Transcription:
3 From the high side of our play ground we saw the ships sailing past amused ourselves guessing whence they came, whither
bound, what they carried etc. In Scotland children are sent to school at a very early age. I was so young my first days of
school life are beyond recall. We had to study hard were thrashed hard. Our teachers said that thrashing irritating the skin
excited the memory; I suppose it did, for by the time we were ten or eleven years old we had committed whole books to memory
-, English, French, Latin grammars, the New Testament etc. besides had learned like Indian boys to endure pain with fortitude
take our sorest memory-lessons in silence without flinching or making faces. But in spite of a' that a' that we were wildly
happy healthy, enjoyed the scenery of the sea the Lammermoor Hills, had many fine merry games, on Saturdays often ran 20 or
30 miles without stopping or getting out of breath.