read aloud, in such publications as she could obtain, the descriptions
given of the work and sufferings of the pioneer labourers in heathen
lands, more especially of the Moravians in Greenland and the East
Indies.

Of educational advantages, Robert had but few in his early days. One,
"Wully Mitchell," as he was popularly called, the parish schoolmaster
was his first tutor; and "the Shorter Catechism," the title-page of
which contained the alphabet, his first instruction book. His progress
was but slow, his hands often being made to suffer for the dullness of
his brains. A boy living in the midst of shipping, his desires were more
for nautical matters than for Wully's books, and so he ran off to sea.
The captain of the ship on which he was, became much attached to the
lad, so with his parent's consent, he made several voyages in the
coasting trade. Many hairbreadth escapes fell to his lot, and at last he
quitted the sea, as he states "to the no small joy of my parents."

When about eleven he accompanied his elder brother, Alexander, to Mr.
Paton's school at Falkirk. This school was for writing and book-keeping,
but such as chose to pay received lessons in astronomy and geography
after school hours. Alexander was one of these, and Robert was allowed
to wait for his brother in the large room while the class was being
conducted. "I felt queer," he tells us "to know what the master was
doing within the circle, and used to look very attentively through any
little slip of an opening under an elbow, while I eagerly listened to
the illustrations given, the master all the while never suspecting that
I was capable of understanding the planetary system. What I could not
understand my brother explained on our way home." In this manner he
picked up some knowledge of astronomy.