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education as they could have wiſhed. He never had the benefit of a public ſchool, except one quarter of a year.
For the laſt four years he has been employed at Deanſton Works, near Doune, Perthſhire. During the ſummer of 1812, he wrote the following tracts and extracts in the evenings (in which manner, by perſeverance, and conſtant application, chiefly acquired that degree of learning which enabled him to do ſo) after the labours of the day were finiſhed: A convincing proof that youth trained up early to habits of induſtry, even at public works ſeldom fail to rival and excel in virtue, thoſe who, poſſeſſed of wealth and independence, too often ſquander their time in the haunts of idleneſs and diſſipation.
The vein of genuine Chriſtian piety which runs through the whole is certainly highly creditable to a boy only eleven years of age:
Deanſton, 28th Nov. 1812.
