Presently we met a shepherd who was employed by an
English farmer in the neighbourhood, and he told us that the man we had
met in charge of the boys was an old pensioner who had served fifty-two
years in the army, but as soon as he got his pension money he spent it,
as he couldn't keep it, the colour of his nose showing the direction in
which it went. It struck us the shepherd seemed inclined that way
himself, as he said if he had met us nearer a public-house he would have
"treated us to a good glass." We thought what a pity it was that men had
not a better eye to their own future interests than to spend all their
money "for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which
satisfieth not," and how many there were who would ultimately become
burdens to society who might have secured a comfortable competency for
old age by wisely investing their surplus earnings instead of allowing
them to flow down that awful channel of waste!
[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL'S WELL.]
We walked through a fine agricultural district--for we were now in
Midlothian--adorned with great family mansions surrounded by well-kept
grounds, and arrived in sight of Edinburgh at 1.
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