The charm of his silken, childish voice quickly attracted
attention. He was put through the usual catechism by my
parents, and this being satisfactory, he fell into my
mother's hands to undergo the customary feeding and bathing
operations. One of the questions my father put to him was
why he sang "The beggar man." He said they told him at home
that he could sing well, and as he had learnt this song he
thought it might serve the purpose of bringing him succour,
as he was very tired and very hungry. He was the son of a
peasant farmer on the outskirts of Kirkaldy in the Firth of
Forth, and had walked the whole distance, his object being
to apprentice himself to some shipowner. This he succeeded
in doing; and many years after, when he had worked his way
into a position, he made himself known to me by recalling
the occasion when he sang his way into our home.

By the seaside on the coast of Northumberland, there stands
one of the prettiest little villages in all England. Tacked
on to the north and south end of it there are two stretches
of sand unequalled in their clear glossy beauty. It was from
this spot that a boy of twelve summers, smitten with a craze
for the sea, secretly left his home one December morning at
three o'clock with the object of becoming a sailor. He made
his way to the beach, walked to a seaport, and after much
persuasive eloquence in which he recklessly pledged himself
to impossible undertakings, the negotiations were ratified
by his being told by a burly skipper of the old school that
though he was very small, yet seeing he exhibited such
eagerness for the fray, he would look over that, to which