The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

Willie Gillies.
an an intruder, and so I resigned my pretensions and
retired permanently from the ecclesiastical field. I could
try my fortune again, but the emptiness of religious professions
which I had witnessed improperly disgusted me
with the calling of a minister. In addition to this feeling
of repugnance, I had lost my legitimate ambition of dis-
tinction—and what can be a greater loss to a young man ?
But this loss was rather the result of failing health than of
a trivial disappointment. There is nothing more sad than
the exhaustion of energy which follows too much study. I
went to college an ill-trained lad, with fair abilities, and
grasped at learning with too much avidity. The plethora
of undigested mental food brought me to the brink
of the tomb, and made me a confirmed valetudinarian.
I lived with my elder brother, who succeeded my
father in the farm. My brother and sister-in-law never com-
plained of me as a burden, but, when somewhat recovered,
I felt it a duty to try and do something, however little, to
repay them for their kindness. I was naturally of a
literary turn, and by and bye, having established a connection
with two or three magazines,
a limited but competent remuneration.
my pen brought me
A literary work, which it is not necessary to parti-
cularise, brought me to Edinburgh about ten years ago.
My time was short, and why should I not say it ? my purse
was light, and, for economising both time and money, I
was induced during my two months' stay in town to leave
the penetralia of a publishing firm in Princes Street
regularly when the clock " chappet " one, and adjourn for
dinner— invariably a plate of roast beef, potatoes, and a
glass of ale—to an eating-house on the other side
of the street. It was a low affair, insomuch that
the front of it was below the level of the street, and the
entrance was reached by a stair descending from the pavement.
As the house stood on the brink of the Nor Loch
ravine, the back windows, however, overlooked the railway,
and rose high above many humbler buildings. The rear