleys between the 

 krames with sixpence in his pocket, and grasped the 



