We had been about six years in this place, when my father’s master died, and his lady kindly recommended him to her brother, who was in want of a gardener. We now removed to the east of Scotland; and our dwelling, until the death of the former gardener, who was laid aside by age, was two rooms, rented for us, in the adjoining village. About two years after our arrival, his decease allowed us to remove to what was to us a pleasanter abode, as being a little more secluded, but otherwise possessing little advantage. There, several of us attended a female school, supported by the lady, for the instruction of the children of servants upon the estate. Our attendance, from various causes, was by no means regular; the necessity for one of us remaining at home, to assist our mother, prevented regular attendance, and the change from a dry inland situation, to a low, damp locality, upon the east coast, so affected our health, that, for many years, the spring of the year turned our dwelling almost into an hospital. The loss of time and expense incident upon sickness, in our circumstances, were keenly felt; however, experience gradually taught us how to manage sickness without so much medical attendance as we at first required. My brothers procured employment in the neighbourhood, and I entered the house of my father’s master. I had little relish for the society I was thrown into in this place; all my habits and pursuits were at entire variance with what my fellow-servants practised; though the light of the Gospel had not yet entered my mind--it was only struggling for an entrance. When I now look back to that period of mental conflict, I am convinced that my darkness and difficulty arose, not from any mystery thrown around the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel by my teachers, but that I entertained a secret unwillingness to yield up my own will, and my own wishes; my heart was divided--I was striving to serve God and Mammon; the love of the world, and the things of the world, shut out the light of the glorious Gospel; and it was not till my heart was subdued by the love of God, till I became willing to do, or be, or submit to, anything which God required, that I found peace--then I saw God as my Father in Jesus, receiving me freely, through him; the burden of guilt was removed, and I was led in the paths of obedience by love. I had been a few years in my situation, when my mother’s health being very much impaired, I felt it my duty to return home. There were now ten of us, besides our father and mother: my eldest brother was employed in the garden; my second worked with a tradesman in the neighbourhood; and two of my sisters were employed in the family I had left; while five younger brothers and sisters were at school. The eldest of these was soon after engaged by the village teacher as his assistant.