They had
but one bairn, a fine boy, who was the delight o' his father's heart,
and I hae heard it said by they who kenn'd them at the time, that a
bonnier or mair winsome boy could 'na hae been found in the city, than
wee Geordie Stuart. Time gied on till Geordie was near twelve years
aul', when it began to be talked o' among Mr. Stuart's friends that he
was becoming owre fond o' drink. How the habit was first formed naebody
could tell; but certain it was, that during the past year he had been
often seen the war o' drink. His wife, puir body, admonished an'
entreated him to break awa' fra the sinfu' habit, and he often, when
moved by her tears, made resolutions o' amendment, which were broken
maist as soon as made; an' it was during a longer season o' sobriety
than was usual wi' him, that his wife, thinkin' if he was once awa' fra
the great city he would be less in the way o' temptation, persuaded him
to leave Glasgow an' remove to the sma' village o' Mill-Burn, a little
way frae the farm which my father rented.
I well mind, said my father, o' the time when they first cam'
among us, an' how kin' was a' the neebors to his pale sad-lookin' wife
and the bonny light-hearted Geordie, who was owre young at the time, to
realize to its fu' extent the sad habit into which his father had fa'n.
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