Scotland/Scots > Wilson's tales of the Borders and of Scotland > Volume 3

THE DIVINITY STUDENT.
275
the cottage of his father Worn out by unwearied and
unremitting studies, the vernal gales of the country came
like a balsam to reanimate his flagging spirits; and the
hopes that the object of so much exertion and care would
be ultimately crowned with success, gained a strong hold
on the mind it had threatened almost to forsake. In the
crowd of the city he felt too deeply his own insignificance
—an isolated stranger, poor and unknown of all, striving
with a feverish hope, at rewards most likely to be carried
away by more powerful interests. But here he felt a grain
of self-importance return to elevate his fallen thoughts.
The budding hawthorn, the singing birds, and the blue sky,
were all delightful; and he began to lose his own bosom
fears in the general exultation of nature.
The first ebullience' f parental joy at his return, together
with the congratulations of his affectionate brethren, hav¬
ing gradually subsided, few days were indeed allowed for
idle recreation; and the same industrious course was per¬
severed in.
Of the cottage, which consisted of three apartments,
one of which served for kitchen, another was entirely set
apart for William, that no interruptions might at any time
disturb him. In the summer mornings he was up with the
lark; but he closed not his book with her evening song.
His studies were carried far into the silence of the night,
and the belated traveller never failed to mark the taper
gleaming from the window of his apartment.
Summer mellowed into autumn, which, with its fruitage,
flowers, and yellow corn fields, also passed away; and
again the hoar-frost lay whitely at morning on the wall of
the little garden. Towards the end of October, our student,
a second time, set out on his journey to Edinburgh.
The life of a college student is not one of incident or
variety. Day after day calls him to the same routine of