298 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. I, 1897. 
ing evening classes and neglecting no opportunity 
for improving himself. He rvas fortunate in 
having the help of his schoolmaster, who was 
interested in the lad, evidently recognising that 
he was “ a lad o’ pairts” and might do the 
“ dominie” credit yet. This insatiable thirst afier 
knowledge followed him all through life, and we 
find him at fifty years of age learning French, and 
at sixty taking lessons on the violoncello, which 
he played with great taste and feeling, for his soul 
was full of music. 
It was only natural that one of his ambitious 
spirit should soon begin to look beyond the horizon 
of his country village, for he was aye “ biggin’ 
castles in the air,” and Doune did not seem to 
offer sullieient scope for his boundless energy. So 
in due time he consulted j,\lr. James Smith, and 
that, good man gave him evety encouragement, 
with the result that he went u]i to Glasgow to mix 
with the busy throng there. By and-bye he got 
an appointment in the Calico Printing Mills, 
Thornliebank, near Glasgow, under the late Mr. 
Walter Crum. About this time, in the j'ear 1842, 
the five hrothers, Duncan, James, Ebenezer, John 
and AVilliarn, all met together in Glasgow ; but 
that meeting was never repeated, and now they 
are all gone with the exception of Ebenezer, who, 
after thirty-eight y^ears’ faithful service in the 
great ship-building firm of Randolph Elder & C». 
(now The Fairiield Ship-building Co.), Glasgow, 
retired in 1881, with remarkable expressions of good- 
will from the heads of the Company, and is still hale 
and hearty, though now i-i his eighty-fourth year. 
In June, 1846, when only twent.y^-two years of 
age, William married Ellen Forta.y, daughter of 
James Forta.y, of Inverness, who for many years 
commanded the revenue cutter Afalanta, and was 
engaged in looking after stnugglers on the west 
coast of Scotland. It was an early age at which 
tomfiry, and jiiany people would say a veiy 
foolish thing to do for a young man vho had yet 
to make his way in the world! But William had 
confidence in himself, and felttliat, given achance, 
he would get on all right. Besides the wisdom or 
otherwise of such a step depends very largely on 
the choice the young man makes 1 The reverence 
and affection in which the widow is held to-day by 
all who know her, and most by those who know 
her best, testify to the fact that the choice in this 
case was a wise one. 
The next important step in the life of M'illiam 
Walker was when he entered the lirm of Messrs. 
Wil son, James & Kajg now Messrs. James Finlay 
& Co., of Glasgow, and Messrs. Finlay, Muir & 
Co., of Calcutta, Bombay, and Colombo. It is 
interesting to note that while in the service of this 
firm he worked alongside of hlr. John Muir, who 
afterwards became Lord Piovostof Glasgow, and is 
now Sir John Muir, Bart. Both young men were 
fortunate in having as their master one of the 
kindest-hearted of men — Mr. Alex. Kay — who 
years ago retired from the firm, and who, though 
now a very old man, still lives in his beautiful 
country seat at Biggar in Lanarkshire. William 
Walker was building up his char.acter, on which 
alone, coupled with liard, conscientious work, he 
dejiended for his success. He had no other capital, 
and no inlluence to secure advancement. ; [hut then 
“Characler” is the most truly, permanently 
valuahle thing in the world ?— Ed. T.A.^ 
The time had now come when William Walker 
thought he might start on his own account in the 
cotton-yarn trade, then one of the most flourishing 
trades in Glasgow, and the one for which his past 
traiuing had specially fitted him. He received a 
fair measure of support, and would no doubt have 
prospered bnt for an unfortunate event — an event 
which was a soie trial to him at the time, 
though it was just one of those influences 
which made for the establishment of his character. 
Through the failure of Messrs. Blank & Co., 
cotton-yarn manufacturers, with whom M’illiam 
Walker had an account, he met with a great 
lo.ss, and it became necessary for him to com- 
pound with his creditors. With one exception, 
he received great sympathy from those who 
suffered through him, and they did not hesitate 
to show it the day they met in his office, kir. 
Alex. Kay was at that meeting, and such was 
his estimate of the character of his former 
assistant that he ventured at the meeting to say, 
“ I may not live to see it, but I feel sure of 
this, that if Mr. AValker is spared he will pay 
up this debt.” And Mr. Kay’s confidence was 
not misplaced, for from that date it became the 
life-work of M’illiam AValker to pay off every- 
thing due to his creditors. It was along effort, 
requiring great patience and much self-denial, 
for the claims of a large family were pressing 
on him ; but his wife nobly seconded him in his 
efforts, and was able, twenty-five years after- 
wards, to rejoice with him when in 187.5 he 
made the last payment. By that year eveiy 
creditor had been paid, with interest at live per 
cent, per annum in addition ; and thus was pre- 
seivcd unsullied the only capital with v Inch he 
started — his good name. The creditors were anx- 
ious that public notice should be taken of an 
exjierience not too common in commercial life, 
and proposed to entertain Mr. Mbilker at a 
dinner, and have the proceedings published ; hut 
he begged them to take no such steps, as any 
public notice of what he regarded as merely the 
discharge of his duty would be exceeliugly ob- 
jectionable to him. 
In 1854 William became the buying agent at 
home for his firother John, and established him- 
self in Glasgow under the style of 'Walker 
Brothers. Later on, in 1862, he became jiartner 
with his brother in the Ceylon business, then 
known by the name of John Walker & Co. It 
was a small business in those days, but with the 
boom in coffee it was destined in due time to 
play a not unimportant part in connection with 
the history of Ceylon’s planting industry. The 
following extract from a letter written by John 
from Kandy, Ceylon, to his brother 'William in 
Glasgow, gives a graphic account of the business 
in its early days. The letter must have been 
written somewhere about 1856. : — 
“ The buildings may be valued roughly at £400 
sterling. The motive power for driving lathes, 
bellows, etc., is the Malabar cooly, as we have not 
water enough for the blacksmiths’ troughs, and 
fuel is expensive ! Our customers are among three 
hundred planters scattered over the Central Pro- 
vince. As a class I would call them good cus- 
tomers, but some are very long in paying. Our 
workmen begin work at 6 a.m. and stop from 
10-30 to 12 noon, when they resume work until 
5 p.ni. I am usually in the place from 6 a.m. 
until 5 p.m., less three-quarters of an hour for 
breakfast, and same for dinner. We have gener- 
ally employed twelve to sixteen carpenters, four 
blacksmiths, five or six fitters, three or four 
turners, four or five boys, and ten to twelve 
coolies. There is quite enough of opposition to 
us to ensure the planters fair terms. "We have 
in Kandy another similar establishment, carry- 
ing on all our branches of business.” 
