nd Mr. C. of his promise. Accordingly he
related to me the following particulars of the life of Davy Stuart;
which I give, as nearly as possible, in his own words; for it seems to
me that the story would lose half its interest were I to render it
otherwise.

"Davy Stuart was an aul' man when I was a wee boy at the school. I had
aye been used wi' him; for he often bided wi' us for days thegither; and
while a boy I gave little heed to his odd ways an' wanderin' mode o'
life; for he was very kind to mysel' an' a younger brither an' we
thought muckle o' him; but when we had grown up to manhood my father
tell'd us what had changed Davy Stuart from a usefu' an' active man to
the puir demented body he then was. He was born in a small parish in the
south of Scotland, o' respectable honest parents, who spared nae pains
as he grew up to instruct him in his duty to baith God an' man. At quite
an early age he was sent to the parish school: where he remained maist
o' the time till he reached the age o' fourteen years. At that time he
was apprenticed to learn the trade o' shoemaker, in a distant town. It
wad seem that he served his time faithfully, an' gained a thorough
knowledge o' his trade. Upon leaving his master, after paying a short
visit to his native parish, he gie'd awa' to the city o' Glasgow, to
begin the warld for himself. He continued steady and industrious, and
was prospered accordingly; and at the age o' twenty-five he had saved
considerable money. It was about this time, that he was married to a
worthy young woman, to whom he had been long deeply attached. They had
but one bairn, a fine boy, who was the delight o' his father's heart,
and I hae heard it said by they who kenn'd them at the time, that a
bonnier or mair winsome boy could 'na hae been found in the city, than
wee Geordie Stuart. Time gied on till Geordie was near twelve years
aul', when it began to be talked o' among Mr. Stuart's friends that he
was becoming owre fond o' drink. How the habit was first formed naebody
could tell; but certain it was, that during the past year he had been
often seen the war o' drink. His wife, puir body, admonished an'
entreated him to break awa' fra the sinfu' habit, and he often, when
moved by her tears, made resolutions o' amendment, which were broken
maist as soon as made; an' it was during a longer season o' sobriety
than was usual wi' him, that his wife, thinkin' if he was once awa' fra
the great city he would be less in