Youthful tendencies
But the limits of the park did not always satisfy his roving desires. He soon made himself acquainted with the surroundings of his home. Craigmillar Castle was a favourite resort on the one side; the beach at Portobello gave him a taste for the sea and aquatic exercise; while the neighbouring little village of Niddrie was not long in making his acquaintance. Here he was known to every one, for Andy made himself at home in every cottage; and if the boys stood in some awe of him, and mothers blamed him for sending their sons home with their clothes torn, or their noses bleeding, still, for all that, he was always welcomed among them, sometimes with a 'jeelie' (jelly) piece or a new-baked scone!
Many a frolic he and the boys of the village were engaged in, if all tales were told, and sometimes Andy got credit for more than he deserved. Boys will be boys, but his boyhood early showed the spirit of the man, for to have a number of country boys together, and put them through military drill, was the height of his delight. He was a born leader, and he doubtless imbibed his love of soldiering from the frequent opportunities he had of seeing military manoeuvres in the Queen's Park, or more likely on Portobello sands, where at that time there was a great deal of drilling, both of the regulars and of the yeomanry cavalry. That the military instinct revealed itself early may be gathered from the following:—One day the village dominie, worthy old Mr. Savage, looking out of the school door across the road, saw the youthful form of Andy—then about seven or eight years old—on the top of the high boundary wall of his father's park, which at that place is nearly nine feet high. 'What are you doing up there?' shouted the dominie; 'get down at once, you young rascal, or you'll get killed!' But Andy only waved his hand as he shouted back, 'It's all right, Mr. Savage: I'm only viewing the enemy,' and off he scampered along the top of the wall!
Andy's 'household troop' was not a large one, but it sufficed. With Tom and Jim, the gardener's sons, and their sisters, Jess and Bella, assisted by a few male and female recruits from among the children of the other workers, with his sister Fanny and his cousins Elizabeth and Nina Elliot, now Lady Northesk and Mrs. J. Dacre Butler respectively—one of whom carried the banner, and another the drum—the youthful general managed to make a fair show. He drilled them well, and was naturally very proud of them. One day there happened to be company at the house. Andy, anxious to display his forces, marched them up to the front door, and there, seated on his little black pony 'Donald,' he put them through their facings, to the great entertainment of the visitors. He was not content with this, however. He must needs take the place by storm, and so, putting himself at the head of his troop, he gave the word of command, 'Forward, march!' and actually marched them into the hall, and through the dining-room to the terrace at the back of the house, bravely leading them on his pony!
The ice-house stood in the park not very far from the house. It was a vaulted chamber covered with turf, forming externally a mound which made a capital fort. Many a time was it the scene of mimic warfare, its defence or assault giving splendid scope for the youthful general's military genius,—brilliant attacks being as brilliantly defeated without any great loss of life!
Sometimes 'Andy's' attacks took a wider range, and nocturnal escapades of a frolicking nature are said to have been not infrequent. It is told of him that having gathered a few of the village boys together, they made a raid one night upon the workshop of the village joiner, and took away a number of odd cart-wheels lying about in the yard. These they fastened to the doors of some of the cottages, where they were found next morning, much to the surprise of the inmates, who had some difficulty in getting egress from their houses! Nobody, of course, could tell who was to blame; but, as our informant remarked, 'They a' kent wha did it: it was just some o' Maister Andra's mischief.'
One old woman in the village, whose temper was not very good, and who laboured under the conviction that her hen-house was from time to time robbed of its roosters, had made herself somewhat obnoxious, and it was determined to give her a real fright. So one evening, after all decent folks were supposed to be in bed, Andy and his company slipped quietly round to the hen-house, and presently there was a great commotion and cackling among the feathered occupants. The old lady in her bed heard it all, but was too frightened to come to the rescue. She was certain, however, that some of her favourite hens had been taken, and next day she went up to the laird at the big house to complain, and to ask compensation. Andy was with his father when the old woman was laying off her story, but betrayed no signs of his complicity in the transaction, wisely preferring to keep his own counsel in the matter. Of course the boys had taken none of her property. They only wanted to play a trick upon her.
Andy was, however, not a boy who would perpetrate any wilful mischief, or do anything that would cause pain. He hated cruelty, and once when he was accused of having killed the cat of an old servant of the family, who lived as a pensioner in the village, he heard the accusation with the greatest indignation. Going at once to Mary's house he strongly asserted his innocence, telling her with all earnestness, 'I'd rather shoot myself, as shoot your cat, Mary.'
Very early in life he evinced a strong desire to share in the sport of the hunting-field. His father would not, however, hear of it, and refused to allow him to get a proper rig-out. But Master Andrew was not to be balked in his ambition, for one morning, getting into a pair of his father's top-boots, many sizes too large for him, and securing the biggest horse in the stables, he boldly set off for the hunt. The appearance of such a mite with boots that would scarcely keep on his feet, on the back of a big hunter, created great laughter among the county gentry at the meet.
Early education