SCHOOL DAYS.
IN my boyhood, Torthorwald had one of the grand old typical Parish
Schools of Scotland; where the rich and the poor met together in perfect
equality; where Bible and Catechism were taught as zealously as grammar
and geography; and where capable lads from the humblest of cottages were
prepared in Latin and Mathematics and Greek to go straight from their
Village class to the University bench. Besides, at that time, an
accomplished pedagogue of the name of Smith, a learned man of more than
local fame, had added a Boarding House to the ordinary School, and had
attracted some of the better class gentlemen and farmers' sons from the
surrounding country; so that Torthorwald, under his _régime_, reached
the zenith of its educational fame. In this School I was initiated into
the mystery of letters, and all my brothers and sisters after me, though
some of them under other masters than mine. My teacher punished
severely--rather, I should say, savagely--especially for lessons badly
prepared. Yet, that he was in some respects kindly and tender-hearted, I
had the best of reasons to know.
When still under twelve years of age, I started to learn my father's
trade, in which I made surprising progress. We wrought from six in the
morning till ten at night, with an hour at dinner-time and half an hour
at breakfast and again at supper. These spare moments every day I
devoutly spent on my books, chiefly in the rudiments of Latin and Greek;
for I had given my soul to God, and was resolved to aim at being a
Missionary of the Cross, or a Minister of the Gospel. Yet I gladly
testify that what I learned of the stocking frame was not thrown away;
the facility of using tools, and of watching and keeping the machinery
in order, came to be of great value to me in the Foreign Mission field.
One incident of this time I must record here, because of the lasting
impression made upon my religious life. Our family, like all others of
peasant rank in the land, were plunged into deep distress, and felt the
pinch severely, through the failure of the potato, the badness of other
crops, and the ransom-price of food. Our father had gone off with work
to Hawick, and would return next evening with money and supplies; but
meantime the meal barrel ran low, and our dear mother, too proud and too
sensitive to let any one know, or to ask aid from any quarter, coaxed us
all to rest, assuring us that she had told God everything, and that He
would send us plenty in the morning. Next day, with the carrier from
Lockerbie came a present from her father, who, knowing nothing of her
circumstances or of this special trial, had been moved of God to send at
that particular nick of time a love-offering to his daughter, such as
they still send to each other in those kindly Scottish shires--a bag of
new potatoes, a stone of the first ground meal or flour, or the earliest
homemade cheese of the season--which largely supplied all our need. My
mother, seeing our surprise at such an answer to her prayers, took us
around her knees, thanked God for His goodness, and said to us:
"O my children, love your Heavenly Father, tell Him in faith and prayer
all your needs, and He will supply your wants so far as it shall be for
your good and His glory."
Perhaps, amidst all their struggles in rearing a family of eleven, this
was the hardest time they ever had, and the only time they ever felt the
actual pinch of hunger; for the little that they had was marvelously
blessed of God, and was not less marvelously utilized by that noble
mother of ours, whose high spirit, side by side with her humble and
gracious piety, made us, under God, what we are to-day.
I saved as much at my trade as enabled me to go for six weeks to
Dumfries Academy; this awoke in me again the hunger for learning, and I
resolved to give up that trade and turn to something that might be made
helpful to the prosecution of my education. An engagement was secured
with the Sappers and Miners, who were mapping and measuring the county
of Dumfries in connection with the Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The
office hours were from 9 A. M. till 4 P. M.; and though my walk from
home was above four miles every morning, and the same by return in the
evening, I found much spare time for private study, both on the way to
and from my work and also after hours. Instead of spending the mid-day
hour with the rest, at football and other games, I stole away to a quiet
spot on the banks of the Nith, and there pored over my book, all alone.
Our lieutenant, unknown to me, had observed this from his house on the
other side of the stream, and after a time called me into his office and
inquired what I was studying. I told him the whole truth as to my
position and my desires. After conferring with some of the other
officials there, he summoned me again, and in their presence promised me
promotion in the service, and special training in Woolwich at the
Government's expense, on condition that I would sign an engagement for
seven years. Thanking him most gratefully for his kind offer, I agreed
to bind myself for three years or four, but not for seven.
Excitedly he said, "Why? Will you refuse an offer that many gentlemen's
sons would be proud of?"
I said, "My life is given to another Master, so I cannot engage for
seven years." He asked sharply, "To whom?" I replied, "To the Lord
Jesus; and I want to prepare as soon as possible for His service in the
proclaiming of the Gospel."
In great anger he sprang across the room, called the paymaster and
exclaimed, "Accept my offer, or you are dismissed on the spot!"
I answered, "I am extremely sorry if you do so, but to bind myself for
seven years would probably frustrate the purpose of my life; and though
I am greatly obliged to you, I cannot make such an engagement."
His anger made him unwilling or unable to comprehend my difficulty; the
drawing instruments were delivered up, I received my pay, and departed,
without further parley. Hearing how I had been treated, and why, Mr.
Maxwell, the Rector of Dumfries Academy, offered to let me attend all
classes there, free of charge so long as I cared to remain; but that, in
lack of means of support, was for the time impossible, as I would not
and could not be a burden on my dear father, but was determined rather
to help him in educating the rest. I went therefore to what was known as
the Lamb Fair at Lockerbie, and for the first time in my life took a
"fee" for the harvest. On arriving at the field when shearing and mowing
began, the farmer asked me to bind a sheaf; when I had done so, he
seized it by the band, and it fell to pieces! Instead of disheartening
me, however, he gave me a careful lesson how to bind; and the second
that I bound did not collapse when shaken, and the third he pitched
across the field, and on finding that it still remained firm, he cried
to me cheerily:
"Right now, my lad; go ahead!"
It was hard work for me at first, and my hands got very sore; but, being
willing and determined, I soon got into the way of it, and kept up with
the best of them. The male harvesters were told off to sleep in a large
hayloft, the beds being arranged all along the side, like barracks. Many
of the fellows were rough and boisterous; and I suppose my look showed
that I hesitated in mingling with them, for the quick eye and kind heart
of the farmer's wife prompted her to suggest that I, being so much
younger than the rest, might sleep with her son George in the house--an
offer, oh, how gratefully accepted! A beautiful new steading had
recently been built for them; and during certain days, or portions of
days, while waiting for the grain to ripen or to dry, I planned and laid
out an ornamental garden in front of it, which gave great
satisfaction--a taste inherited from my mother, with her joy in flowers
and garden plots. They gave me, on leaving, a handsome present, as well
as my fee, for I had got on very pleasantly with them all. This
experience, too, came to be valuable to me, when, in long-after days,
and far other lands, Mission buildings had to be erected, and garden and
field cropped and cultivated without the aid of a single European hand.