k from one state o' degradation to another, till now,
I believe, he is ane o' those prowlers and pests o' society who are to
be found in every large town, and who live naebody can tell how, but
every one can tell that it cannot be honestly. Such, sir, has been the
fate o' Leein Peter.

There is only another o' your book-mates that I have to make mention
o', and that is John Mathewson or

JOCK THE DUNCE.

Many a score o' times hae I said that Jock's head was as impervious to
learning as a nether-millstane. It would hae been as easy to hae
driven mensuration into the head o' an ox, as instruction into the
brain o' Jock Mathewson. He was born a dunce. I fleeched him, and I
coaxed him, and I endeavoured to divert him, to get him to learn, and
I kicked him, and I cuffed him; but I might as weel hae kicked my heel
upon the floor, or fleeched the fireplace. Jock was knowledge-proof.
All my efforts were o' no avail. I could get him to learn nothing, and
to comprehend nothing. Often I had half made up my mind to turn him
awa from the school, for I saw that I never would have any credit by
the blockhead. But what was most annoying was, that here was his
mother at me, every hand-awhile, saying--

"Mr Grierson, I'm really surprised at ye. My son John is not coming on
ava. I really wush ye wad tak mair pains wi' him. It is an unco thing
to be paying you guid money, and the laddie to be getting nae guid for
it. I wad hae ye to understand that his faither doesna make his money
sae easily--no by sitting on a seat, or walking up and down a room--as
ye do. There's such-a-ane's son awa into the Latin, nae less, I
understand, and my John no out o' the Testament. But, depend upon it,
Mr Grierson, if ye dinna try to do something wi' him, I maun tak him
awa frae your school, and that is the short and the lang o't."

"Do sae, ma'am," said I, "and I'll thank ye. Mercy me! it's a bonny
thing, indeed--do ye suppose that I had the makin o' your son? If
Nature has formed his head out o' a whinstane, can I transform it into
marble? Your son would try the patience o' Job--his head is thicker
than a door-post. I can mak naething o' him. I would sooner teach a
hundred than be troubled wi' him."

"Hundred here, hundred there!" said she, in a tift; "but it's a hard
matter, Mr Grierson, for his faither and me to be payin ye money for
naething; and if ye dinna try to mak something o' him, I'll tak him
frae your school, and that will be baith seen