"We went first to the station, so as to see when the trains went back to Glasgow. Then we took a walk.
"We found a street near the depot with a high hill behind it, and close to it. There were walls and terraces all the way up, and trees here and there. We looked up, and we could see the heads of some children over the topmost wall. They were looking down to where we were. Presently we came to an opening, and some flights of steps and steep walks, and so we thought we would go up.
"When we got to the top we found a broad terrace, with a wall along the front edge of it, where we could look down upon the river and the town. The town lay very narrow between the river and the foot of the hill. We were up very high above the tops of the houses.
"Behind us, on the terrace, were broad green fields and gravel walks, and beds of flowers, and great trees with seats under them. There were a good many nursery maids around there, with children. The nursery maids sat on the seats, and the children played before them with the pebbles and gravel.
"I read in the guide book about some famous waterworks at Greenock, but we could not find them. We asked one man, who was at work on the gravel walks, if he could tell us where they were; but he only stared at us and said he did not 'knaw ony thing aboot it.'
"After this we went down the hill again, and took a long walk along the bank of the river. There was an omnibus going by, and we wanted to get into it and see where it would carry us; but we did not know but that it might carry us to some place that we could not get back from very soon. The name of the place where the omnibus went was painted on the side of it but it was a place that we had never heard of before, and so we did not know where it was.
"After this we went back to the station, and then came home. I thought from the map that we should go through Paisley; but we did not. We went over it. We went over it, higher than the tops of the chimneys.
"This is the end of my account; and the most dangerous thing I saw Waldron do was to go up on the bridge, on board the steamer, and talk there with the captain."
"Boys," said Mr. George, when he had finished reading these papers, "your accounts are excellent. The thing I chiefly like about them is, that you go right straight on and tell a plain story, without spoiling it all by making an attempt at fine writing. That is the way you ought always to write. One of these days I mean to get you both to write something for me in my journal."