Produced by Jonathan Ingram and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Illustrated HTML by David Widger RANALD BANNERMAN’S BOYHOOD By George MacDonald 1871 CONTENTS Chap. I. INTRODUCTORY II. THE GLIMMER OF TWILIGHT III. MY FATHER IV. KIRSTY V. I BEGIN LIFE VI. NO FATHER VII. MRS. MITCHELL IS DEFEATED VIII. A NEW SCHOOLMISTRESS IX. WE LEARN OTHER THINGS X. SIR WORM WYMBLE XI. THE KELPIE XII. ANOTHER KELPIE XIII. WANDERING WILLIE XIV. ELSIE DUFF XV. A NEW COMPANION XVI. I GO DOWN HILL XVII. THE TROUBLE GROWS XVIII. LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS XIX. FORGIVENESS XX. I HAVE A FALL AND A DREAM XXI. THE BEES’ NEST XXII. VAIN INTERCESSION XXIII. KNIGHT-ERRANTRY XXIV. FAILURE XXV. TURKEY PLOTS XXVI. OLD JOHN JAMIESON XXVII. TURKEY’S TRICK XXVIII. I SCHEME TOO XXIX. A DOUBLE EXPOSURE XXX. TRIBULATION XXXI. A WINTER’S RIDE XXXII. THE PEAT-STACK XXXIII. A SOLITARY CHAPTER XXXIV. AN EVENING VISIT XXXV. A BREAK IN MY STORY XXXVI. I LEARN THAT I AM NOT A MAN COLOURED PLATES THE BILBERRY PICKERS THE BABY BROTHER THE DRESSING OF LITTLE DAVIE MY ESCAPE TURKEY LIGHTS A FIRE I GO INTO THE FIELDS MAKING THE SNOWBALL READING TO ELSIE AND TURKEY A SUDDEN STOP HELPING ELSIE A READING LESSON I RETURN HOME _Coloured Illustrations by A.V. Wheelhouse: and Other 36 Black-and-White Illustrations by Arthur Hughes_. CHAPTER I Introductory I do not intend to carry my story one month beyond the hour when I saw that my boyhood was gone and my youth arrived; a period determined to some by the first tail-coat, to me by a different sign. My reason for wishing to tell this first portion of my history is, that when I look back upon it, it seems to me not only so pleasant, but so full of meaning, that, if I can only tell it right, it must prove rather pleasant and not quite unmeaning to those who will read it. It will prove a very poor story to such as care only for stirring adventures, and like them all the better for a pretty strong infusion of the impossible; but those to whom their own history is interesting--to whom, young as they may be, it is a pleasant thing to be in the world--will not, I think, find the experience of a boy born in a very different position from that of most of them, yet as much a boy as any of them, wearisome because ordinary.