Chapter I: Front Matter

MY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS.

_Morrison and Gibb, Edinburgh,_ _Printers to Her Majesty's Stationery Office._

MY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS OR THE STORY OF MY EDUCATION.

BY HUGH MILLER,

AUTHOR OF 'THE OLD RED SANDSTONE,' 'FOOTPRINTS OF THE CREATOR,' ETC. ETC.

EDINBURGH: W. P. NIMMO, HAY, & MITCHELL. 1889.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAGE

A sailor's early career--First marriage--Escape from shipwreck--Second Love--Traits of character, 1

CHAPTER II.

Childhood and childish visions--A Father's death--Favourite books--Sketch of two maternal uncles, 20

CHAPTER III.

Dawn of patriotism--Cromarty Grammar School--Prevalent amusements--Old Francie--Earliest geological researches, 40

CHAPTER IV.

Uncle Sandy as a Naturalist--Important discovery--Cromarty Sutors and their caves--Expedition to the 'Doocot'--Difficulties and dangers--Sensation produced, 62

CHAPTER V.

A would-be patroness--Boyish games--First friendship--Visit to the Highlands--Geologizing in the Gruids--Ossian-worship, 85

CHAPTER VI.

Cousin George and Cousin William--Excursion with Cousin Walter--Painful accident--Family bereavements--Links between the present and the past, 107

CHAPTER VII.

Subscription school--Vacation delights--Forays and fears--Quarrel with the schoolmaster--Poetical revenge--Johnstone the forester, 129

CHAPTER VIII.

Choice of a calling--Disappointment to relatives--Old Red Sandstone quarry--Depression and walking-sleep--Temptations of toil--Friendship with William Ross, 151

CHAPTER IX.

Life in the bothie--Mad Bell--Mournful history--Singular intimacy--Manners and customs of north-country masons, 173

CHAPTER X.

Evening walks--Lines on a sun-dial--A haunted stream--Insect transformations--Jock Moghoal--Musings, 195

CHAPTER XI.

An antiquary in humble life--Poor Danie--Proficiency in porridge-making--Depressed health--A good omen--Close of apprenticeship, 219

CHAPTER XII.

Swimming the Conon--Click-Clack the carter--Loch Maree--Fitting up a barrack--Highland characteristics, 245

CHAPTER XIII.

The Brothers Fraser--Flora of the Northern Hebrides--Diving in the Gareloch--Sabbaths in Flowerdale woods--Causes of Highland distress, 268

CHAPTER XIV.

A cragsman's death--Providential escape--Property in Leith--First sight of Edinburgh--Peter M'Craw--Niddry Woods--Researches among the Coal Measures, 296

CHAPTER XV.

A worthy Seceder--The hero of the squad--Apology for fanaticism--Strikes--Recollections of the theatre, 321

CHAPTER XVI.

Great fires in Edinburgh--Dr. Colquhoun--Dr. M'Crie--Return to the North--Stanzas written at sea--Geological dreams, 348

CHAPTER XVII.

Religious phases--True centre of Christianity--Bearing of geology upon theological belief--Delicate health--A gipsy wedding, 373

CHAPTER XVIII.

Convalescence--Pursuit of algeology--Jock Gordon--Theory of idiocy--Mr. Stewart of Cromarty, 395

CHAPTER XIX.

Stone-cutting at Inverness--A jilted lover--The _Osars_--Death of Uncle James--Farewell letter from William Ross, 416

CHAPTER XX.

Publication of poems--Newspaper criticisms--Walsh the lecturer--Enlarged circle of friends--Miss Dunbar of Boath, 435

CHAPTER XXI.

Arenaceous formations--Antiquity of the earth--Tremendous hurricane--_Loligo Vulgare_--Researches amid the Lias--Interesting discoveries, 457

CHAPTER XXII.

Religious controversies--Ecclesiastical dispute--Cholera--Preventive measures--Reform Bill, 474

CHAPTER XXIII.

Visitors in the churchyard--The Ladies' Walk--First interview--Friendship--Love--Second visit to Edinburgh--Linlithgow Bank--Favourable reception of "Scenes and Legends"--Marriage, 497

CHAPTER XXIV.

Married life at Cromarty--Ichthyolitic deposit of Old Red Sandstone--Correspondence with Agassiz and Murchison--Happy evenings--Death of eldest child, 522