But it was a grand time I had.

I mind the sea, and the friends I had.

And it was there, in Arboath, when I was no more than a laddie, I first sang before an audience.

A travelling concert company had come to Oddfellows' Hall, and to help to draw the crowd there was a song competition for amateurs, with a watch for a prize.

I won the prize, and I was as conceited as you please, with all the other mill boys envying me, and seein', at last, some use in the way I was always singing.