Free Manse, Keig
28th Aug. 1868
My Dear Black,
Many thanks for the pamphlet about Rothe which reached me this morning & apprised me of your return to Scotland.
I hope you have continued to enjoy yourself & to like the university, tho’ I daresay you must have found the heat very oppressive.
After I wrote to you things went all wrong with the Makellars, both of them being taken ill,[2] and also during Mr M’s absence at the Assembly being grievously idle.
Finally I left at my old time, the Dr having prescribed rest for both. I don’t even know if they are ready for work no, but write to Mid Ascog as the safest plan on the whole.
We got over Hecuba twice & read part of the Herodotus — the latter only once & somewhat cursorily. In Latin we did nothing but the Tacitus. You may judge from your own experience that all this work will probably be undone by two months of holiday.
We did some history and so forth & tried a drill at Greek Gr. Out of a small book of mine — Collius Praxis Graeca.
I paid a good deal of attention to Algebra & thought I had made a little progress by sticking to the purely elementary processes scarcely giving even simple equations but hammering at (a + b)(a - b) = a2 + b2 &c. &c.
On the whole I am a good deal ashamed of my poor success. I may add that on my leaving Mr M. was ill, but to Mrs M. I gave some pieces of my mind wh. were very well taken at the time but may probably not leave a very good impression of me afterwards.
I must of course assume that you will yourself do what you warned me to practise — viz. not believe anything said about me by the boys. I was not at all liked by my pupils & no doubt will be the subject of some fictions. You on the other hand were popular & were almost never spoken of otherwise than with respect.
During my last weeks at Ascog a Dr Mitchell lived in the other end & was a very entertaining companion.[3] If he is still there give him my kind regards.
I don’t remember anything else at present but will be glad to write to you again on anything that may occur to you. I hope you may be more successful than I was, and indeed am sure you must have been before.
Yours truly
W. R. Smith