farmer; an art-student under Charles Keene, who made him practise
drawing until he became dyspeptic and melancholy at the sight of his own
feeble work; an emigrant to Buenos Ayres, where he practised most trades
in turn, including that of newspaper artist; a contributor and
draughtsman (again under Keene's eye) to London magazines, and to
_Punch_; a sojourner in the almost inaccessible island of St. Kilda; an
archaeological explorer in the islands of the Hebrides; and finally, for
thirteen years a hermit, living a hermit's life, solitary and
intellectual, at the water's edge, at Walls, Shetland. Many have been
the stones that have rolled for _Punch_, but few that have rolled so
far, or gathered so much moss the while. In his more civilised moments,
so to speak, Mr. Sands lived for a time a good deal in the life of
Keene, to whom he presented many jokes and sketches for pictures; but he
became disheartened at the slowness of his own promotion, and
suspecting, moreover, that Keene, in his heart, would have been glad
were he to retire in favour of Mr. A. Corbould, Keene's nephew, he
finally decided to withdraw. Nevertheless, the friendship of the two men
lasted to the end--a friendship that was a rare and deep attachment.

Two more names belong to 1870--that of Mr. E. F. Brewtnall, R.W.S.,
whose single contribution was sent in in this year; and Mr. W. Ralston,
of Glasgow, later a photographer by profession, but by taste and
opportunity an artist. It was with Shirley Brooks's succession to the
Editorship that Mr. Ralston obtained his recognition. "I remember," says
the draughtsman, "how in walking down to business that day I tried to
look unconscious of my greatness, and mentally determined that it would
make no difference in my bearing." His drawings at first were very hard,
but the point of humour was invariably good, and the Scottish "wut"
equal to that of the best man who ever drew for the paper. He was a
self-taught draughtsman, who learned by watching his younger brother,
"whose artistic boots," says he, "I was not fit to black;" but he
improved rapidly, and contributed in all two hundred and twenty-seven
drawings, initials, and "socials." At the death of Tom Taylor, Mr.
Ralston's contributions ceased, only one more from his pencil ever
appearing in the paper--in 1886. It was partly because Mr. Ralston
became a busy "Graphic" artist, and partly because the Editor was in
search of new blood; but the only time Mr. Ralsto