Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

22 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD.
sister-in-law's husband, on this auspicious event,
" which gives us much genuine satisfaction."
" Say to her from me," continues this experienced
lady, " that by this time I daresay she agrees in my
Opinion that that business is no Joke." She adds a
very pretty expression of feeling which shows how
mutually serviceable to each other were the different
branches of the family :
—
I can make every allowance, my dear Sir, for your silence,
and I am happy to hear how throng [busy] you are—nothing
Hke a man in business being compleatly occupied ; long may it
continue so. I have got a full and particular account of my
youngsters. I want words to express how much I am oblidged
by your Fatherly care of our Children, and if any of them disobey
you they will lose my favour ; also, your Brother Mr
Thomas, who, I understand, makes them read on Sunday nights
it is a friendly office, my dear Sir, to imbibe in the young mind
a sense of Eeligion and Duty—and a consciousness of so doing
is a noble reward to a good heart.
On this pleasant picture of the pleasant house and
all the many ties that were gathering about the new
family it is agreeable to pause, before plunging into
those records of business which became more compli-
cated and more important day by day. There is every
proof of the success of that business, and of the pros-
perous development of its centre on the South Bridge,
where the young master was, as Mrs Steuart and we
are glad to hear, so throng. In this quiet period
William Blackwood was making for himself many
friends, and gaining recognition everywhere as a safe
and steady man of business, not given to flights of
fancy, but full of enthusiasm for literature—which is
a thing we are but little accustomed to look for nowa-
: