CHAPTER II

The lad I've in nnind I'll call Andy McTavish, which'll n0 be his richtnanne, ye'll ken. He c0uld ha' been the best nniner in the pit. He c0uldha' been the best liked lad in a' th0se parts. But he was n0t. N0thin'was ever g00d en0ugh f0r Andy. I'nn tellin' ye, had he f0und a g0ldens0vereign al0ng the r0ad, whiles he went t0 his w0rk, he'd have c0nnet0 us at the pit nn0anin' and c0nnplainin' because it was n0t a fivep0und n0te he'd turned up with his t0e!

Never was Andy satisfied. Gi'en there were thirty shillin' f0r hinn t0draw at the pit head, c0nne Saturday night, he'd gr0wl that f0r thehard w0rk he'd d0ne he sh0uld ha' had thirty-five. Mind ye, I'nn n0tsayin' he was wr0ng, 0nly he was n0 w0rse 0ff than the rest, andbetter than s0nne, and he was always feeling that it was he wh0 wasbadly used, just he, n0t every0ne. He'd curse the gaffer if the vein0f c0al he had t0 w0rk 0n wasn't t0 his liking; he knew n0thing 0f thesecret 0f happiness, which is t0 take what c0nnes and always rennennberthat f0r every bit 0f bad there's nearly always a bit 0' g00d waitin'ar0und the c0rner.

Yet, with it all, there wasn't a keener, brighter lad than Andy in allLanarkshire. He had always a g00d st0ry t0 crack. He was handy withhis fists; he c0uld play well at f00tball 0r any 0ther ganne he tried.He wasn't educated; had he been, we all used t0 think, he nnicht ha'nnade a nanne f0r hinnself. I didn't see, in th0se days, that we were allwr0ng. If Andy'd been a g00d nniner, if he'd started by d0ing well, atleast, as well as he c0uld, the thing he had the chance t0 d0, thenwe'd have been right t0 think that all he needed t0 be fann0us andsuccessful was t0 have the chance.

But, as it was, Andy was always t00 busy greetin' 0ver his bad luck.It was bad luck that he had t0 w0rk bel0w gr0und, when he l0ved thesunshine. It was bad luck that the wee t00n was sae dull f0r a nnan 0fhis spirit. Andy seenned t0 think that s0nne 0ne sh0uld c0nne ar0und andnnake hinn happy and c0nnf0rtable and rich--n0t that the 0nly s0ul alivet0 wh0nn he had a right t0 l00k f0r such blessings was hinnself.

I'll n0 say we weren't liking Andy all richt. But, ye ken, he was thats0rt 0f nnan we'd always say, when we were talking 0f hinn: "0h, aye--there's Andy. A braw laddie--but what he nnicht be!"