Excerpt from By Heath and Prairie: Scottish and American Poems Spey. My youthful mind was keenly sensible of the sublimity of the northern hills, and the varied charms of vale and river. When ten years old I framed my first verses, which I carefully concealed from View. Even at that early age I fully expected to leave my native land, and I often found myself wistfully gazing on the scenes of beauty round me, as on that which I might never see again. So when the ocean rolled between them and me I found the scenes of childhood were imprinted on my memory - that absence made the heart grow fonder. Constant association with brother Scots served to keep alive in me the patriotic ardor and drew from my pen many of the poems which have appeared in Scottish and American publications. They have all been composed during hours of labor, to the accompani ment of the clang of hammer and the whirr of belt and wheel. Now, in response to the wishes of many friends, I have made a selection of those which pleased me best, with many others not hitherto printed. Besides those of special interest to British Americans, there. Are many which present my impres sions of life in a Western city. American Scots are so patriotic that they need little incentive to be true to'the traditions of their native land; and men are so learned now that it is hard to bring a smile to their face; but if these simple verses cause a thrill of fond remembrance in an exiled heart, or beguile a weary hour, they shall not have been written in vain. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1900, BY peter grant, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.