68 History of Gutta-Percha Willie.

 

When the drawing of the letters was finished,
there stood, all round the slate, “Doctor Mac-
michaels Willie, The Ruins, Priory Leas.” ,

Then out came his knife. But it was a long job,
for Willie was not one of those slovenly boys that
scamp their work. Such boys are nothing but soft,
pulpy creatures, who, when they grow to be men, .
will be too soft for any of the hard work of the
world. They will be fit only for buffers, to keep
the working men from breaking their heads against
each other in their eagerness. But the carving was
at length finished, and gave much satisfaction—
first to Willie himself, because it was finished ; next,
to Alexander Spelman, Priory Leas, because, being
a generous-minded boy, he admired Willie’s new
and superior work; third, to Mr and Mrs Mac-
michael, because they saw in it, not the boy’s
faculty merely, but his love to his father as well;
for the recognition of a right over us is one of the
sweetest forms love can take. “/ am yours” isthe
best and greatest thing one can say, if to the right
person.

It led to a strong friendship between him and
Spelman, and to his going often to the workshop
of the elder Spelman, the carpenter.

He was a solemn, long-faced, and long-legged
man, with reddish hair and pale complexion, who
seldom or ever smiled, and at the bench always
looked as if he were standing on a stool, he stooped