to go down to Leith to see the ships discharge their cargoes of timber.
My grandfather had a Wood-yard at Leith, where the timber selected by
him was piled up to he seasoned and shrunk, before being worked into
its appropriate uses. He was particularly careful in his selection of
boards or stripes for floors, which must be perfectly level, so as to
avoid the destruction of the carpets placed over them. The hanging of
his doors was a matter that he took great pride in--so as to prevent
any uneasy action in opening or closing. His own chamber doors were so
well hung that they were capable of being opened and closed by the
slight puff of a hand-bellows.

The excellence of my grandfather's workmanship was a thing that my own
father always impressed upon me when a boy. It stimulated in me the
desire to aim at excellence in everything that I undertook; and in all
practical matters to arrive at the highest degree of good workmanship.
I believe that these early lessons had a great influence upon my future
career.

I have little to record of my grandmother. From all accounts she was
everything that a wife and mother should be. My father often referred
to her as an example of the affection and love of a wife to her
husband, and of a mother to her children. The only relic I possess of
her handiwork is a sampler, dated 1743, the needlework of which is so
delicate and neat, that to me it seems to excel everything of the kind
that I have seen.

I am fain to think that her delicate manipulation in some respects
descended to her grandchildren, as all of them have been more or less
distinguished for the delicate use of their fingers--which has so
much to do with the effective transmission of the artistic faculty into