Hunter. Referring to them and to others, he says-" They had good hearts, and their abilities. were of no ordinary nature. They felt interested in their pupils, and were glad to see them advancing."

His advance was rapid, daily becoming more determined to grapple with every obstacle and overcome it if possible. In this resolution he was again aided by his worthy father in a manner which by the son was regarded as generous as well as thoughtful. It was that the latter should pay only his board, and so have more means with which to prosecute his studies. "This offer," he says, "I gladly accepted, and laboured the harder that I might save as much money as would pay a month's board in advance, and thereby get to the school in the daytime also. To my joy, I succeeded. My exertions, means, and knowledge increased. Well do I remember the emotion which lightened my labours, feeling convinced that I was on a fair way to reach the summit of my ambition-the pulpit."

CHAPTER III.

THE COMBAT DEEPENS.

HARD TIMES GROWING HARDER.

HE, by hard work and careful saving, was enabled to go to the day-school, working and learning morning and evening, until, as he says, "Nature, that faithful monitor, seized me as a lawless offender, and stopped my career for a time. Another dangerous illness laid me very low."

Certainly this is not to be wondered at, though it must have been very disappointing to him; apart from the overwork, mental as well as physical, he was surrounded by some of the most disagreeable elements of comfort, in that small low-roofed, damp abode, which he has described, "a very grave." Yet God was there and His blessing. For months the nature of his serious illness became the subject of much talk in the village. The doctor who was first called, finding the complaint baffling his skill, the assistance of a neighbouring physician was procured. Daily, and sometimes thrice a day, they visited and consulted, and still grave doubts were entertained of his recovery. But at last he rallied, and, with that remarkable re-bounding which, in him, has so often manifested itself to the surprise and joy of his friends.

Though it was some considerable time before he recovered so as to be able to work and study as before, yet all was not lost. During his convalescence some books were kindly lent to him, and so closely did he read them that each book left its special

stamp on his young mind, which has ever been very impressible, as well as sensitive. As to the impressions then made. we shall refer again, simply stating here that this reading to good purpose was not the only result which happily followed this all but fatal illness.

The unexpected recovery led our young hero to pour out his sincere and heartfelt thanks to God, and speak warmly of kind friends, and the kindly care of the medical gentlemen who attended him. This gratitude in the midst of such suffering led one of the gentlemen, Dr Wood, to manifest a continued interest in the weak but undaunted student.

Not knowing what might he the happy result of such special kindness, Dr Wood not only watched the progress of his patient, but gave another turn to his studies-lending him chemical and medical works, and giving him instruction in these valuable sciences. Our friend thus closes a brief record of this special favour.

"Having become the Doctor's pupil, I was often with him till he died. With many more, I lamented his sudden departure in the prime of life. But I am happy to say his teaching was not lost. The lessons he taught led me to wish for further information, and induced me sometime after to resume the study of medicine in relation to disease. And this has been very serviceable to me in my labours among the masses in England as well as Scotland.”

But even when all this was making glad the heart of the "Young Weaver," other circumstances were pulling another way, and gradually increased in strength till he was almost overpowered by them. Indeed, as soon as he was at all able to resume work, his leading thoughts and greatest efforts were to pay off whatever debts had been contracted by his father during this illness. And scarcely had he gained this laudable object, and returned to the night-school as before, when labour generally, and weaving particularly, came to "a fearful stand."

HIS FIRST INTRODUCTION TO SOCIETY."

29

He adds, "Most of the work entrusted to the village agents was withdrawn, and wages were soon reduced to the starvation point." At last, it became almost impossible for him to get a web. When any work could be found, the heads of families were first supplied, and his ailing father was seldom able to go so far and wait so long. "The home became once more very

empty and very sad.”

Nor was his the only home of this kind. In the midst of this general want and terrible misery, the country was agitated from one end to the other; and our young friend, like other young lads, and some in the prime of life, was bit with the Chartist mania. This was not surprising. Hunger, even the hunger of honest poverty, will lead its victims to think strange thoughts and to do startling deeds. In his case, the quiet worker and plodding scholar became what some were pleased to call "the young rebel."

means.

This great and unfavourable change was brought about not so much by any special change in his own heart, as by other The lad was the same, but the circumstances became more powerful, bringing up with them not a little of the influence of the past. To one ever ready to listen with eagerness, often asking questions, and storing up the answers for after thought, his early training could not but leave its mark, extending even to that phase of politics to which he now felt called upon to look. Without attaching any blame to his father and the friends who sought his company, it is well that parents and guardians see the necessity of being careful lest what they say before children may prove to be too strongly put, even when the thought expressed may not be wrong in itself.

"This want of work," says Mr Hillocks, "and the great

suffering that followed, drew me aside from my main object and led me into society for which, in one sense, I was not prepared, and for which, in another sense, I was somewhat prepared. This was not the first time I was introduced to those holding like views, and it brought to remembrance much that was at that time laid before me."

The time to which he refers is when he was almost a child, "the little winder," some said "the little wonder." At that time it was a sight not to be forgotten to see the "Old Tar," with cowl instead of cap or hat, grave and thoughtful face, working patiently at his web, while a copy of a newspaper lay alongside the Bible ready for reference. He was then, and continued to be, a "Radical Reformer," an intelligent member of the "Political Union," one who held to "the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill," until it became law, to the joy and rejoicing of many in Dundee and elsewhere. The boy was taken to the great procession. Sometimes he was led between two men, and sometimes he was carried "shoulder high." From this elevation, he tells us, he saw the hero of the day, George Kinloch of Kinloch, the man whom Dundee yet delights to honour as a politician. The lad was filled with the spirit of the day, and, like others, he shouted "Kinloch for ever!"

In this there was nothing wrong, nor do we find fault with the Radical Reformer instructing his apprentice in politics as well as the art of weaving; but this was not all, there were the warm discussions and the free expressions of strong sentiments of the visitors, and these not only arrested the attention of the young inquirer, but grew still stronger in him until he became more radical than his father.

He gives us an insight of this in a few words on what he humorously calls his "first introduction to society." "The ceremony was neither gorgeous nor gaudy. There was a little vacant curiosity about it, but there was also a hearty generosity