erything considered, it was found that enough
and to spare had been laid past by Nanse and me to spend the evening of
our days by the lound dykeside of domestic comfort.

In Tammy Bodkin, to whom I trust I had been a dutiful, as I know I was an
honoured master, I found a faithful journeyman, he having served me in
that capacity for nine years; so, it is not miraculous, being constantly,
during that period, under my attentive eye, that he was now quite a
deacon in all the departments of the business. As an eident scholar he
had his reward; for customers, especially during the latter years, when
my sight was scarcely so good, came at length to be not very scrupulous
as to whether their cloth was cut by the man or his master. Never let
filial piety be overlooked:--when I first patronized Tammie, and promoted
him to the dignity of sitting crosslegged along with me on the
working-board, he was a hatless and shoeless ragamuffin, the orphan lad
of a widowed mother, whose husband had been killed by a chain-shot, which
carried off his head, at the bloody battle of the Nile, under Lord
Nelson. Tammie was the oldest of four, and the other three were lasses,
that knew not in the morning where the day's providing was to come from,
except by trust in Him who sent the ravens to Elijah. By allowing Tammie
a trifle for board-wages, I was enabled to add my mite to the comforts of
the family; for he was kind, frugal, and dutiful, and would willingly
share with them to the last morsel. In the course of a few years he
became his mother's bread-winner, the lasses being sent to service, I
myself having recommended one of them to Deacon Burlings, and another to
Springheel the dancing-master; retaining Katie, the youngest, for
ourselves, to manage the kitchen, and go messages when required.

[Picture: The lazy corner, Dalkeith]

Providence having thus blessed Tammie's efforts in the paths of
industrious sobriety, what could I do better--James Batter being exactly
of the same opinion--than make him my successor; giving him the shop at a
cheap rent, the stock in trade at a moderate valuation, and the good-will
of the business as a gratis gift.

Having recommended Tammie to public patronage and support, he is now, as
all the world knows, a thriving man; nor, from Berwick Bridge to Johnny
Groat's, is it in the power of any gentleman to have his coat cut in a
more fashionable way, or on more moderate terms, than at the sign