The History of Gutta-Percha Willie | Page 2

were not
monks at all, but begging friars, who founded it when they wanted to
reprove the luxury and greed of the monks; and perhaps by the time
they had grown as bad themselves, the place was nearly finished, and
they could not well move it. They had, however, as I have indicated,
chosen the one pretty spot, around which, for a short distance on every
side, the land was tolerably good, and grew excellent oats if poor wheat,
while the gardens were equal to apples and a few pears, besides
abundance of gooseberries, currants, and strawberries.
The ruins of the Priory lay behind Mr Macmichael's cottage-indeed, in
the very garden-of which, along with the house, he had purchased the
feu-that is, the place was his own, so long as he paid a small sum-not
more than fifteen shillings a year, I think-to his superior. How long it
was since the Priory had come to be looked upon as the mere
encumbrance of a cottage garden, nobody thereabouts knew; and
although by this time I presume arch¾ologists have ferreted out
everything concerning it, nobody except its owner had then taken the
trouble to make the least inquiry into its history. To Willie it was just
the Priory, as naturally in his father's garden as if every garden had
similar ruins to adorn or encumber it, according as the owner might
choose to regard its presence.
The ruins were of considerable extent, with remains of Gothic arches,
and carvings about the doors-all open to the sky except a few places on
the ground-level which were vaulted. These being still perfectly solid,
were used by the family as outhouses to store wood and peats, to keep
the garden tools in, and for such like purposes. In summer, golden
flowers grew on the broken walls; in winter, grey frosts edged them
against the sky.
I fancy the whole garden was but the space once occupied by the huge
building, for its surface was the most irregular I ever saw in a garden. It
was up and down, up and down, in whatever direction you went,
mounded with heaps of ruins, over which the mould had gathered. For

many years bushes and flowers had grown upon them, and you might
dig a good way without coming to the stones, though come to them you
must at last. The walks wound about between the heaps, and through
the thick walls of the ruin, overgrown with lichens and mosses, now
and then passing through an arched door or window of the ancient
building. It was a generous garden in oldfashioned flowers and
vegetables. There were a few apple and pear trees also on a wall that
faced the south, which were regarded by Willie with mingled respect
and desire, for he was not allowed to touch them, while of the
gooseberries he was allowed to eat as many as he pleased when they
were ripe, and of the currants too, after his mother had had as many as
she wanted for preserves.
Some spots were much too shady to allow either fruit or flowers to
grow in them, so high and close were the walls. But I need not say
more about the garden now, for I shall have occasion to refer to it again
and again, and I must not tell all I know at once, else how should I
make a story of it?
CHAPTER II.
WILLIE'S EDUCATION.
WILLIE was a good deal more than nine years of age before he could
read a single word. It was not that he was stupid, as we shall soon see,
but that he had not learned the good of reading, and therefore had not
begun to wish to read; and his father had unusual ideas about how he
ought to be educated. He said he would no more think of making Willie
learn to read before he wished to be taught than he would make him eat
if he wasn't hungry. The gift of reading, he said, was too good a thing
to give him before he wished to have it, or knew the value of it. "Would
you give him a watch," he would say, "before he cares to know whether
the sun rises in the east or the west, or at what hour dinner will be
ready?"
Now I am not very sure how this would work with some boys and girls.
I am afraid they might never learn to read until they had boys and girls

of their own whom they wanted to be better off than, because of their
ignorance, they had been themselves. But it worked well in Willie's
case, who was neither lazy nor idle. And it must not be supposed that
he was left without any education at all. For one