life of WILSON. 
XV 
The scheme of being taught a trade met with little or no op- 
position from the subject of this memoir, his father’s house no lon- 
ger affording him that pleasure which it had done during the life 
of her who had given him existence. Some difference had arisen 
between him and his step-mother ; whether from undutifiil conduct 
of his, or harsh treatment of hers, I know not; but it may be assert- 
ed with truth that she continued an object of his aversion through 
life ; which was manifest from the circumstance that, in llie many 
letters which he wrote from America to his father, he seldom, if 
ever, mentioned her name. She is still living, and must, doubt- 
less, feel not a little that her predictions with respect to the 
» lazy weaver r as ^andy was termed at home, who, instead of mind- 
ing his business, mispent his time in making verses, were never 
verified. But, in justice to her character, we must state, that, if 
she was an unkind step-mother, she nevertheless proved herself to 
be a faithful and affectionate wife; and supported, by her industry, 
her husband when he became, by age and infirmities, incapable of 
labour. 
At an early period of his life Wilson evinced a strong desire 
for learning ; and this was encouraged by a spirit of emulation 
which prevailed among his youthful acquaintance, who, like him- 
self, happily devoted many of their vacant hours to literary pur- 
suits He had free access to a collection of magazines and es- 
says, which, by some good luck, his father had beeome possessed 
of; and these, as he himself often asserted, “ were the first books 
tlvdtgave him a fondness for reading and reflection.” This re- 
markable instance of the beneficial tendency of periodical publica- 
tions we record with pleasure; and it may be adduced as an argu- 
ment in favour of affording patronage, in our young country, to a 
species of literature so well adapted to the leisure of a commercial 
people, and which, since the days of Addison, has had so powerful 
an influence on the taste and morals of the British nation. 
