2
III. MY FATHER
IV. KIRSTY
V. I BEGIN LIFE
VI. NO FATHER
VII. MRS. MITCHELL IS DEFEATED
VIII. A NEW SCHOOLMISTRESS
IX. WE LEARN OTHER THINGS
X. SIR WORM WYMBLE
XI. THE KELPIE
XII. ANOTHER KELPIE
XIII. WANDERING WILLIE
XIV. ELSIE DUFF
XV. A NEW COMPANION
XVI. I GO DOWN HILL
XVII. THE TROUBLE GROWS
XVIII. LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS
XIX. FORGIVENESS
XX. I HAVE A FALL AND A DREAM
XXI. THE BEES' NEST
XXII. VAIN INTERCESSION
XXIII. KNIGHT-ERRANTRY
XXIV. FAILURE
XXV. TURKEY PLOTS
XXVI. OLD JOHN JAMIESON
XXVII. TURKEY'S TRICK
XXVIII. I SCHEME TOO
XXIX. A DOUBLE EXPOSURE
XXX. TRIBULATION
XXXI. A WINTER'S RIDE
XXXII. THE PEAT-STACK
XXXIII. A SOLITARY CHAPTER
XXXIV. AN EVENING VISIT
XXXV. A BREAK IN MY STORY
XXXVI. I LEARN THAT I AM NOT A MAN
COLOURED PLATES
THE BILBERRY PICKERS
THE BABY BROTHER
THE DRESSING OF LITTLE DAVIE
MY ESCAPE
TURKEY LIGHTS A FIRE
I GO INTO THE FIELDS
MAKING THE SNOWBALL
READING TO ELSIE AND TURKEY
A SUDDEN STOP
HELPING ELSIE
A READING LESSON
I RETURN HOME
_Coloured Illustrations by A.V. Wheelhouse: and Other 36 Black-and-White Illustrations by Arthur Hughes_.
CHAPTER I
Introductory
I do not intend to carry my story one month beyond the hour when I saw that my boyhood was gone and my youth arrived; a period determined to some by the first tail-coat, to me by a different sign. My reason for wishing to tell this first portion of my history is, that when I look back upon it, it seems to me not only so pleasant, but so full of meaning, that, if I can only tell it right, it must prove rather pleasant and not quite unmeaning to those who will read it. It will prove a very poor story to such as care on