This man died before Sandy was more than halfway through his time, and the youth went through a period of hardship and hand-to-mouth living which ended at last in the usual tramp to London.

Here, after a period of semi-starvation, he found it impossible to get work at his own trade, and finally drifted into carpentering and cabinet-making.
The beginnings of this new line of life were incredibly difficult, owing to the jealousy of his fellow-workmen, who had properly served their time to the trade, and did not see why an interloper from another trade, without qualifications, should be allowed to take the bread out of their mouths.
One of Sandy's first successes was in what was called a 'shop-meeting,' a gathering of all the employes of the firm he worked for, before whom the North-countryman pleaded to be allowed to earn his bread.

The tall, finely grown, famished-looking lad spoke with a natural eloquence, and here and there with a Biblical force of phrase--the inheritance of his Scotch blood and training--which astonished and melted most of his hearers.

He was afterwards let alone, and even taught by the men about him, in return for 'drinks,' which swallowed up sometimes as much as a third of his wages.
After two or three years he was fully master of his trade, an admirable workman, and a keen politician to boot.

All this time he had spent his evenings in self-education, buying books with every spare penny, and turning specially to science and mathematics.