teacher of the old school, who had himself worked his way from

the plough. After the exercise of considerablediplomacy, an
arrangement was arrived at whereby the youth was to go to school

on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and make shoes during the
remaining days of the week. This suited him admirably. That

very night he seized upon a geography, and began to learn the
counties of England and Wales. The fear of failure never left

him for two hours together, except when he slept. The plan of
work was faithfully" target="_blank" title="ad.忠实地；诚恳地">faithfully kept; though by this time shoemaking had lost

its charms. He shortened his sleeping hours, and rose at any
moment that he awoke--at two, three, or four in the morning. He

got his brother, who had been plodding with him over shorthand,
to study horticulture, and fruit and vegetableculture; and that

brother shortly after took a high place in an examination held by
the Royal Horticultural Society. For a time, however, they

worked together; and often did their mother get up at four
o'clock in the depth of winter, light their fire, and return to

bed after calling them up to the work of self-culture. Even this
did not satisfy their devouring ambition. There was a bed in the

workshop, and they obtained permission to sleep there. Then they
followed their own plans. The young gardener would sit up till

one or two in the morning, and wake his brother, who had gone to
bed as soon as he had given up work the night before.

Now he got up and studied through the small hours of the morning
until the time came when he had to transfer his industry to

shoemaking, or go to school on the appointed days after the
distant eight o'clock had come. His brother had got worn out.

Early sleep seemed to be the best. They then both went to bed
about eight o'clock, and got the policeman to call them up before

retiring himself.
"So the struggle went on, until the faithful old schoolmaster

thought that his young pupil might try the examination at the
Bangor Normal College. He was now eighteen years of age; and it

was eighteen months since the time when he began to learn the
counties of England and Wales. He went to Bangor, rigged out in

his brother's coat and waistcoat, which were better than his own;
and with his brother's watch in his pocket to time himself in his

examinations. He went through his examination, but returned home
thinking he had failed. Nevertheless, he had in the meantime, on

the strength of a certificate which he had obtained six months
before, in an examination held by the Society of Arts and

Sciences in Liverpool, applied for a situation as teacher in a
grammar-school at Ormskirk in Lancashire. He succeeded in his

application, and had been there for only eight days when he
received a letter from Mr. Rowlands, Principal of the Bangor

Normal College, informing him that he had passed at the head of
the list, and was the highest non-pupil teacher examined by the

British and Foreign Society. Having obtained permission from his
master to leave, he packed his clothes and his few books. He had

not enough money to carry him home; but, unasked, the master of
the school gave him 10s. He arrived home about three o'clock on

a Sunday morning, after a walk of eleven miles over a lonely road
from the place where the train had stopped. He reeled on the

way, and found the country reeling too. He had been sleeping
eight nights in a damp bed. Six weeks of the Bangor Session

passed, and during that time he had been delirious, and was too
weak to sit up in bed. But the second time he crossed the

threshold of his home he made for Bangor and got back his
"position," which was all important to him, and he kept it all

through.
"Having finished his course at Bangor he went to keep a school at

Brynaman; he endeavoured to study but could not. After two years
he gave up the school, and with 60L. saved he faced the world

once more. There was a scholarship of the value of 40L. a year,
for three years, attached to one of the Scotch Universities, to

be competed for. He knew the Latin Grammar, and had, with help,
translated one of the books of Caesar. Of Greek he knew nothing,

save the letters and the first declension of nouns; but in May he
began to read in earnest at a farmhouse. He worked every day

from 6 A.M. to 12 P.M. with only an hour's intermission. He
studied the six Latin and two Greek books prescribed; he did some

Latin composition unaided; brushed up his mathematics; and learnt
something of the history of Greece and Rome. In October, after

five months of hard work, he underwent an examination for the
scholarship, and obtained it; beating his opponent by

twenty-eight marks in a thousand. He then went up to the Scotch
University and passed all the examinations for his ordinary M.A.

degree in two years and a half. On his first arrival at the
University he found that he could not sleep; but he wearily yet

victoriously plodded on; took a prize in Greek, then the first
prize in philosophy, the second prize in logic, the medal in

English literature, and a few other prizes.
"He had 40L. when he first arrived in Scotland; and he carried

away with him a similar sum to Germany, whither he went to study
for honours in philosophy. He returned home with little in his

pocket, borrowing money to go to Scotland, where he sat for
honours and for the scholarship. He got his first honours, and

what was more important at the time, money to go on with. He now
lives on the scholarship which he took at that time; is an

assistant professor; and, in a fortnight, will begin a course of
lectures for ladies in connection with his university. Writing

to me a few days ago,[13] he says, 'My health, broken down with
my last struggle, is quite restored, and I live with the hope of

working on. Many have worked more constantly, but few have
worked more intensely. I found kindness on every hand always,

but had I failed in a single instance I should have met with
entire bankruptcy. The failure would have been ruinous.... I

thank God for the struggle, but would not like to see a dog try
it again. There are droves of lads in Wales that would creep up

but they cannot. Poverty has too heavy a hand for them.'"
The gentleman whose brief history is thus summarily given by Mr.

Davies, is now well known as a professor of philosophy; and, if
his health be spared, he will become still better known. He is

the author of several important works on 'Moral Philosophy,'
published by a leading London firm; and more works are announced

from his pen. The victorious struggle for knowledge which we
have recounted might possibly be equalled, but it could not

possibly be surpassed. There are, however, as Mr. Davies related
to the Parliamentary Committee, many instances of Welsh students

--most of them originally quarrymen--who keep themselves at
school by means of the savings effected from manual labour, "in

frequent cases eked out and helped by the kindness of friends and
neighbours," who struggle up through many difficulties, and

eventually achieve success in the best sense of the term. "One
young man"--as the teacher of a grammar-school, within two miles

of Bangor, related to Mr. Davies-- "who came to me from the
quarry some time ago, was a gold medallist at Edinburgh last

winter;" and contributions are readily made by the quarrymen to
help forward any young man who displays an earnest desire for

knowledge in science and literature.
It is a remarkable fact that the quarrymen of Carnarvonshire have

voluntarily contributed large sums of money towards the
establishment of the University College in North Wales--the

quarry districts in that county having contributed to that fund,
in the course of three years, mostly in half-crown subscriptions,

not less than 508L. 4s. 4d.-- "a fact," says Mr. Davies, "without
its parallel in the history of the education of any country;" the

most striking feature being, that these collections were made in
support of an institution from which the quarrymen could only

very remotely derive any benefit.
While I was at Bangor, on the 24th of August, 1883, the news

arrived that the Committee of Selection had determined that
Bangor should be the site for the intended North Wales University

College. The news rapidly spread, and great rejoicings prevailed
throughout the borough, which had just been incorporated. The