94 



Alcxandci- Wilson. 



discussing politics and social questions gen- 

 erally, under the influence of Scotch ale and 

 whisky, there was another section which, 

 temperate both in its habits and discus- 

 sions, sought to reach intelligent and ten- 

 able views on these subjects ; and many of 

 its members devoted themselves to the 

 study of mechanics, natural history, botany, 

 etc., for which their well-stocked libraries 

 afforded all necessary facilities. 



These Paisley weavers were a shrewd, 

 well-informed body of men, many of them 

 even well educated, but self-educated. 



On the part of the Scottish peasantry 

 there is a very general ambition to prepare 

 one son for the church, and we are inform- 

 ed that the elder Wilson entertained such 

 designs for Alexander, who at ten years of 

 age was placed under the charge of Mr. 

 Burlas, a student of divinity, who later ac- 

 quired quite a reputation as an instructor of 

 youth in the higher branches of learning, 

 especially in the various departments of 

 science. But Alexander's mother died soon 

 afterward; his father married again; the 

 family kept on increasing, and finally it was 

 decided that the expenses incident to bring- 

 ing one of the sons up to a learned profes- 

 sion were too great a strain upon the family 

 resources, and so, at the age of thirteen, 

 the young Alexander, very much to his dis- 

 gust, was taken from his studies and bound 

 apprentice to Mr. William Duncan, an op- 

 erative weaver in Paisley. 



During these three years of his apprentice- 

 ship, he appears to have devoted himself 

 honorably to the duties of his position, but 

 his heart was not in it. He lost no oppor- 

 tunity of indulging in reading, and romance 

 weaving, and of cultivating a taste for ver- 

 sification. Among the Paisley weavers of 

 his day, he was thought as much of for 

 his published poems, as for his more solid 

 achievements as a naturalist, but beyond 

 evidencing a ready faculty for narrating in 

 rhyme, his verses have little real merit. 



Having completed his apprenticeship, he 

 labored as a journeyman, only to the ex- 

 tent necessary to supply his needs. Much 

 of his time was spent in reading and in at- 

 tempts to turn his ideas into verse. After 

 a while, he became journeyman to his father 

 and wrought for a time with more steadi- 

 ness, but the thought that he had been dis- 

 appointed in his prospects of a higher pro- 

 fession — his utter distaste for the career 

 chosen for him — and the higher feelings 

 awakened by such literary culture as he had 

 imbibed — all conspired to fill him with dis- 

 content and unrest ; and so it happened 

 that he was not infrequently seduced away 

 from the task of bread earning to ramble 

 among the woods of Castle Semple, or along 

 the banks of the romantic and beautiful 

 Calder, where he brooded over what he 

 deemed his ill-fated lot, and planned 

 schemes for future advancement. 



At this period of his life, Wison appears 

 to have been a very diffident man, and slow 

 to feel or inspire confidence — a self-con- 

 scious young man, in fact, extremely sensi- 

 tive to the opinion of others; and being of 

 a retiring disposition and shrinking from 

 society, he gave himself up to the study of 

 the Classics and English poets, very much 

 to the neglect of his loom, but very much 

 also to the cultivation of his mind. He 

 found himself, in fact, out of his natural 

 element, and wanting only an opportunity 

 to drift away from it, into something more 

 congenial. 



In the course of his rambles by the Cal- 

 der, his meditations were occasionally in- 

 terrupted by the timid hare or startled 

 grouse, and in due course a gun became 

 his constant companion. The game laws 

 were then not so strictly enforced as now, 

 and as time wore on, the game afforded 

 practical motive for his numerous wander- 

 ings, and Wilson became as much poacher 

 as weaver or dreamer. He was going back 

 to nature and becoming familiar with her. 



