WHAT MADE HIM BEGIN TEACHING. 109

never read ony o' them mysel'. The bits I heard telt me some things that were worth kennin', and were amusin' into the bargain; but I understan' that's no the case wi' the maist o' novels. When a body begins to read them, he canna stop; and when he has dune, he kens nae mair than when he began. Noo it taks me a' my time to read what's really worth kennin'."

I asked him what had first made him think of teaching.

"Mony a time," he replied, "hae I asked that at mysel'; and its nae wonder, for I never was at the schule but eleven weeks in my life, and that was when I was a loon (laddie) about eleven years auld. I had far mair need to learn than to teach, though I'm no sure but to teach a thing is the best way to learn't. Amaist a' that I ken, and it's no muckle to be sure, I got it by learning ithers. But ye've asked what made me begin teachin'? Weel, sir, it was this: When I was a young lad, there were seven grown-up folk roun' aboot here that couldna read a word. Some o' them were married and had families, and there was nae schule nearer than twa mile, and in the winter especially the young things couldna gang sae far. Ane o' the fathers said to me ae day: 'Ye ken, Jamie, I canna read mysel',

but oh, man, I ken the want o't, and I canna thole that Willie shouldna learn. Jamie, ye maun tak' and teach him.' 'Oh, man,' I said, 'hoo can I teach him? I ken naething mysel'.' 'Ye maun try,' he said. Well, I took him, and after him anither and anither cam', and it wasna lang till I had aboot twenty. In a year or twa I had between sixty and seventy, and sae I hae keepit on for near sixty years. I soon grew used wi't, and custom, ye ken, is a kind o' second nature."

"But how did you find room," I asked "for sixty in that little place?"

"Weel, sir, there was room for mair than ye wud think. Wherever there was a place that a cratur' could sit, I got a stoolie made, and every corner was filled. Some were at my back, some were in the corner o' the window, and some were sittin' among the auld shoon at my feet. But for a' that there wasna room for sixty; and so a woman that lived across the road had a spare corner in her house, and when the bairns got their lessons they gaed owre and sat wi' her, and made room for the ithers. Ye see, the fathers and mithers were aye in gude neebourhood wi' me. They were pleased and I was pleased, and when folk work into ane anither's

"ORDER MAUN BE KEEPIT UP." III

han's, they put up wi' things that they wudna thole at ither times."

"You must have had great difficulty," I remarked, "in keeping so many of them in order. What kind of punishment did you use?"

"Oh, sir, just the strap. Ye might hae seen. it lying amang the auld shoon."

"And did you need to use it often?"

"Ou ay, mony a time, when they were obstinate. But I maun say, it was when the schule was sae close packit that I had to use't maist. When they were sittin' just as close as I could pack them, some tricky nackits o' things wud put their feet below the seats, and kick them that was sittin' afore them. Order, ye ken, maun be keepit up, and I couldna pass by sic behaviour. I've seldom needit to chasteese them for their lessons," he continued; "the maist o' them are keen to learn, and gie me little trouble."

66

Have you any idea," I asked, "of the number of pupils you have passed through your hands during these sixty years?"

"Weel, I keepit nae catalogue o' names, but some o' them that tak' an interest in the bairns made oot that they canna be less than fourteen or fifteen hunder. I weel believe they're richt."

"And you have never charged any fees, I understand?"

"Fees! Hoo could I charge fees? I never socht, and I never wanted a sixpence. But I maun say this, that the neebours hae been very kind, for they offered to work my bit croft for me, and it wudna hae been dacent to refuse their kindness. And they gied me a beautiful silver snuff-box in 1835. That's it," he said, taking it out of his pocket; "wull ye no tak' anither pinch?”

I did, and then said that I was glad to learn from his friend Mr C that, a year or so ago, he had been presented with his portrait and a handsome purse of money.

"Deed it's quite true, and I was fairly affronted when they gied me my portrait and £86, and laudit me in a' the papers. Some o't cam' frae Canada and ither foreign pairts; but I ken't naething aboot the siller till they gied it to me, for they cam' owre me, and got me to tell them, without thinking o't, where some o' my auld scholars were leevin'. I said to mysel' when I got it, that I was thankfu' for't, for I wud be able noo to buy the puir things books wi't."

"You supply them with books, then?" I inquired.