Seedtime in Kashmir : a memoir of William Jackson Elmslie / [M Elmslie].

  • Elmslie, M.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Seedtime in Kashmir : a memoir of William Jackson Elmslie / [M Elmslie]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Aberdeen. When Dr. Elmslie arrived in London on his return from India in 1870, one of his first visits was to the house of this friend, but he was not there; and he could not discover whether he still lived, or had gone to reap his reward from Him who said, “ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Strange to say, William’s father seemed to give himself little thought about the education of his boys, and in- sisted that William should follow his own humble trade ; and so the child was fully set apart to the service of St. Crispin when only nine years of age. It was impossible the slender youth could attempt any heavy kind of work, and so of necessity he stood, in his new calling, on a plat- form a grade higher than that occupied by the venerable Carey, who boasted that he was only a “cobbler.” “He excelled,” writes Mr. William Martin, “specially in the finer departments of the work, which required great care and attention; and many a weary hour he spent at it, when other boys were fast asleep, that he might earn sufficient to pay his fees and augment the comforts of the mother whom he loved so well.” William soon became so expert that he was able to turn out a greater quantity of first-rate work, in a given time, than almost any com- petitor. This not only sensibly improved the domestic finance, but won for him a little leisure, which he devoted to his much loved books. It is good to bear the yoke in one’s youth; but it was placed on William so early, and pressed so heavily, that