Recollections of my life / by Joseph Fayrer.

  • Joseph Fayrer
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Recollections of my life / by Joseph Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    penter’s shop : the head carpenter was a great friend of mine, and used to supply me with wood from which I made boats. I began to draw pretty well, my favourite subjects being animals and boats. I also read elementary works on natural philosophy, and used to ponder much over chemical and other experiments. I was peculiarly fond of reading as a boy, and devoured every work of fiction I could get. In one of my country walks with my brother I met with a serious accident. In jumping a burn I slipped and fell with violence on my left arm, hurting it severely. We set off home, but I felt very anxious about alarming my mother, and determined to stop at the doctor’s house en route. He examined my arm, which was by this time very painful and much swollen, found the elbow was badly dislo¬ cated, and proceeded at once to reduce the dislocation, giving me exquisite pain. I suffered long and severely from that injury: the joint became contracted and stiffened, and the forcible extension of the arm, which was necessary for some time, caused me great pain. In time I recovered, but the elbow sustained some permanent damage. I got considerable kudos for my presence of mind and determina¬ tion in going to the doctor on the way home, and met with much sympathy. At a pretty place named Dunskye, the property of the Hunter Blairs, I made my first essay in skating on the lake. I used to enjoy my visits to this place with its woods, glens, and sandy bays by the sea-shore. When I was between eleven and twelve years of age, my elder brother and I went to the Rev. R. Wallace, Dalrymple, in Ayrshire, who took pupils. Up to this time we had been educated at home under a tutor, and I could read an easy Latin book. My school-fellows were Loudon and Frank Mac- leod of Raasay, Francis Hunter of Dunholme, John Craw¬ ford, George Dundas, and Lord Nigel Kennedy, who came just before I left. There we were thoroughly well trained in classics and mathematics, other subjects being taught by the village schoolmaster. We had all the ordinary amuse-
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