Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/235

Rh could not obtain the proper tackle, had recourse to the simple means of a willow wand, string, and crooked pin, with which he was often successful. From his earliest years nothing gave Douglas so much delight as conversing about travelers and foreign countries, and the books which pleased him best were "Sinbad the Sailor" and "Robinson Crusoe." The decided taste which he showed for gardening and collecting plants caused him to be employed, at the age of 10 or 11 years, in the common operations of the nursery ground, attached to the garden of the Earl of Mansfield, at Scone, under the superintendence of his kind friend and master, Mr. Beattie, with the ultimate view of his becoming a gardener. Here his independent, active, and mischievous disposition sometimes led him into quarrels with the other boys, who, on complaining of David to their master, only received the reply. "I like a devil better than a dult," an answer which showed that he was a favorite, and put a stop to further accusations. In the gardens of the Earl of Mansfield he served a seven years' apprenticeship, during which time it is admitted by all who knew him that no one could be more industrious and anxious to excel than he was, his whole heart and mind being devoted to the attainment of a thorough knowledge of his business. The first department in which he was placed was the flower garden, at that time under the superintendence of Mr. McGillivray, a young man who had received a tolerable education, and was pretty well acquainted with the names of plants and the rudiments of Botany. From him Douglas gathered a great deal of information, and being gifted with an excellent memory, he soon became as familiar with the collection of plants at Scone as his instructor. Here the subject of this notice found himself in a situation altogether to his mind, and here, it may be said, he acquired that taste for botanical pursuits which he so ardently followed in after life. He had always a fondness for books, and when the labor of the day was over, the evenings, in winter, invariably found him engaged in the perusal of such works as he had obtained from his friends and acquaintances,