ward condition, and a luxury few could afford, least of all, poor fishermen; for his schooling he was sent to Port St. Mary, where an old dame kept an infants' school for writing and ciphering. The nearest parish school was two miles away, and they had to take their dinner with them, the tiny things. He attended for two years, and became a pretty good reader and writer. There was little English taught and known in Cregneish, his mother being the only person who could converse with strangers. His father was a fair scholar and wrote all the letters for the Cregneish people, and that was a great thing then. The family being large — there were twelve children— he had to go to sea very young, and joined his father's boat, fishing with him for seven years. In those days, to be thought a man, you had to give proof of your virility by hard drinking. All the fisher-villages were packed with ale houses, and the " jough " went round merrily and noisily enough, singing and fighting alternating the entertainment. They were very successful in fishing — the fishing grounds yielded good catches then, and a great deal of their earnings went to the public houses ; they were, to use a happy Manx expression : " Just like a cow ; that gave a canful of milk, and then put her foot into it and upset the can."
Mr. Farquhar is entirely self-taught, and knows his Scott, Byron, Milton, and his Bible well, to which is added a very retentive memory for the recitations of old ballads and folk
