tch sentence after sentence as
I passed at my work; I thus kept up a pretty constant study undisturbed
by the roar of the machinery. To this part of my education I owe my
present power of completely abstracting the mind from surrounding
noises, so as to read and write with perfect comfort amid the play
of children or near the dancing and songs of savages. The toil of
cotton-spinning, to which I was promoted in my nineteenth year, was
excessively severe on a slim, loose-jointed lad, but it was well paid
for; and it enabled me to support myself while attending medical and
Greek classes in Glasgow in winter, as also the divinity lectures of Dr.
Wardlaw, by working with my hands in summer. I never received a farthing
of aid from any one, and should have accomplished my project of going to
China as a medical missionary, in the course of time, by my own efforts,
had not some friends advised my joining the London Missionary Society
on account of its perfectly unsectarian character. It "sends neither
Episcopacy, nor Presbyterianism, nor Independency, but the Gospel of
Christ to the heathen." This exactly agreed with my ideas of what a
missionary society ought to do; but it was not without a pang that I
offered myself, for it was not quite agreeable to one accustomed to work
his own way to become in a measure dependent on others; and I would not
have been much put about though my offer had been rejected.

Looking back now on that life of toil, I can not but feel thankful
that it formed such a material part of my early education; and, were
it possible, I should like to begin life over again in the same lowly
style, and to pass through the same hardy training.

Time and travel have not effaced the feelings of respect I imbibed for
the humble inhabitants of my native village. For morality, honesty,
and intelligence, they were, in general, good specimens of the Scottish
poor. In a population of more than two thousand souls, we had, of
course, a variety of character. In addition to the common run of men,
there were some characters of sterling worth and ability, who exerted
a most beneficial influence on the children and youth of the place by
imparting gratuitous religious instruction.* Much intelligent interest
was felt by the villagers in all public questions, and they furnished a
proof that the possession of the means of education did not render them
an unsafe portion of the population. They felt kindly toward each other,
and much