ROLLO IN SCOTLAND,

BY

JACOB ABBOTT.

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY TAGGARD AND THOMPSON. M DCCC LXIV.



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by

JACOB ABBOTT,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON.







CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I.—THE BOY THAT WAS NOT LOADED, 11

II.—DISTRICTS OF SCOTLAND, 32

III.—ARRIVAL AT GLASGOW, 44

IV.—THE EXPEDITION PLANNED, 57

V.—DOWN THE CLYDE, 65

VI.—WALKS ABOUT GLASGOW, 73

VII.—ENTERING THE HIGHLANDS, 79

VIII.—ROWERDENNAN INN, 91

IX.—THE TOUR OF THE TROSSACHS, 110

X.—STIRLING, 122

XI.—LOCH LEVEN, 135

XII.—EDINBURGH, 157

XIII.—THE PALACE OF HOLYROOD, 174

XIV.—QUEEN MARY'S APARTMENTS, 188

XV.—EDINBURGH CASTLE, 207

XVI.—CONCLUSION, 216



ENGRAVINGS.

PAGE

THE PICNIC FRONTISPIECE.

STIRLING CASTLE, 10

ODD OR EVEN, 21

THE COFFEE ROOM, 61

THE SHETLAND PONY, 87

VIEWING THE SCENERY OF LOCH LOMOND, 97

THE BOYS ON THE BRIDGE, 112

LOCH LEVEN, 147

SCOTT'S MONUMENT, 177

THE CORNER TOWER OF THE PALACE OF HOLYROOD, 189

QUEEN MARY'S BEDROOM, 193

QUEEN ELIZABETH ON PARADE, 204



ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE.

ORDER OF THE VOLUMES

ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. ROLLO IN PARIS. ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND. ROLLO IN LONDON. ROLLO ON THE RHINE. ROLLO IN SCOTLAND. ROLLO IN GENEVA. ROLLO IN HOLLAND. ROLLO IN NAPLES. ROLLO IN ROME.

PRINCIPAL PERSONS OF THE STORY.

ROLLO; twelve years of age. MR. and MRS. HOLIDAY; Rollo's father and mother, travelling in Europe. THANNY; Rollo's younger brother. JANE; Rollo's cousin, adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Holiday. MR. GEORGE; a young gentleman, Rollo's uncle.





ROLLO IN SCOTLAND.



CHAPTER I.

THE BOY THAT WAS NOT LOADED.

In the course of his travels in Europe, Rollo went with his uncle George one summer to spend a fortnight in Scotland.

There are several ways of going into Scotland from England. One way is to take a steamer from Liverpool, and go up the Clyde to Glasgow. This was the route that Mr. George and Rollo took.

On the way from Liverpool to Glasgow, Rollo became acquainted with a boy named Waldron Kennedy. Waldron was travelling with his father and mother and two sisters. His sisters were mild and gentle girls, and always kept near their mother; but Waldron seemed to be always getting into difficulty, or mischief. He was just about Rollo's age, but was a little taller. He was a very strong boy, and full of life and spirits. He was very venturesome, too, and he was continually frightening his mother by getting himself into what seemed to her dangerous situations. One morning, when she came up on deck, just after the steamer entered the mouth of the Clyde, she almost fainted away at seeing Waldron half way up the shrouds. He was poising himself there on one of the ratlines, resting upon one foot, and holding on with only one hand.

To prevent his doing such things, Waldron's mother kept him under the closest possible restraint, and would hardly let him go away from her side. She watched him, too, very closely all the time, and worried him with perpetual cautions. It was always, "Waldron, don't do this," or, "Waldron, you must not do that," or, "Waldron, don't go there." This confinement made Waldron very restless and uneasy; so that, on the whole, both he himself and his mother, too, had a very uncomfortable time of it.

"He worries my life out of me," she used to say, "and spoils all the pleasure of my tour. O, if he were only a girl!"

Mr. George had been acquainted with Mr. Kennedy and his family in New York, and they were all very glad to meet him on board the steamer.

On the morning after the steamer entered the mouth of the Clyde, Mrs. Kennedy and her daughters were sitting on a settee upon the deck, with books in their hands. From time to time they read in these books, and in the intervals they looked at the scenery. Waldron stood near them, leaning in a listless manner on the railing. Rollo came up to the place, and accosted Waldron, saying,—

"Come, Waldron, come with me."

"Hush!" said Waldron, in a whisper. "You go out there by the paddle box and wait a moment, till my mother begins to look on her book again, and then I'll steal away and come."

But Rollo never liked to obtain any thing by tricks and treachery, and so he turned to Mrs. Kennedy, and, in a frank and manly manner, said,—

"Mrs. Kennedy, may Waldron go away with me a little while?"

"Why, I am afraid, Rollo," said Mrs. Kennedy. "He always gets into some mischief or other the moment he is out of my sight."

"O, we shall be under my uncle George's care," said Rollo. "I am going out there where he is sitting."

"Well," said Mrs. Kennedy, hesitating, and looking very timid,—"well, Waldron may go a little while. But, Waldron, you must be sure and stay by Mr. George, or, at least, not go any where without his leave."

"Yes," said Waldron, "I will."

So he and Rollo went away, and walked leisurely towards the place where Mr. George was sitting.

"I am glad we are coming up this river, to Greenock and Glasgow," said Waldron.

"Why?" asked Rollo.

"Because of the steamboats," said Waldron.

"Do they build a great many steamboats in Greenock and Glasgow?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Waldron; "this is the greatest place for building steamboats in the world."

"Except New York," said Rollo.

"O, of course, except New York," replied Waldron. "But they build all the big English steamers in this river. All the Cunarders were built here, and they have got some of the best machine shops and founderies here that there are in the world. I should like to go all about and see them, if I could only get away from my mother."

"Why, won't she let you go?" said Rollo.

"No," replied Waldron, "not if she knows it. She thinks I am a little boy, and is so afraid that I shall get hurt!"

Waldron pronounced the word hurt in a drawling and contemptuous tone, which was so comical that Rollo could not help laughing outright.

"I go to all the ship yards and founderies in New York whenever I please," continued Waldron. "I go when she does not know it. Sometimes the men let me help them carry out the melted iron, and pour it into the moulds."

By this time the two boys had reached the place where Mr. George was. He was sitting on what is called a camp stool, and was engaged in reading his guide book, and studying the map, with a view of finding out what route it would be best to take in the tour they were about making in Scotland. Mr. George drew the boys into conversation with him on the subject. His object was to become acquainted with Waldron, and find out what sort of a boy he was.

"Where do you wish to go, Waldron?" said Mr. George.

"Why, I want to stay here a good many days," said Waldron, "to see the steamers and the dockyards. They are building a monstrous iron ship, somewhere here. She is going to be five hundred tons bigger than the Baltic."

"I should like to see her," said Mr. George.

As he said this he kept his eye upon his map, following his finger, as he moved it about from place to place, as if he was studying out a good way to go.

"There is Edinburgh," said Mr. George; "we must certainly go to Edinburgh."

"Yes," said Waldron, "I suppose that is a pretty great place. Besides, I want to see the houses twelve stories high."

"And there is Linlithgow," continued Mr. George, still looking upon his map. "That is the place where Mary, Queen of Scots, was born. Waldron, would you like to go there?"

"Why, no," said Waldron, doubtfully, "not much. I don't care much about that."

"It is a famous old ruin," said Mr. George.

"But I don't care much about the old ruins," said Waldron. "If the lords and noblemen are as rich as people say they are, I should think they would mend them up."

"And here, off in the western part of Scotland," continued Mr. George, "are a great many mountains. Would you like to go and see the mountains?"

"No, sir," said Waldron, "not particularly." Then in a moment he added, "Can we go up to the top of them, Mr. George?"

"Yes," said Mr. George, "we can go to the top of some of them."

"The highest?" asked Waldron.

"Yes," said Mr. George. "Ben Nevis, I believe, is the highest. We can go to the top of that."

"Then I should like to go," said Waldron, eagerly.

"Unless," continued Mr. George, "it should rain too hard."

"O, I should not care for the rain," said Waldron. "It's good fun to go in the rain."

While this conversation had been going on, Waldron had been looking this way and that, at the various ships and steamers that were gliding about on the water, examining carefully the building of each one, and watching her motions. He now proposed that Rollo should go forward to the bridge with him, where they could have a better lookout.

"Well," said Rollo. So the two boys went together to the bridge.

The bridge was a sort of narrow platform, extending across the steamer, from one paddle wheel to the other, for the captain or pilot to walk upon, in order to see how the steamer was going, and to direct the steering. When they are in the open sea any of the passengers are allowed to walk here; but in coming into port, or into a river crowded with shipping, then a notice is put up requesting passengers not to go upon the bridge, inasmuch as at such times it is required for the exclusive use of the captain and pilot.

This notice was up when Waldron and Rollo reached the bridge.

"See," said Rollo, pointing at the notice. "We cannot go there."

"O, never mind that," said Waldron. "They'll let us go. They only mean that they don't want too many there—that's all."

But Rollo would not go. Mr. George had accustomed him, in travelling about the world, always to obey all lawful rules and orders, and particularly every direction of this kind which he might find in public places. Some people are very much inclined to crowd upon the line of such rules, and even to encroach upon them till they actually encounter some resistance to drive them back. They do this partly to show their independence and importance. But Mr. George was not one of this sort.

So Rollo would not go upon the bridge.

"Then let us go out on the forecastle," said Waldron. He pointed, as he spoke, to the forecastle, which is a small raised deck at the bows of a steamer, where there is an excellent place to see.

"No," said Rollo, "I will not go on the forecastle either. Uncle George's rule for me on board ship is, that I may go where I see other gentlemanly passengers go, and nowhere else. The passengers do not go on the forecastle."

"Yes," said Waldron, "there are some there now."

"There is only one," said Rollo, "and he has no business there."

During the progress of this conversation the boys had sat down upon the upper step of a steep flight of stairs which led down from the promenade deck to the main deck. They could see pretty well where they were, but not so well, Waldron thought, as they could have seen from the forecastle.

"I think we might go on the forecastle as well as not," said Waldron, "even according to your own rule. For there is a passenger there."

"I think it is doubtful," said Rollo.

"Well," said Waldron, "we'll call it doubtful. We will draw lots for it."

So saying, Waldron put his hand in his pocket, and, after fumbling about there a minute or two, took it out, and held it before Rollo with the fingers shut, so that Rollo could not see what was in it.

"Odd or even?" said Waldron.

Rollo looked at the closed hand, with a smile of curiosity on his face, but he did not answer.

"Say odd or even," continued Waldron. "If you hit, that will prove that you are right, and we will not go to the forecastle; but if you miss, then we will go."

Rollo hesitated a moment, not being quite sure that this was a proper way of deciding a question of right and wrong. In a moment, however, he answered, "Even."

Waldron opened his hand, and Rollo saw that there was nothing in it.

"There," said Waldron, "it is odd, and you said even."

"No," said Rollo, "it is not either even or odd. There is nothing at all in your hand."

"Well," said Waldron, "nothing is a number, and it is odd."

"O Waldron!" said Rollo, "it is not any number at all. Besides, if it is a number, it is not odd—it is even."

"Yes," said Waldron, "it is a number, for you can add it, and subtract it, and multiply it, and divide it, just as you can any other number."

"O Waldron!" exclaimed Rollo again. "You can't do any such thing."



"Yes," said Waldron, "I can add nothing to one, and it makes one. So, I can take nothing away from one, and it leaves one.

"I can multiply nothing, too. I can multiply it by ten. Ten times nothing are nothing. So I can divide it. Five in nothing no times, and nothing over."

Rollo was somewhat perplexed by this argument, and he did not know what to reply. Still he would not admit that nothing was a number—still less that it was an odd number. He did not believe, he said, that it was any number at all. The boys continued the discussion[A] for some time, and then they concluded to go and refer it to Mr. George.

[A] The conversation was a discussion, and not a dispute, for it was calm, quiet, and good-tempered throughout. A dispute is an angry discussion.

And here I ought to say that Waldron had an artful design in taking nothing in his hand, when he called upon Rollo to say, odd or even. He did it in order that whatever answer Rollo might give, he might attempt to prove it wrong. He was a very ingenious boy, and could as easily maintain that nothing was even as that it was odd. Whichever Rollo had said, his plan was to maintain the contrary, and so persuade him to go to the forecastle.

Mr. George was very much pleased when the boys brought the question to him. Indeed, almost all people are pleased when boys come to them in an amicable manner, to have their controversies settled. Then, besides, he inferred from the nature of the question that had arisen in this case, that Waldron was a boy of considerable thinking powers, or else he would not have taken any interest in a purely intellectual question like this.

"Well," said Mr. George, "that is quite a curious question. But before I decide it you must first both of you give me your reasons. What makes you think nothing is an odd number, Waldron?"

"I don't know," said Waldron, hesitating. "I think it looks kind of odd."

Mr. George smiled at this reason, and then asked Rollo what made him think it was an even number.

"I don't think it is an even number," said Rollo. "I don't think it is any number at all.

"However," continued Rollo, "that is not the real question, after all. The real question is, whether we shall go on the forecastle or not, to have a lookout."

"No," said Mr. George, "it is not according to etiquette at sea for the passengers to go on the forecastle."

"But they do," said Waldron.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "they sometimes do, I know; and sometimes, under peculiar circumstances, it is right for them to go; but as a general rule, it is not. That is the place for the sailors to occupy in working the ship. It is something like the kitchen in a hotel. What should you think of the guests at a hotel, if they went down into the kitchen to see what was going on there?"

Rollo laughed aloud.

"But we don't go to the forecastle to see what is going on there," said Waldron; "we go for a lookout—to see what is going on away ahead, on the water."

"True," said Mr. George, "and that is a very important difference, I acknowledge. I don't think my comparison holds good."

Mr. George was always very candid in all his arguing. It is of very great importance that all persons should be so, especially when reasoning with boys. It teaches them to be candid.

Just at this time Waldron's attention was attracted by the appearance of a very large steamer, which now came suddenly into view, with its great red funnel pouring out immense volumes of black smoke. Waldron ran over to the other side of the deck to see it. Rollo followed, and thus the explanation which Mr. George might have given, in respect to the arithmetical nature and relations of nothing were necessarily postponed to some future time.

* * * * *

About half an hour after this, while Rollo was sitting by the side of his uncle, looking at the map, and trying to find out how soon they should come in sight of the famous old Castle of Dunbarton, which stands on a rocky hill upon the banks of the Clyde, Mr. Kennedy came up to him to inquire if he knew where Waldron was.

Rollo said that he did not know. He had not seen him for some time.

"We can't find him any where," said Mr. Kennedy. "We have looked all over the ship. His mother is half crazy. She thinks he has fallen overboard."

So Rollo and Mr. George both rose immediately and went off to see if they could find Waldron. They went in various directions, inquiring of every body they met if they had seen such a boy. Several people had seen him half an hour before, when he was with Rollo; but no one knew where he had been since. At last, in about ten minutes, Rollo came running to Mrs. Kennedy, who was walking about through the cabins in great distress, and said, hurriedly, "I've found him; he is safe," and then ran off to tell Mr. Kennedy.

Mrs. Kennedy followed him, calling out eagerly, "Where is he? Where is he?" Rollo met Mr. Kennedy at the head of the cabin stairs, and he seemed very much rejoiced to learn that Waldron was found. Rollo led the way, and Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy followed him, until they came to a place on the deck, pretty well forward, where there was an opening surrounded by an iron railing, through which you could look down into the hold below. It was very far down that you could look, and at different distances on the way were to be seen iron ladders going from deck to deck, and ponderous shafts, moving continually, with great clangor and din, while at the bottom were seen the mouths of several great glowing furnaces, with men at work shovelling coal into them.

"There he is," said Rollo, pointing down.

Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy leaned over the railing and looked down, and there they beheld Waldron, hard at work shovelling coal into the mouth of a furnace, with a shovel which he had borrowed of one of the men. In a word, Waldron had turned stoker.

Mr. Kennedy hurried down the ladders to bring Waldron up, while Mr. George and Rollo went back to the deck.

* * * * *

About an hour after this Mr. Kennedy came and took a seat on a settee where Mr. George was sitting, and began to talk about Waldron.

"He is the greatest plague of my life," said Mr. Kennedy. "I don't know what I shall do with him. He is continually getting into some mischief. I have shut him up a close prisoner in the state room, and I am going to keep him there till we land. But it will do no good. It will not be an hour after he gets out before he will be in some new scrape. You know a great deal about boys; I wish you would tell me what to do with him."

"I think, if he was under my charge," said Mr. George, very quietly, "I should load him."

"Load him?" repeated Mr. Kennedy, inquiringly.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "I mean I should give him a load to carry."

"I don't understand, exactly," said Mr. Kennedy. "What is your idea?"

"My idea is," said Mr. George, "that a growing boy, especially if he is a boy of unusual capacity, is like a steam engine in this respect. A steam engine must always have a load to carry,—that is, something to employ and absorb the force it is capable of exerting,—or else it will break itself to pieces with it. The force will expend itself on something, and if you don't load it with something good, it will employ itself in mischief.

"Here now is the engine of this ship," continued Mr. George. "Its force is conducted to the paddle wheels, where it has full employment for itself in turning the wheels against the immense resistance of the water, and in carrying the ship along. This work is its load. If this load were to be taken off,—for example, if the steamer were to be lifted up out of the water so that the wheels could spin round in the air,—the engine would immediately stave itself to pieces, for want of having any thing else to expend its energies upon."

"Yes," said Mr. Kennedy. "I have no doubt of it."

"Now, I think," continued Mr. George, "that it is in some sense the same with a boy whose mental and physical powers are in good condition. These powers must be employed. They hunger and thirst for employment, and if they don't get it in doing good they will be sure to find it in some kind of mischief."

"Well," said Mr. Kennedy, with a sigh, "there is a great deal in that; but what is to be done? You can't employ such a boy as that. There is nothing he can do. I wish you would take him, and see if you can load him, as you call it. Take him with you on this tour you are going to make in Scotland. I will put money in your hands to cover his expenses, and you may charge any thing you please beyond, for your care of him."

"Perhaps his mother would not like such an arrangement," said Mr. George.

"O, yes," replied Mr. Kennedy; "nothing would please her more."

"And would Waldron like it himself?" asked Mr. George.

"I presume so," said Mr. Kennedy; "he likes any thing that is a change."

Mr. Kennedy went down to the state room to see Waldron, and ask him what he thought of this plan. Waldron said he should like it very much. So he was at once liberated from his confinement, and transferred to Mr. George's charge.

"Now, Waldron," said Mr. George, when Waldron came to him, "I shall want some help from you about getting ashore from the boat. Do you think you could go ashore with Rollo as soon as we land, and take a cab and go directly up to the hotel, and engage rooms for us, while I am looking out for the baggage, and getting it ready?"

"Yes, sir; yes, sir," said Waldron, eagerly. "I can do that. What hotel shall I go to?"

"I don't know," said Mr. George. "I don't know any thing about the hotels in Glasgow. You must find out."

"Well," said Waldron, "only how shall I find out?"

"I am sure I don't know," said Mr. George. "I leave it all to you and Rollo. I am busy forming my plans for a tour. You and Rollo can go and talk about it, and see if you can discover any way of finding out the name of one of the best hotels. If you can't, after trying fifteen minutes, come to me, and I will help you."

So saying, Mr. George began to study his map again, and Waldron, apparently much pleased with his commission, said, "Come, Rollo," and walked away.



CHAPTER II.

DISTRICTS OF SCOTLAND.

I think that Mr. George was quite right in his idea, that the true remedy for the spirit of restlessness and mischief that Waldron manifested was to employ him, or, as he metaphorically termed it, to load him. And as this volume will, perhaps, fall into the hands of many parents as well as children, I will here remark that a great many good-hearted and excellent boys fall into the same difficulty from precisely the same cause; namely, that they have not adequate employment for their mental and physical powers, which are growing and strengthening every day, and are hungering and thirsting for the means and opportunities of expending their energies.

Parents are seldom aware how fast their children are growing and increasing in strength, both of body and mind. The evidences of this growth, in respect to the limbs and muscles of the body, are, indeed, obvious to the eye; and as the growth advances, we have continual proof of the pleasure which the exercise of these new powers gives to the possessor of them. The active and boisterous plays of boys derive their chief charm from the pleasure they feel in testing and exercising their muscular powers in every way. They are always running, and leaping, and wrestling, and pursuing each other, and pushing each other, and climbing up to high places, and standing on their heads, and walking on the tops of fences, and performing all other possible or conceivable feats, which may give them the pleasure of working, in new and untried ways, their muscular machinery, and feeling its increasing power, and in producing new effects by means of it. They get themselves into continual difficulties and dangers by these things, and cause themselves a great deal of suffering. Still they go on, for the intoxicating delight of using their powers, or, rather, the irresistible instinct which impels them to use them, has greater force with them than all other considerations.

We see all this very plainly in respect to the action of the limbs and organs of the body; for it is palpably evident to our senses, and we feel the necessity of providing safe and proper modes of expending these energies. Since we find, for example, that boys must kick something, we give them a football to kick; which, being a mere ball of wind, may be kicked without doing any harm. And so with almost all the other playthings and sports which are devised for boys, or which they devise for themselves. They are the means, simply, of enabling them to employ their growing powers and expand their energies, without doing any body any harm. We know very well that it is not safe to leave these powers and energies unemployed.

But we are very apt to forget that there are powers and faculties of the mind, equally vigorous, and equally eager to be exercised, that ought also to be provided for. The strength of the will, the power of exercising judgment and discretion, the spirit of enterprise, the love of command, and other such mental impulses, are growing and strengthening every day, in every healthy boy, and they are all clamorous for employment. The instinct that impels them is so strong that they will find employment in some way or other for themselves, unless an occupation is otherwise provided for them. A very large proportion of the acts of mischievousness and wrong which boys commit arise from this cause. Even boys who are bad enough to form a midnight scheme for robbing an orchard, are influenced mainly in perpetrating the deed, not by the pleasure of eating the apples which they expect to obtain by it, but by the pleasure of forming a scheme, of contriving ways and means of surmounting difficulties, of watching against surprises, of braving dangers, of successfully attaining to a desired end over and through a succession of obstacles interposing. This view of the case does not show that such deeds are right; it only shows the true nature of the wrong involved in them, and helps us in discovering and applying the remedy.

At least this was Mr. George's view of the case in respect to Waldron, when he heard how often he was getting into difficulty by his adventurous and restless character. He thought that the remedy was, as he expressed it, to load him; that is, to give to the active and enterprising spirit of his mind something to expend his energies upon. It required great tact and discretion, and great knowledge of the habits and characteristics of boyhood, to enable him to do this; but Mr. George possessed these qualities in a high degree.

But to return to the story.

Mr. George had decided on coming into Scotland from Liverpool by water, because that was the cheapest way of getting into the heart of the country. And here, in order that you may understand the course of Rollo's travels, I must pause to explain the leading geographical features of the country. If you read this explanation carefully, and follow it on the map, you will understand the subsequent narrative much better than you otherwise would do.

You will see, then, by looking at any map, that Scotland is separated from England by two rivers which flow from the interior of the country into the sea—one towards the east, and the other towards the west. The one on the east side is the Tweed. The Tweed forms the frontier between England and Scotland for a considerable distance, and is, therefore, often spoken of as the boundary between the two countries. Indeed, the phrase "beyond the Tweed" is often used in England to denote Scotland. In former times, when England and Scotland were independent kingdoms, incessant wars were carried on across this border, and incursions were made by the chieftains from each realm into the territories of the other, and castles were built on many commanding points to defend the ground. The ruins of many of these old castles still remain.

On the western side of the island the boundary between England and Scotland is formed by a very wide river, or rather river's mouth, called Solway Frith. Between this Solway Frith and the Tweed, the boundary which separates the two countries runs along the summit of a range of hills. This range of hills thus forms a sort of neck of high land, which prevents the Tweed and the Solway Frith from cutting Scotland off from England altogether, and making a separate island of it.

About seventy or eighty miles to the northward of the boundary the land is almost cut in two again by two other rivers, with broad mouths, which rise pretty near together in the interior of the country, and flow—one to the east and the other to the west—into the two seas.

These rivers are the Forth and the Clyde. The Forth flows to the east, and has a very wide estuary,[B] as you will see by the map. The Clyde, on the other hand, flows to the west. Its estuary is long and crooked.

[B] An estuary is a sort of bay, produced by the widening of a river at its mouth. Scotland is remarkable for the estuaries which are formed at the mouths of its rivers. They are called there friths.

The Forth and the Clyde, with their estuaries, almost cut Scotland in two; and by means of them ships and steamers from all parts of England and from foreign ports are enabled to come into the very heart of the country.

The two largest and most celebrated cities in Scotland are situated in the valleys of these rivers, the Forth and the Clyde. They are Edinburgh and Glasgow. Edinburgh is on the Forth, though situated at some little distance from its banks. Glasgow is on the Clyde. There is a railway extending across from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and also a canal, connecting the waters of the Forth with the Clyde. The region of these cities, and of the canal and railroad which connects them, is altogether the busiest, the most densely peopled, and the most important portion of Scotland; and this is the reason why Mr. George wished to come directly into it by water from Liverpool.

The cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, though both greatly celebrated, are celebrated in very different ways. Edinburgh is the city of science, of literature, and of the arts. Here are many learned institutions, the fame and influence of which extend to every part of the world. Here are great book publishing establishments, which send forth millions of volumes every year—from ponderous encyclopaedias of science, and elegantly illustrated and costly works of art, down to tracts for Sabbath schools, and picture books for children. The situation of Edinburgh is very romantic and beautiful; the town being built among hills and ravines of the most picturesque and striking character. When Scotland was an independent kingdom Edinburgh was the capital of it, and thus the old palace of the kings and the royal castle are there, and the town has been the scene of some of the most remarkable events in the Scottish history.

Glasgow, on the other hand, which is on the Clyde, towards the western side of the island, together with all the country for many miles around it, forms the scene of the mechanical and manufacturing industry of Scotland. The whole district, in fact, is one vast workshop; being full of mines, mills, forges, furnaces, machine shops, ship yards and iron works, with pipes every where puffing out steam, and tall chimneys, higher, some of them, than the Bunker Hill Monument, or the steeple of Trinity Church, in New York. These tall chimneys are seen rising every where, all around the horizon, and sending up volumes of dense black smoke, which comes pouring incessantly from their summits, and thence floating majestically away, mingles itself with the clouds of the sky.

The reason of this is, that the strata of rocks which lie beneath the ground in all this region consist, in a great measure, of beds of coal and of iron ore. The miners dig down in almost any spot, and find iron ore; and very near it, and sometimes in the same pit, they find plenty of coal. These pits are like monstrous wells; very wide at the mouth, and extending down four or five times as far as the height of the tallest steeples, into the bowels of the earth. Over the mouth of the pit the workmen build a machine, with ropes and a monstrous wheel, to hoist the coal and iron up by, and all around they set up furnaces to smelt the ore and turn it into iron. Then, at suitable places in various parts of the country, they construct great rolling mills and founderies. The rolling mills are to turn the pig iron into wrought iron, and to manufacture it into bars and sheets, and rails for the railroads; and the founderies are to cast it into the form of great wheels, and cylinders, and beams for machinery, or for any other purpose that may be required.

The mines in the valley of the Clyde were worked first chiefly for the coal, and the coal was used to drive steam machinery for spinning and weaving, and for other manufacturing purposes. The river was in those days a small and insignificant stream. It was only about five feet deep, so that the vessels that came to take away the coal and the manufactured goods had to stop near the mouth of it, and the cargoes were brought down to them in boats and lighters. But in process of time they widened and deepened the river. They dug out the mud from the bottom of it, and built walls along the banks; and in the course of the last hundred years, they have improved it so much that now the largest ships can come quite up to Glasgow. The water is eighteen or twenty feet deep all the way.

The Clyde is the river on which steamboats were first built in Great Britain. The man who was the first in England or Scotland that found a way of making a steam engine that could be put in a boat and made to turn paddle wheels so as to drive the boat along, was James Watt, who was born on the Clyde; and he is accordingly considered as the author and originator of English steam navigation, just as Fulton is regarded as the originator of the art in America. The Clyde, of course, very naturally became the centre of steamboat and steamship building. The iron for the engines was found close at hand, as well as abundant supplies of coal for the fires. The timber they brought from the Baltic. At length, however, they found that they could build ships of iron instead of wood, using iron beams for the framing, and covering them with plates of iron riveted together instead of planks. These ships were found very superior, in almost all respects, to those built of timber; and as iron in great abundance was found all along the banks of the Clyde, and as the workmen in the region were extremely skilful in working it, the business of building ships and steamers of this material increased wonderfully, until, at length, the banks of the river for miles below Glasgow became lined with ship yards, where countless steamers, of monstrous length and graceful forms, in all the stages of construction, lie; now sloping towards the water and down the stream, ready at the appointed time to glide majestically into the river, and thence to plough their way to every portion of the habitable globe.

It was into this busy scene of mechanical industry and skill that our party of travellers were now coming. But before I resume the narrative of their adventures, I will say a word about those parts of Scotland which lie to the north and south of these central regions that are occupied by the valleys of the Forth and the Clyde. The region which extends to the southward—that is, which lies between the valleys of the Forth and the Clyde on the one hand, and the English frontier on the other—is called the southern part of the country. It consists, generally, of fertile and gently undulating land, which is employed almost entirely for tillage, and is but little visited by tourists or travellers.

The northern part of Scotland is, however, of a very different character; being wild, mountainous and waste, and filled every where with the most grand and sublime scenery. The eastern portion of this part of the island is more level, and there are several large and flourishing towns on or near the shores of it, such as Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and others. But the whole of the western side of it consists of one vast congeries of lakes and mountains, so wild and sombre in their character that they have become celebrated throughout the world for the gloomy grandeur of the scenery which they present to the view.

These are the famous Scottish Highlands. Mr. George's plan was first to visit the valley of the Clyde, and its various mines and manufactories, and then to take a circuit round among the Highlands, on his way to Edinburgh.



CHAPTER III.

ARRIVAL AT GLASGOW.

One of the greatest drawbacks to the pleasure of travelling in Scotland, especially among the Highlands, is the rain. It usually rains more in mountainous countries than in those that are level, for the mountains, rising into the higher and colder regions of the atmosphere, chill and condense the vapors that are floating there, on the same principle by which a tumbler or a pitcher, made cold by iced water placed within it, condenses the moisture from the air, upon the outside of it, on a summer's day. It is also probable that the mountain summits produce certain effects in respect to the electrical condition of the atmosphere, on which it is well known that the formation of clouds and the falling of rain greatly depend—though this subject is yet very little understood. At all events, the western part of Scotland is one of the most rainy regions in the world, and travellers who visit it must expect to have their plans and arrangements very often and very seriously interfered with by the state of the weather.

The changes are quite unexpected too; for sometimes you will see dark masses of watery vapor, coming suddenly into view, and driving swiftly across the sky, where a few moments before every thing had appeared settled and serene. These scuds are soon followed by others, more and more dense and threatening, until, at last, there come drenching showers of rain, which drive every body to the nearest shelter, if there is any shelter at hand.

Such a change as this came on while Mr. George had been making arrangements with Mr. Kennedy for taking Waldron under his charge; and just as Waldron and Rollo had gone away to see what plan they could devise in respect to the hotel, it began to rain. The clouds and mists, too, concealed the shores almost entirely from view, and the passengers began to go below. Mr. George followed their example. On his way he passed a sheltered place where he saw Waldron and Rollo engaged in conversation, and he told them, as he passed them, that when they were ready to report they would find him below.

In about fifteen minutes the boys came down to him.

"Uncle George," said Rollo, "we have found out that there are a good many excellent hotels in Glasgow, but we think we had better go to the Queen's."

"Yes, sir," said Waldron. "It fronts on a handsome square, where they are going to have an exhibition of flowers to-morrow, with tents and music."

"And shall you wish to go and see the flowers?" asked Mr. George.

"No, sir," said Waldron. "I don't care much about the flowers, but I should like to see the tents, and to hear the music."

"Then, besides, uncle George," said Rollo, "we are coming to the mouth of the river pretty soon, and as soon as we get in we shall come to Greenock; and there is a railroad from Greenock up to Glasgow, so that we can go ashore there, if you please, and go up to Glasgow quick by the railroad. A great many of the passengers are going to do that."

"Do you think that would be a good plan?" asked Mr. George.

"Why, yes," said Rollo, "I should think it would be a good plan, if we had not paid our passage through by the steamer."

"And what do you think about it, Waldron?" asked Mr. George.

"I should like it," said Waldron. "The fare is only one and sixpence. I should have preferred to go up in the steamer if it had been pleasant, so that we could see the ships and steamers on the stocks; but it is so misty and rainy that we cannot see any thing at all. So, if you would go up by the railroad, and then, to-morrow, when it is pleasant, come down a little way again, on one of the steamboats, to see the river, I should like it very much."

"But I shall have to stay at home to-morrow," said Mr. George, "and write letters to send to America. It is the last day."

"Then let Rollo and me go down by ourselves," said Waldron.

"Yes, uncle George," said Rollo, "let us go by ourselves."

"Ah," said Mr. George. "I am not sure that that would be safe. I am not much acquainted with Waldron yet, and I don't know what his character is, in respect to judgment and discretion."

"O, I think he has got good judgment," said Rollo. "We will both be very careful."

"Yes, sir," said Waldron, "we certainly will."

"O, boys' promises," said Mr. George, "in respect to such things as that, are good for nothing at all. I never place any reliance upon them whatever."

"O uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo.

"Well, now, would you, if you were in my case?" said Mr. George. "I will leave it to you, Waldron. Suppose a strange boy, that you know no more about than I do of you, were to come to you with a promise that he would be very careful if you would let him go somewhere, and that he would not go into any dangerous places, or expose himself to any risks,—would you think it safe to trust him?"

"Why, no, sir," said Waldron, reluctantly. "I don't think I should. Perhaps I might try him."

"According to my experience," said Mr. George, "you can't trust to boys' promises in the least. It is not that they make promises with the intention of breaking them, but they don't know what breaking them is. A boy who is not careful does not know the difference between being careful and being careless; and so he breaks his promise, and then, if he gets into any trouble by his folly, he says, 'I did not think there was any harm in that.'

"No," added Mr. George, in conclusion, shaking his head gravely as he spoke. "I never place any reliance on such promises."

"Then how can you tell whether to trust a boy or not?" asked Rollo.

"I never can tell," said Mr. George, "until he is proved. When he is tried and proved, then I know him; but not before."

"Well," said Rollo, "then let Waldron and me go down the river to-morrow, if it is pleasant, and let that be for our trial."

"It might, possibly, be a good plan to let you go, on that ground," said Mr. George. He said this in a musing manner, as if considering the question.

"I will think of it," said he. "I'll see if I can think of any conditions on which I can allow you to go, and I will tell you about it at the hotel. And now, in regard to going up to Glasgow. I'll leave it to you and Waldron to decide. You must go and ascertain all the facts—such as how soon the train leaves after we arrive, and how much sooner we shall get up there, if we go in it. Then you must take charge of all the baggage, too, and see that it goes across safe from the steamer to the station, and attend to the whole business."

"Yes, sir," said Waldron, "we will. We'll get a cab, and put the baggage right in."

"Can't you get it across without a cab?" said Mr. George. "I don't see how I can afford to take a cab, very well; for you see we have to incur an extra expense as it is, to go in the cars at all, since we have already paid our passage up by the steamer."

"Well, sir," said Waldron, eagerly, "we can carry the baggage across ourselves. Let us go and look at it, Rollo, and see how much there is."

So the boys went off with great eagerness to look at the baggage. In a few minutes they returned again, wearing very bright and animated countenances.

"Yes, sir," said Waldron, "we can take it all just as well as not. I can take your valise, and Rollo can take my things, and I can carry your knapsack under my arm."

"O, I am willing to help," said Mr. George. "I can help in carrying the things, provided I do not have any care. If you will count up all the things that are to go, and see that they all do go, and then count them again when we get into the railway carriage, so as to be sure that they are all there, and thus save me from responsibility, that is all I ask, and I will carry any thing you choose to give me."

"Well, sir," said Waldron.

Indeed, Waldron was very much pleased to find how completely Mr. George was putting the business under his and Rollo's charge.

"And now," said Mr. George, "I think you had better tell your father and mother about this plan of our going ashore at Greenock. They may like to do so, too."

"O, they know all about it," said Waldron, "and they are going. Mother says that she has had enough of the steamer."

Not long after this the steamer arrived at Greenock, and made fast to the pier. A large number of the passengers went ashore. The rain had ceased, which was very fortunate for those who were to walk to the station; though, of course, the streets were still wet. As soon as the boat was made fast, Mr. George went to the plank, and there he found Waldron and Rollo ready, with the baggage in their hands. Mr. George took his valise, though at first Waldron was quite unwilling to give it up.

"O, yes," said Mr. George; "I have no objection to hard work. What I don't like is care. If you and Rollo will take the care off my mind, that is all I ask."

"Well," said Waldron, "we will. And now I wonder which way we must go, to get to the station."

"I am sure I don't know," said Mr. George. As he said this his countenance assumed a vacant and indifferent expression, as if he considered that the finding of the way to the station was no concern of his.

"Ah!" exclaimed Waldron, "this is the way. See!" So saying, Waldron pointed to a sign put up near the end of the pier, with the words RAILROAD STATION painted upon it, and a hand indicating the way to go.

As the sun had now come out, the party had quite a pleasant walk to the station. Mr. George had all his clothes in a light and small valise which he could carry very easily in his hand. Some of Rollo's clothes were in this valise, too, and the rest were in a small carpet bag. Waldron's were in a carpet bag, too. Besides these things there were some coats and umbrellas to be carried in the hand, and Mr. George and Rollo had each a knapsack, which they had bought in Switzerland. These knapsacks were hung at their sides. They were light, for at this time there was very little in them.

Rollo and Waldron stopped once in the street to inquire if they were on the right way to the station; and finding that they were, they went on, and soon arrived at the gateway. They went in at a spacious entrance, and thence ascended a long and very wide flight of stairs, which led to the second story. There they found an area, covered with a glass roof, and surrounded with offices of various kinds pertaining to the station. In the centre was a train of cars, with a locomotive at the head of it, apparently all ready for a start. Passengers were walking to and fro on the platform, and getting into the carriages.

On one side was a book stand, where a boy was selling books. There was a counter before, and shelves against the walls behind. The shelves were filled with books. These books were in fancy-colored paper bindings, and seemed to consist chiefly of guide books and tales, and other similar works suited to the wants of travellers.

Mr. George laid his valise down upon a bench near by, and began to look at the books. Waldron and Rollo put their baggage down in the same way, and followed his example.

While they were standing there they saw Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy and the two girls coming up the stairs. They were accompanied by a porter.

Mrs. Kennedy stopped a moment to speak to Waldron as she went by.

"Now, Waldron," said she, "you must be very careful, and not get into any difficulty. Keep close to Mr. George all the time, and don't get run over when you get in and out of the cars. You had better button up your jacket. It is very damp, and you will take cold, I am afraid."

So saying, she began to button up Waldron's jacket in front, giving it a pull this way and that to make it set better.

"Don't, mother!" said Waldron. "I'm so hot."

So he shook his shoulders a little uneasily, and tried to turn away. But his mother insisted that his jacket should be buttoned up, at least part way.

"Come, my dear," said Mr. Kennedy, speaking to his wife; "we have no time to lose. The train is going."

So Mr. Kennedy bade Waldron good by, and hurried on, and Waldron immediately unbuttoned his jacket again, saying at the same time,—

"Come, Mr. George, it is time for us to go aboard."

"Have you got the tickets?" said Mr. George, quietly, still keeping his eyes upon a book that he was examining.

"No," said Waldron. "Are we to get the tickets?"

"Of course," said Mr. George. "I have nothing to do with it. You and Rollo have undertaken to get me to Glasgow without my having any thought or concern about it."

"Well, come, Rollo, quick; let's go and get them. Where's the booking office?"

At the English stations the place where the tickets are bought is called the booking office. It is necessary to procure tickets, or you cannot commence the journey; for it is not customary, as in America, to allow the passengers the privilege, when they desire it, of paying in the cars.

"Do you know where the booking office is, Mr. George?" said Waldron.

"No," said Mr. George, "but if you look about you will find it."

So Waldron and Rollo ran off to find the office. It was down stairs. Before they came back with the tickets the train was gone.

"It is no matter," said Mr. George. "Indeed, I think it is my fault rather than yours, for it was not distinctly understood that you were to get the tickets. There will be another train pretty soon, I presume. In the mean time I should like to look at these books, and you and Rollo can amuse yourselves about the station."

So Waldron and Rollo went off to see if they could find a time table, in order to learn when the next train would go. They found that there would be another train in an hour. In the mean time it began to rain again, which prevented the party from taking a walk about the town; so they had to amuse themselves at the station as they best could.

There was a refreshment room at the station, and the boys thought at first that it would be a good plan to have something to eat; but, finally, they concluded that they would wait, and have a regular dinner at the coffee room of the hotel. Mr. George left them to decide the question themselves as they thought best.

The hour, however, soon glided away, and at the end of it the party took their seats in the train, and were trundled rapidly along the banks of the river to Glasgow. The road lay through beautiful parks a considerable portion of the way, with glimpses of the water here and there between the trees. The view of the scenery, however, was very much impeded by the falling rain.



CHAPTER IV.

THE EXPEDITION PLANNED.

The boys were very successful in their selection of a hotel, for the Queen's Hotel, in Glasgow, is one of the most comfortable and best managed inns in the kingdom.

The party rode to the inn, in a cab which they took at the station in Glasgow, when the train arrived there, instead of walking, as they had done in going from the boat to the station at Greenock. The boys asked Mr. George's advice on this point, and he said that, though he was unwilling to take any responsibility, he had no objection whatever to giving his advice, whenever they wished for it. So he told them that he thought it was always best to go to a hotel in a carriage of some sort.

"Because," said he, "in England and Scotland,—that is, in all the great towns,—if we come on foot, they think that we are poor, and of no consequence, and so give us the worst rooms, and pay us very little attention."

When the cab arrived at the hotel Waldron said,—

"There, Mr. George, we have brought you safe to the hotel. Now we have nothing more to do. We give up the command to you now."

"Very well," said Mr. George.

Two or three nicely dressed porters and waiters came out from the door of the hotel, to receive the travellers and wait upon them in. The porters took the baggage, even to the coats and umbrellas, and the head waiter led the way into the house. Waldron paid the cabman as he stepped out of the cab. He knew what the fare was, and he had it all ready. Mr. George said to the waiter that he wanted two bedrooms, one with two beds in it. The waiter bowed, with an air of great deference and respect, and said that the chambermaid would show the rooms. The chambermaid, who was a very nice-looking and tidily-dressed young woman, stood at the foot of the stairs, ready to conduct the newly-arrived party up to the chambers. She accordingly led the way, and Mr. George and the boys followed—two neat-looking porters coming behind with the various articles of baggage.

The rooms were very pleasant apartments, situated on the front side of the house, and looking out upon a beautiful square. The square was enclosed in a high iron railing. It was adorned with trees and shrubbery, and intersected here and there with smooth gravel walks. In the centre was a tall Doric column, with a statue on the summit. There were other statues in other parts of the square. One of them was in honor of Watt, who is the great celebrity of Glasgow—so large a share of the prosperity and wealth of the whole region being due so much to his discoveries.

"Now, boys," said Mr. George, "you will find water and every thing in your room. Make yourselves look as nice as a pin, and then go down stairs and find the coffee room. When you have found it, choose a pleasant table, and order dinner. You may order just what you please."

So Mr. George left the boys to themselves, and went into his own room.

In about half an hour Rollo came up and told Mr. George that the dinner was ready. So Mr. George went down into the coffee room, Rollo showing him the way.

Mr. George found that the boys had chosen a very pleasant table indeed for their dinner. It was in a corner, between a window and the fireplace. There was a pleasant coal fire in the fireplace, with screens before it, to keep the glow of it from the faces of the guests. The room was quite large, and there was a long table extending up and down the middle of it, one of which is seen in the engraving. This table was set for dinner or supper. There were other smaller tables for separate parties in the different corners of the room.

Mr. George and the boys took their seats at the table.

"We thought we would have some coffee," said Rollo.

"That's right," said Mr. George. "I like coffee dinners. What else have you got?"

"We have got some Loch Fine herring, and some mutton chops," said Rollo.

"Yes, sir," said Waldron. "You see the Loch Fine herrings are very famous, and we thought you would like to know how they taste."

By this time the waiter had removed the covers, and the party commenced their dinner. The fire, which was near them, was very pleasant, for although it was June the weather was damp and cold.

In the course of the dinner the boys introduced again the subject of going down the Clyde the next day.

"The boat goes from the Broomielaw," said Waldron.



"The Broomielaw," repeated Mr. George; "what is the Broomielaw?"

"Why, it is the harbor and pier," said Waldron. "It is below the lowest bridge. All the boats that go down the river go from the Broomielaw. They go almost every hour. We can go down by a boat and see the river, and then we can come up by the railroad. That will be just as cheap, if we take a second class car."

"Well, now," said Mr. George, "I have concluded that I should not be willing to have you make this excursion except on two conditions; and they are such hard ones that I do not believe you would accept them. You would rather not go at all than go on such hard conditions."

"What are the conditions?" asked Rollo.

"I don't believe you will accept them," said Mr. George.

"But let us hear what they are," said Waldron. "Perhaps we should accept them."

"The first is," said Mr. George, "that when you get home you must go to your room, and write me an account of what you see on the excursion. Each of you must write a separate account."

"That we will do," said Rollo. "I should like to do that. Wouldn't you, Waldron?"

Waldron seemed to hesitate. Though he was a very active-minded and intelligent boy in respect to what he saw and heard, he was somewhat backward in respect to knowledge of books and skill in writing. Finally, he said that he should be willing to tell Mr. George what he saw, but he did not think that he could write it.

"That is just as I supposed," said Mr. George. "I did not think you would accept my conditions."

"Well, sir, I will," said Waldron. "I will write it as well as I can. And what is the other condition?"

"That you shall write down, at the end of your account, the most careless thing that you see Rollo do, all the time that you are gone," said Mr. George, "and that Rollo shall write down the most careless thing he sees you do."

"But suppose we don't do any careless things at all," said Rollo.

"Then," said Mr. George, "you must write down what comes the nearest to being a careless thing. And neither of you must know what the other writes until you have shown the papers to me."

After some hesitation the boys agreed to both these terms, and so it was decided that they were to go down the river. The steamer which they were to take was to sail at nine o'clock, and so they ordered breakfast at eight. Mr. George said that he would go down with them in the morning to the Broomielaw, and see them sail.



CHAPTER V.

DOWN THE CLYDE.

The boys returned in safety from their excursion about three o'clock in the afternoon. In fulfilment of their promise they immediately went to their room, and wrote their several accounts of the expedition. They agreed together that, in order to avoid repetitions, Waldron should dwell most upon the first part of the trip, and Rollo upon the last part.

The following is the account that Waldron wrote:—

"ACCOUNT OF OUR TRIP.

"First, there was a man standing by the plank, that asked us if we had got our tickets. We told him no. Then he showed us where to go and get them. It was at a little office on the pier. The price of the tickets was a shilling.

"The steamboat was not very large. There was no saloon on deck, and no awning, but only seats on deck, and many people sitting on them.

"There was a boy among them who had a kilt on. It was the first kilt I ever saw.[C]

[C] It would have been better if Waldron had described the kilt; but I suppose he thought he could not describe it very well. It is a garment peculiar to the Scotch. It consists of a sort of sack or jacket, with a skirt attached to it below, which comes down just below the knees. The skirt is plaited upon the lower edge of the jacket, and hangs pretty full.

"We soon began to go down the river. The sides of the river were walled up, to form piers, all along, and there were a great many ships and steamers moored to them. I saw several American vessels among them.

"By and by, when we got below the town, the river grew wider, and the banks were sloping, but they were paved all the way with large stones. This was to prevent their being washed away by the swell of the steamers. There were a great many steamers going up and down, which kept the water all the time a-swashing against the banks.

"I went up on the bridge where the captain stood. There were good steps to go up, on the side of the paddle box. Rollo would not go. I had a fine lookout from the bridge. The captain was there. He told me a good many things about the river. He said that the river used to be only five feet deep, and now it was almost twenty, all the way from the sea. They dug it out with dredging machines.

"I asked him what they did with the mud. He said they hauled it away, and spread it on the land in the country. They made a railroad, he said, on purpose to take the mud away to where it was wanted.

"Presently we began to come to the ship yards. There was an immense number of iron ships on the stocks, building. The workmen made a great noise with their hammers, heading the rivets. There seemed to be thousands of hammers going at a time.

"The steamers all sloped towards the water, and pointed down the stream. I suppose that this was so that when they were launched they might go down in the middle of the channel, and not strike the bank on the opposite side.

"We met a great many steamers coming up. One I thought had just been launched. She was full of workmen. There were a great many women running along on the bank, where it was green, trying to keep up with her. They were almost all barefooted. I suppose they had been down to see her launched. I wish we had been a little sooner.

"When I came down from the bridge I looked into the hold to see the engine. I wanted to go down, but I was afraid that Rollo would call it a careless thing. Besides, I could see pretty well where I was. There were three cylinders. Two acted alternately, and the other at the half stroke. I thought this was a very good plan; for now the engine never can get on a poise. All these cylinders were inclined. The boiler was perpendicular. I never saw one like it before.

"After a while we got below the ship yards, and then there was nothing more to see, only some green grounds, and some mountains, and a castle on a rock. Then we landed at Greenock, and came home by the railroad. But Rollo is going to write about this.

"The most careless thing that Rollo did was that he came very near leaving his umbrella on board the boat at Greenock."

* * * * *

Rollo's account of the excursion was as follows:—

"EXCURSION ON THE CLYDE.

"Waldron and I went down the Clyde. We went on board the boat at the Broomielaw, in Glasgow.

"The first thing I observed was that a Scotchman and two boys came on board with violins and a flageolet, and began to play to amuse the company. At first I could not hear very well, the steampipe made such a noise. Afterwards, when the pipe stopped blowing off the steam, I could hear better, and I liked the music very well.

"By and by one of the boys came round to collect some money, and I put in a penny. I told Waldron that I thought he need not put in any thing, as he did not listen.

"There was a boat came off from the shore, and a man got out of it, and came on board our steamer just as we used to go on board the steamers on the Rhine. I wish we could go and travel on the Rhine again.

"When we got below the ships and ship yards we came to a part of the river where there were parks and pleasure grounds on the banks, and beautiful houses back among the trees.

"When we got half way down we stopped at a pier where there was a train of cars to take people to Loch Lomond, on the way to the Highlands. Waldron said that we should come there, he supposed, when we go to the Highlands.

"A little farther down we came to a great rocky hill, close by the water, with a castle upon it. The name of it is Dunbarton Castle. We shall go by it again, when we go to the Highlands.

"Then we came to a great widening of the river, and not long after that we arrived at Greenock and landed. We thought that the boat was going to stop here, but it did not. A great many of the passengers staid on board, and a great many more came on board, to go farther down the river.

"We went first to the station, so as to see when the trains went back to Glasgow. Then we took a walk.

"We found a street near the depot with a high hill behind it, and close to it. There were walls and terraces all the way up, and trees here and there. We looked up, and we could see the heads of some children over the topmost wall. They were looking down to where we were. Presently we came to an opening, and some flights of steps and steep walks, and so we thought we would go up.

"When we got to the top we found a broad terrace, with a wall along the front edge of it, where we could look down upon the river and the town. The town lay very narrow between the river and the foot of the hill. We were up very high above the tops of the houses.

"Behind us, on the terrace, were broad green fields and gravel walks, and beds of flowers, and great trees with seats under them. There were a good many nursery maids around there, with children. The nursery maids sat on the seats, and the children played before them with the pebbles and gravel.

"I read in the guide book about some famous waterworks at Greenock, but we could not find them. We asked one man, who was at work on the gravel walks, if he could tell us where they were; but he only stared at us and said he did not 'knaw ony thing aboot it.'

"After this we went down the hill again, and took a long walk along the bank of the river. There was an omnibus going by, and we wanted to get into it and see where it would carry us; but we did not know but that it might carry us to some place that we could not get back from very soon. The name of the place where the omnibus went was painted on the side of it but it was a place that we had never heard of before, and so we did not know where it was.

"After this we went back to the station, and then came home. I thought from the map that we should go through Paisley; but we did not. We went over it. We went over it, higher than the tops of the chimneys.

"This is the end of my account; and the most dangerous thing I saw Waldron do was to go up on the bridge, on board the steamer, and talk there with the captain."

* * * * *

"Boys," said Mr. George, when he had finished reading these papers, "your accounts are excellent. The thing I chiefly like about them is, that you go right straight on and tell a plain story, without spoiling it all by making an attempt at fine writing. That is the way you ought always to write. One of these days I mean to get you both to write something for me in my journal."



CHAPTER VI.

WALKS ABOUT GLASGOW.

Our party remained two days more in Glasgow, and visited quite a number of objects of interest and curiosity in and around the city.

At one end of the town there was a large open space, laid out for a pleasure ground; being somewhat similar in character to Boston Common, only it lay on the margin of the river, and commanded delightful views, both of the city itself and of the surrounding country. The grounds were adorned with trees and shrubbery, and paths were laid out over every portion of it, that were delightful to walk in. There were seats, too, at every point that commanded a pretty view. This place was called the Green.

The Green was at the eastern extremity of the city. At the other end, that is, towards the west, there was a region more elevated than the rest of the town, where the wealthy people resided. The streets were arranged in crescents and terraces, and were very magnificent. The houses were almost all built of stone, and were of a very massive and substantial, as well as elegant character.

Nearer the centre of the town was a very large and ancient church, called the cathedral. It was a solemn-looking pile of buildings, standing by itself in a green yard, back from the road, and thousands of swallows were twittering and chirping high up among the pinnacles and cornices of the roof. Although it was in the midst of a crowded city, the whole structure wore an expression of great seclusion and solitude.

Behind the church, and separated from it by a narrow valley, there was a steep hill, that was covered, in every part, with tombs, and monuments, and sepulchral enclosures. The hill was two or three hundred feet high, and there was a very tall monument on the top of it. There was a bridge across the valley behind the cathedral leading to this cemetery.

"Ah," said Mr. George, "that is the Necropolis."

"The Necropolis?" repeated Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George. "I read about it in the guide book. Necropolis means 'City of the Dead,' and it is a city of the dead indeed."

There were pathways leading up the side of the hill by many zigzags and windings. Across the bridge leading to it was a great iron gateway, with a small iron gate open in the middle of it. The boys wanted to go immediately to the cemetery, in order to have the pleasure of climbing up the zigzag paths to the top of the hill. But Mr. George said he wished first to go into the cathedral.

There was a gate leading into the cathedral yard, and a porter's lodge just inside of it. There was a sign up at the lodge, saying that the price of admission to see the interior of the cathedral was sixpence for each person. Waldron said that he did not think it was worth sixpence to go, and Rollo said that he did not care much about going. He had seen cathedrals enough, he said, on the continent. So it was agreed that the boys should go to the cemetery, and wait there till Mr. George came.

The boys accordingly went down the walk that led to the bridge. They stopped a moment at the open gate, not knowing whether it was right for them to go in or not. As, however, the gate was open, and there was nobody there to forbid the passage, they stepped over the iron threshold, and entered. There was a porter's lodge just inside, and a man standing at the door of it.

"Can we go in and see the cemetery?" asked Waldron.

"Certainly," said the porter. "Are you strangers in Glasgow?"

"Yes, sir," said Rollo, "we are Americans. My uncle is in the cathedral, and he is coming pretty soon."

"Then please to come in," said the porter, "and enter your names in the visitors' book."

So the boys went in. They found a very pleasant room, with a large book open on a desk, near a window. They wrote their names in this book, and also their residences, and they stopped a few minutes to look over the names that had been written there before, in order to see if any persons from America had recently visited the cemetery. They found several names of persons from New York on the list, and two or three from Philadelphia. While the boys were looking over the book the porter asked them a great many questions about America.

In a few minutes they went on. They stopped on the middle of the bridge, and looked down over the balustrade into the ravine. The ravine was very deep, and there was a little brook at the bottom of it, and a sort of road or street along the side of it, far below them.

The boys then went on into the cemetery. They walked about it for some time, ascending continually higher and higher, and stopping at every turn to read the inscriptions and monuments. At length they reached the summit of the hill, where the lofty column stood which had been erected to the memory of John Knox, the great Scottish reformer. The column stood upon a pedestal, which contained an inscription on each of the four sides of it. One of these inscriptions said that John Knox was a man who could never be made to swerve from his duty by any fear or any danger, and that, although his life was often threatened by "dag and dagger," he was still carried safely through every difficulty and danger, and died, at last, in peace and happiness; and that the people of Glasgow, mindful of the invaluable services he rendered to his country, had erected that monument in honor of his memory.

The boys had just finished reading the inscription, when, looking down upon the bridge, they saw Mr. George coming. They went down to meet him, and then showed him the way up to the monument.

Mr. George first looked up to the summit of it, and then walked all around it, reading the inscriptions. He read them aloud, and the boys listened.

"Yes," said he, "John Knox was a true hero. He stood up manfully and fearlessly for the right when almost all the world was against him; and to do that requires a great deal of courage, as well as great strength of character. Many people reviled and hated him while he lived, but now his memory is universally honored.

"I hope you two boys, when you come to be men," continued Mr. George, "will follow his example. What you know is right, that always defend, no matter if all the world are against it. And what is wrong, that always oppose, no matter if all the world are in favor of it."

"Yes, sir," said Waldron, "I mean to."

Mr. George and the boys rambled about the Necropolis some time longer, and then went on.

While they were in Glasgow the party visited several of the great manufacturing establishments. They were all very much surprised at the loftiness of some of the chimneys. There was one at a great establishment, called the St. Rollox Chemical Works, which was over four hundred and thirty feet high, and Mr. George estimated that it must have been thirty or forty feet diameter at the base. If, now, you ask your father, or some friend, how high the steeple is of the nearest church to where you live, and multiply that height by the necessary number, you will get some idea of the magnitude of this prodigious column. The lightning rod, that came down the side of it in a spiral line, looked like a spider's web that had been, by chance, blown against the chimney by the wind.



CHAPTER VII.

ENTERING THE HIGHLANDS.

The Highland district of Scotland occupies almost the whole of the western part of the island north of the valley of the Clyde. It consists of mountains, glens, and lakes, with roads winding in every direction through and among them. Of course the number of different Highland excursions which a tourist can plan is infinite. Most visitors to Scotland are, however, satisfied with a short tour among these mountains, on account of the great uncertainty of the weather. Indeed, as it rains here more than half the time, the chance is always in favor of bad weather; and the really pleasant days are very few.

The valley by which tourists from Glasgow most frequently go into the Highlands is the valley of Loch Lomond. The lower end of this lake comes to within about ten miles of the Clyde. The upper end of it extends about twenty-five miles into the very heart of the Highlands. There is an inn at the lower end of the lake, that is, the end nearest the Clyde, called Balloch Inn. At the upper end of the lake is another resting-place for travellers. A small steamboat passes every day through the lake, from one of these inns to the other, touching at various intermediate points on the way, at little villages or landing-places, where roads from the interior of the country come down to the lake.

From Balloch there is a railroad leading to the Clyde, though it does not extend to Glasgow. Travellers from Glasgow come down the Clyde in a steamer about ten miles to the railroad landing. There they take the cars, and proceed down the river, along the bank, amidst scenery of the grandest and most beautiful character, to Dunbarton Castle, where the road leaves the river, and turns into the interior of the country, towards the valley of Loch Lomond.

The road terminates at Balloch. Here the travellers are transferred to the steamer, and pursue their journey by water. It was this route Mr. George had determined to take on leaving Glasgow.

He got ready to leave Glasgow on the afternoon of a certain Thursday.

"Now, boys," said he, "we are ready to go to the Highlands. Find out for me when the boats and trains go, while I settle the bill."

So saying, Mr. George rose and rang the bell.

In Europe we do not go down to the office or bar room, when we are ready to leave a hotel, to call for and settle our bill there, as we do in America, but we ring the bell in our room, and ask the waiter to bring the bill to us.

"I have found out already," said Waldron. "There is a boat at four o'clock. It starts from the Broomielaw."

"And is there a train that connects with that boat?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes, sir," said Waldron.

"Then," said Mr. George, "we will go at four o'clock; we shall just have time."

I am not certain that Waldron was entirely honest in giving this information to Mr. George, for he concealed one very important circumstance; or rather he omitted to mention it. This circumstance was, that there was no boat from Balloch to connect with the train, so that if they were to go to Balloch that night, he knew that they could not go any farther till the next morning. He liked this, for he and Rollo had both begun to be tired of Glasgow, and he thought that if they should get to Balloch two or three hours before dark, there might be some chance for him and Rollo to go out fishing on the lake.

Very soon, however, he reflected that he should enjoy his fishing less, if he resorted to any thing like artifice or concealment to obtain it; and so, after a little hesitation, he frankly told Mr. George that they could go no farther than to the foot of the lake that night. There was only one boat each day, he said, on the lake, and that left Balloch in the morning, and returned at night.

Mr. George said that that made no difference. He was tired of being in a great city, and would like to see the country and the mountains again; and he should, therefore, prefer going to spend the night at Balloch, rather than to remain in Glasgow.

So the party set off. They embarked on board the steamer at the Broomielaw. They ran rapidly down the river to the railroad landing. They found the train waiting for them there, and were whirled rapidly up the valley. There were most charming views of the mountains on either hand, with hamlets and villages scattered along the slopes of them. At length they arrived at Balloch. There was no village here, but only a pretty inn, situated delightfully on the margin of the lake, very near the outlet. There was an elegant suspension bridge across the outlet, very near the railroad station. There were several thatch-covered cottages near, and two or three castles were seen through openings among the trees on the hill-sides around. As the party crossed the suspension bridge, Rollo and Waldron, to their great delight, saw several boats floating in the water near the inn, and there was a boy on the bridge fishing over the railing. They stopped to talk with this boy, while Mr. George went on to engage rooms at the inn, and to order a supper.

When the boys came in they gave such fine accounts of the fishing on the lake, and of the facility with which they could obtain a boat, and a boatman to go out with them, that Mr. George was half persuaded to allow them to engage a boat, and to go out with them for an hour or two.

"And we want you to go with us, too," said Waldron, "if you can; but if you have any thing else to do, we can go by ourselves, with the boatman."

"Yes," said Rollo, "and if you think it is not best for us to go at all, we can fish on the bridge."

Mr. George was much pleased to hear the boys speak in this manner in respect to the excursion. He was particularly glad to hear Waldron say that he desired that he should go with them. It is always an excellent sign when a boy wishes his father, or his mother, or his uncle, or whoever has the charge of him, to go with him, and share his pleasures; and those parents and uncles who take an interest in the plans and enjoyments of their children, and sympathize with them in their feelings, in such a manner that the children like their company, place themselves in a position to exercise the highest possible influence over their conduct and character.

"Shall we have time?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes, sir," said Waldron. "It is not dark here till half past ten, and it is only half past six now, so that there are four hours."

The farther you go north the longer the evenings are, in summer; and at the time when our party made this visit to the Highlands, the evenings there were so long that you could see to read very well till nearly ten o'clock. The dawn, and the sunrise, too, come on proportionately early in the morning. The boys forgot this one morning, and finding that it was very light in their room when they woke, they got up, and dressed themselves, and went down stairs, thinking that it was nearly breakfast time. But they found, on looking at a clock in the hall of the inn, that it was not quite three o'clock!

But to return to the story.

Mr. George told the boys that if they would arrange the boat party, that is, if they would engage the boat and the boatman, and also some fishing lines, he would go with them. They would have supper first, and then set out immediately afterwards.

This plan was carried into effect. Mr. George himself cared nothing about the fishing. His only object was to see the lake, and talk with the Highland boatmen. Still he took a line and fished a little, for company to the boys. The excursion proved a very pleasant one. The lake was beautiful. The surface of the water was studded with pretty islands, and the shores were formed of picturesque hills, which were every where adorned with cottages, castles, groves, fields, and all the other elements of rural beauty.

The excursion itself was very much like any fishing excursion in America, only the peculiar dialect of the boatman continually reminded the travellers that they were in Scotland. For "I don't know," he said "I dinna ken;" for "trouble" the word was "fash," and for "not," "na." The boys had heard this phraseology before. The railway porter, when he put Mr. George's valise in the carriage, crowded it under the seat, where he said it would not "fash the other travellers;" and at the inn, where Mr. George asked the servant girl if she would let them know when their supper was ready, she said, "Yes, sir, I will coom and tak ye doon."

Waldron enjoyed the fishing excursion very much indeed. He said that he should like to make the whole tour of Scotland in a boat, round among the islands on the western and northern shores. These islands are, indeed, very grand and picturesque. They are groups of dark mountains, rising out of the sea. To cruise among them in a yacht would be a very pleasant tour, were it not for the incessant storms of wind and rain to which the voyagers would be exposed.

Waldron said he particularly desired to go to the Shetland Islands, on the north of Scotland, in order to buy himself a pony.

"My father has promised me," said he, "that if ever he goes to the Shetlands he will buy me a pony."

"I should like a Shetland pony," said Rollo.

"Yes," said Waldron. "They are very hardy animals, and then they are very docile and gentle. Some of them are as gentle and sagacious as a dog. I read a story in a book once of one that saved the life of a child, by plunging into the water, and seizing the child by the clothes, between his teeth, and bringing it safe to land. The child fell into the water off of a steep bank, and the horse jumped after it."



Here is a picture of the horse which Waldron read about, climbing up the bank of the stream, bringing the child.

The party returned from the fishing excursion about eight o'clock; but as it was still half an hour before sunset, Mr. George proposed to take a walk to one of the castles. The waiter at the hotel had told them that he could give them a ticket, and then the porter at the castle would let them in at the gate, and allow them to walk about the grounds and around the castle, but they could not go into it, for the proprietor and his family were residing there.

Accordingly, when the party reached the landing, at the end of their excursion, they left the boat, and walking across the bridge, they took their course towards the castle. The road was as smooth and hard as a floor, but it was bordered by close stone walls on either side, with trees overhanging them. At length, after one or two turnings, they came to the great gate which led to the castle. The gateway was bordered on each side with masses of trees and shrubbery, and just within it was a small but very pretty house, built of stone. This was the porter's lodge. When they came up to the gate, and looked through the bars of it, a little barefooted girl came out from the door of the lodge, and opened the gate to let them in.

On entering they found themselves at the commencement of a smoothly gravelled avenue, which led in a winding direction among the trees through a beautiful park. They walked on along this avenue, supposing that it would lead them to the castle. They passed various paths which branched off here and there from the avenue, and seemed to lead in various directions about the grounds. The views which presented themselves on every side were varied and beautiful. They saw several hares leaping about upon the grass—a sight which attracted the attention of the boys very strongly.

At length they came in sight of the castle. It stood on a swell of ground, at the foot of a high hill. The body of it consisted in part of a great round tower, with turrets and battlements above. The walls were covered with ivy.

After viewing the edifice as much as they wished, the party followed some of the winding walks, which led in various directions over the grounds; and, though every thing had a finished and beautiful appearance, still the whole scene wore a very sombre expression.

"It must be a very solitary sort of grandeur, in my opinion," said Mr. George, "which a man enjoys by living in such a place as this."

"Why, I suppose he can have company if he wishes," said Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George. "Perhaps he lives in Edinburgh, or in London, in the winter, and in the summer he has company here. But then when he has company at all he must have them all the time, and he must have all the care and responsibility of entertaining them; and that, I should think, would be a great burden."

Mr. George and the boys rambled over these grounds about half an hour, and then they returned to the hotel. They were obliged to walk fast the last part of the way, for dark, driving clouds began to be seen in the sky, and just before they reached the hotel some drops of fine rain began to fall.

"To-morrow is going to be a rainy day, I expect," said Rollo.

"Very likely," said Mr. George.

"And shall you go on over the lake if it is?" asked Rollo.

"I think we shall go as far as to the foot of Ben Lomond," said Mr. George.



CHAPTER VIII.

ROWERDENNAN INN.

Ben Lomond is one of the highest peaks in Scotland. There are one or two that are higher, but they are more remote, and consequently less known. Ben Lomond is the one most visited, and is, accordingly, the one that is most renowned.

It lies on the east side of Loch Lomond, about half way between the head of the lake and the outlet. Our party were now at the outlet of the lake, and were going the next morning towards the head of it. The outlet of the lake is towards the south. In this southern part, as I believe I have already said, the lake is about ten miles wide, and its banks are formed of hills and valleys of fertile land, every where well cultivated, and presenting charming scenes of verdure and fruitfulness. The lake, too, in this portion of it, is studded with a great number of very picturesque and pretty islands.

As you go north, however, the lake, or loch, as the Scotch call it, contracts in breadth, and the land rises higher and higher, until at length you see before you a narrow sheet of water, shut in on either hand with dark and gloomy mountains, the sides of which are covered every where with ferns and heather, and seem entirely uninhabited. They descend, moreover, so steep to the water that there seems to be not even room for a path between the foot of the mountains and the shore.

The highest peak of these sombre-looking hills is Ben Lomond; which rises, as I have before said, on the eastern side of the loch, about midway between the head of the loch and the outlet. At the foot of the mountain there is a point of land projecting into the water, where there is an inn. Tourists stop at this inn when they wish to ascend the mountain. Other persons come to the inn for the purpose of fishing on the loch, or of making excursions by the footpaths which penetrate, here and there, among the neighboring highlands. There is a ferry here, too, across the loch. There is no village, nor, indeed, are there any buildings whatever to be seen; so that the place is as secluded and solitary as can well be imagined. It is known by the name of Rowerdennan Inn. It was at this point that Mr. George proposed to stop, in case the day should prove rainy.

When the boys rose the next morning, the first thing was to look out of the window, to see what the promise was in respect to the weather. It was not raining, but the sky was overcast and heavy.

"Good," said Waldron. "It does not rain yet, but it will before we get to Rowerdennan Inn."

Waldron was glad to see that there was a prospect of unfavorable weather, for he wished to stop at the inn. He had read in the guide book that they had boats and fishing apparatus there, and he thought that if they stopped perhaps another plan might be formed for going out on the loch a-fishing.

The steamer was to leave at nine o'clock. The boys could see her lying at the pier, about half a mile distant from them. The air was misty, and there were some small trees in the way, but the boys could see the chimney distinctly. They dressed themselves as soon as they could, and went to Mr. George's room. They knocked gently at the door. Mr. George said, "Come in." They went in and found Mr. George seated at a table, writing in his journal. It was about seven o'clock.

Mr. George laid aside his writing, and after bidding the boys good morning, and talking with them a few minutes about the plans of the day, took a testament which he had upon a table before him, and read a few verses from one of the Gospels, explaining the verses as he read them. Then they all knelt down together, and Mr. George made a short and simple prayer, asking God to take care of them all during the day, to guard them from every danger, to make them kind and considerate towards each other, and towards all around them, and to keep them from every species of sin.

This was the way in which Mr. George always commenced the duties of the day, when travelling with Rollo, whether there were any other persons in company or not; and a most excellent way it was, too. Besides the intrinsic propriety of coming in the morning to commit ourselves to the guardian care and protection of Almighty God, especially when we are exposed to the vicissitudes, temptations, and dangers that are always hovering about the path of the traveller in foreign lands, the influence of such a service of devotion, brief and simple as it was, always proved extremely salutary on Rollo's mind, as well as on the minds of those who were associated with him in it. It made them more gentle, and more docile and tractable; and it tended very greatly to soften those asperities which we often see manifesting themselves in the intercourse of boys with each other.

When the devotional service was finished, Mr. George sent the boys down stairs, to make arrangements for breakfast. In about half an hour Rollo came up to say that breakfast was ready in the coffee room, and Mr. George went down.

After breakfast Mr. George took the valise, and the boys took the other parcels of baggage, and they all went over the bridge to the railway station. They waited here a short time, until at length the train came. They would have walked on to the pier, where the boat in which they were going to embark was lying, but it was beginning to rain a little, and Mr. George thought it would be better to wait and go in the cars. The distance was not more than a quarter of a mile, and the boys were quite curious to know what the price of the tickets would be, for such a short ride. They found that they were threepence apiece.

The train came very soon, bringing with it several little parties of tourists, that were going into the Highlands. They all seemed greatly chagrined and disappointed at finding that it was beginning to rain.

When the train stopped opposite the pier, the passengers hurried across the pier, and over the plank, on board the boat. The rain was falling fast, and every thing was dripping wet. The gentlemen went loaded with portmanteaus, carpet bags, valises, and other parcels of baggage, while the women hurried after them, holding their umbrellas in one hand, and endeavoring, as well as they could, to lift up their dresses with the other. The boat was very small, and there was no shelter whatever from the rain on the deck. Most of the company, therefore, hurried down into the cabin.

"Are you going down into the cabin, too, uncle George?" said Rollo.

"Not I," said Mr. George. "Rain or no rain, I am going to see the shores of Loch Lomond."

There was a heap of baggage near the centre of the boat, covered with a tarpauling. Mr. George put his valise and the knapsacks under the covering, with the other travellers' effects, and then began to look about for seats. There was a range of wooden benches all along the sides of the deck, but they were very wet, and looked extremely uncomfortable. The water, however, did not stand upon them, for they were made of open work, on purpose to let the water through.