There was one branch of agriculture in which he took particular interest, viz. farming implements and machinery. He had always delighted in mechanical contrivances, and when a boy had made a little mill for himself, and although his mother hated to see him employ his hands in any useful way, he had, when at school, insisted on having private lessons in bookbinding. These little accomplishments were very useful to him now, for, with the help of drawings of the new-fashioned American plough and Scotch harrow, he found it quite easy to cut out of wood miniature ploughs, harrows and rollers, and in this occupation he found much innocent amusement.--He did not rest satisfied with this, he went further, and attempted to make whip-lashes, bird-rattles, &c. He would probably have been contented with these triumphs of mechanical skill--and it was certainly much to his credit that he did not think it beneath his dignity to use carpenter's tools--if he had not become acquainted with a half-mad old watch-maker, who had spent his life and substance in trying to discover the secret of perpetual motion for the good of his ungrateful fellow creatures. This benefactor of his species showed him his whole plan, pointed out how one wheel acted in connection with another, and showed him rollers, screws and springs, and then another wheel; he showed him machines that would not go, and some that did go, and others that would not go as they ought; he showed him machines which Alick could understand, and some which he could not understand, and one or two which he himself could not understand. The whole thing interested Alick so much that he at once joined the noble army of benefactors of mankind, and determined to invent something. His great desire was to invent a machine which would plough, harrow, roll and act as clod-breaker at the same time, and it was a touching sight to see the handsome young cavalry-officer sitting beside the weazand old watch-maker and thinking how he could by his invention be of use in his generation. So matters might have continued for a long time, and he might have made a wonderful invention for the good of mankind, and might also in the pursuit of this object have been brought to beggary by the increasing number of his bills, for of course while thus engaged, he had neither time nor inclination to think of the payment of his debts, and though Pümpelhagen brought him in a good income he had enough to do with it. He had to pay interest on the money borrowed by his father, and to provide for his sisters, and then he lived happily on what remained without a thought of his own debts now that he had got over the first onslaught of the usurers.