Page:Life memoirs & pedigree of Thomas Hamilton Dickson.pdf/18

 rivulet skirts the foot-path a considerable part of the way, and passes the farm-house of Temple. I know of three or four farms of the same name, within a few miles of each other, which are said to have been left by pious persons for the good of the Church, and hence their name. The farm of Temple, through which is the public foot-path, is in the estate of Glenorchard, a little distance from the mansion house, which stands to the south-east, situated in a vale or glen, rather upon rising ground, and is secluded and retired. The house is modern and commodious. The proprietor, Robert Gray, Esq., Justice of Peace, is an upright and benevolent gentleman. During the successive depressions of trade, most of the weavers in the village of Balmore were destitute of employment. He always supplied them with work when they could find it nowhere else. They are a very industrious class of men, with a very few solitary exceptions; for they have a proverb in the place, "for if ye dinna look to yourself, wha'll do it," which is equivalent to the English proverb, that "prosperity gains friends, and adversity tries them."

Several of the weavers are remarkable for industry. One, in particular, whose movement is like the wheels of a railway carriage, goes on without any interruption, so much, that he has impaired his health by hard labour and too constant confinement. His powers of digestion are materially deranged, which is caused principally by exertion and sedentary employ-