Familiar Songs - Their Authors & Histories

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	OUR FAMILIAR SONGS.


	SAW YE MY WEE THING? Hector Macneill, author of the words of this song, was born into an old and honored Scottish family. His father, a retired army officer at the time of Hector's birth, was living in a beautiful villa near Roslin, amidst charming scenery. While Hector was quite young, his father's liuances became involved, and the family removed to a farm on the picturesque shore of Loch Lomond. Hector wrote poems and dramas when very young. His father was not without discernment of the boy's talent, and pride in its exhibitions; but want of money compelled him to deny him the education he wanted. A rich relative offered to make the boy's fortune, and so the studious lad was pushed into a career which proved utterly uncongenial and unsatisfactory. He was shipped to the Island of St. Christopher's, with a view to showing how much sailor there was in himj but he was provided with letters to present, in case he did not wish to re-ship, after landing there. He took advantage of the alternative, and found employment there for a year. That failing, he