inhabit this wild and chilly moorland country may well be considered to
rank among the best raw material of society in the whole of Britain; for
from the peasant homes of these southern Scotch Highlands have come
forth, among a host of scarcely less distinguished natives, three men,
at least, who deserve to take their place in the very front line of
British thinkers or workers--Thomas Telford, Robert Burns, and Thomas
Carlyle. By origin, all three alike belonged in the very strictest sense
to the working classes; and the story of each is full of lessons or of
warnings for every one of us: but that of Telford is perhaps the most
encouraging and the most remarkable of all, as showing how much may be
accomplished by energy and perseverance, even under the most absolutely
adverse and difficult circumstances.

Near the upper end of Eskdale, in the tiny village of Westerkirk, a
young shepherd's wife gave birth to a son on the 9th of August, 1757.
Her husband, John Telford, was employed in tending sheep on a
neighbouring farm, and he and his Janet occupied a small cottage close
by, with mud walls and rudely thatched roof, such as in southern England
even the humblest agricultural labourer would scarcely consent willingly
to inhabit. Before the child was three months old, his father died; and
Janet Telford was left alone in the world with her unweaned baby. But in
remote country districts, neighbours are often more neighbourly than in
great towns; and a poor widow can manage to eke out a livelihood for
herself with an occasional lift from the helping hands of friendly
fellow-villagers. Janet Telford had nothing to live upon save her own
ten fingers; but they were handy enough, after the sturdy Scotch
fashion, and they earned some sort of livelihood in a humble way for
herself and her fatherless boy. The farmers about found her work on
their farms at haymaking or milking, and their wives took the child home
with them while its mother was busy labouring in the harvest fields.