Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush

at himself down one day in the study of a West-end minist

wnsman's heart, and the power of

heard of Drumtochty, of coorse. A've jined the polis; the pay i

ars had been digest

iravie (commotion), rinnin' here an' rinnin' there, an

u' tae see the helplessness o' the bodies in their ain toon. And they're

nin' that a man askit

ra

nna gang doon it, and when ye see anither pass it, but whup

bit cratur, and h

, officer?' in his cl

' we hev juist ae man as sm

o ane o' them asks me a question but he lauchs. They're a licht-headed fou

a brave effort t

o?" but the figure simply

but a' thocht ye wud b

nd

oond the kirks and hear what kin' o' ministers they hae up here. A've been in saxtee

tuff-plenty o' water and little meal-and some wesna sae bad for England. But ye 'ill be pleased to know," here the figure r

ye, her 'at prees (tastes) the sermons in oor Glen; a' believe she wud

e was a tradition that one of the Disruption fathers had preached in the Free Kirk for one hour and fifty minutes on the bulwarks of Zion, and had left the impression that he was only playing round the outskirts of his subject. No preacher with anything to say could complain of Drumtochty, for he got a patient, honest, critical hearing from beginning to end. If a preacher were slightly equipped, the audience may have been trying. Well

he day. There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed

de in his ain place. He hesna muckle in his head, a'll

said 'I'? a' got as far as saxty-three, and then a' lost

peth Macfadyen. A' kent

ruel, and eneuch tae scunne

It rested on a long series of unreversed judgments, with felicitous strokes of description that passed into the literary capital of the Glen. One felt it was genius, and could only note contributing circumstances-an eye that took in the preacher from the cro

in kirk or outside, was strictly forbidden in Drumtochty-or mark her Bible, or practise any other profane device of fee

nd gave, at full length, his famous discourse on the total depravity of the human race, from the text, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come,"

an seeventy heads, coontin' pints, of coorse, and a' can weel believe it. Na,

et his mind at rest, and El

for it canna be

inutes exactly, for Ja

that fourth pint under the sixth head. Whether it wes the 'beginnin' o' fait

xt Friday-Drumtochty was celebrating Elspeth-

tress Stirton, who was the stupidest woman in the Free Kirk, and had once stuck in the "chief end of man." They never suspected the sonsy motherly woman, two pews behind Donald

d to me one day, "hoo the pulpit fashi

udas Iscariot the first Residuary,' would stand twa meenu

eir face wi' ae hand sae solemn, that if ye didna catch them keekin' through

, and although the excellent woman was not acc

. Noo, there's the new minister o' Netheraird, he writes his sermon on ae side o' ten sheets o' paper, an' he's that carried awa' at the

less, and that set me thinkin'. Then a' noticed that he left the Bible open at the place till anither text was due, an' I wunnered a'd been sae slow. It wes this wy: he askit the beadle for a gless o' water in the

odigal quotations of Scriptures, and

fozzy wi' trokin' in his gairden an' feedin' pi

Paul? We shall see what the Apostle Paul says.' He puts on his glasses, and turns up the passage, and reads maybe ten verses, and then he's aff on t

er, at any rate,' say

n, he hes aye some g

e feed a calf wi' milk, and anither

lazy he preaches auld sermons, but a Free Kirk minister ta

y rate," and Elspeth tasted the sweets of memory

le prood o' his feenishes

tate, for there ye will no longer eat the flesh of bulls nor drink the blood o

owl, and a' aye haud that a man withoot

n humour at the college; it's an awfu' wa

hin' tae the goat, tha

t t

nna behave himsel' tae this day gin he hears 'i

r feenish, and

s and mind yir ain business. And as sune as ye get hame ilka man 'ill gae tae his closet and shut

masel', and a' hed tae d

t wes barmin' in him, and he gied oot sudden ai

the strae like a bairn, and every ither

ht, besides bein' a married man and a

since. But he hesna forgot, na, na; a've seen a look

obationers, Mrs. Macfadyen summed them up with such excell

windows that ye canna pass withoot lookin'; there's bits o

denty, an' no wunner the

peety me, there's next tae na

s neat an' fikey a little mannie

aboot a lord-twa burnies, ae floo'r gairden, and a snowstorm, wi' the text thirteen times and '

ws-they're that ill set out-and inside there's sic a wrale o' stuff tha

enty o' time and can turn ower the things by the

rial than he kens hoo tae handle, and naebody,

uthfu' o' justification the next. Yir nae suner wi'

e doot, but sair mixed

ng compromised, an

ot indiscreet. She could convey her mind delicately

as a stout young man with a volcanic voice-Mrs. Macfadyen c

e to get a kirk; he's been weel b

l no gang aff the track. Ye canna ca'

till waited, a

o' a man," and every one felt that the la