62 Banks of the Don. [CHAP. III. 
his time passed much more happily than it had done at 
school. 
After being in the tobacco works for about two years, 
Edward heard that boys were getting great wages at a fac- 
tory at Grandholm, situated on the river Don, about two 
miles from Aberdeen. The high wages were a great attrac- 
tion. Tom and his brother took the advantage of a fast-day 
to go to the mill and ask for employment. The manager 
told the boys that he wanted no additional hands at that 
time, but that he would put their names down, and let them 
know when he required their services. 
They returned, and told their parents what they had done. 
Both father and mother were against the change, partly 
because of Tom’s youth, and partly because of the distance 
Grandholm was from Aberdeen. Tom, however, insisted 
that he could both work and walk; and at last his parents 
gave their consent. 
There was: another reason besides the high wages which 
induced Tom to wish to be employed at Grandholm. He 
kept this to himself. He had often seen the place before, 
though only at a distance. But who that has seen the 
banks and braes of the Don, from the Auld Brig* to the 
Haughs of Grandholm, can ever forget it? Looking down 
from the heights above the Brig of Balgownie, you see the 
high broad arch thrown across the deep and dark winding 
Don. Beneath you, the fishermen are observed hauling to 
* The Auld Brig is also called the Brig o’ Balgownie, Byron, who 
lived for some years at Aberdeen in his boyhood, says: “The Brig of 
Don, near the ‘auld toun’ of Aberdeen, with its one arch and its black 
deep salmon-stream, is in my memory as yesterday. I still remember 
the awful proverb which made me pause to cross it, and yet lean over 
it with a childish delight—being an only son, at least by the mother’s 
side: 
““Brig o’ Balgownie, wight [strong] is thy wa’; 
Wi’ a wife’s ae son on a mear’s ae foal 
Down thou shalt fa’.’” 
