=Entrance Free, and "Everything Found"=
A member of the Scottish bar, when a youth, was somewhat of a dandy, and was still more remarkable for the shortness of his temper. One day, being about to pay a visit to the country, he made a great fuss in packing up his clothes for the journey, and his old aunt, annoyed at the bustle, said: "Whaur"s this you"re gaun, Robby, that you mak" sic a grand ware about your claes?"
The young man lost his temper, and pettishly replied, "I am going to the devil."
""Deed, Robby, then," was the quiet answer, "ye need na be sae nice, for he"ll just tak" ye as ye are."
=Two Questions on the Fall of Man=
The Rev. Ralph Erskine, one of the fathers of the secession from the Kirk of Scotland, on a certain occasion paid a visit to his venerable brother, Ebenezer, at Abernethy.
"Oh, man!" said the latter, "but ye come in a gude time. I"ve a diet of examination to-day, and ye maun tak" it, as I have matters o" life and death to settle at Perth."
"With all my heart," quoth Ralph.
"Noo, my Billy," says Ebenezer, "ye"ll find a" my folk easy to examine but ane, and him I reckon ye had better no" meddle wi". He has our old-fashioned Scotch way of answering a question by putting another, and maybe he"ll affront ye."
"Affront me!" quoth the indignant theologian; "do ye think he can foil me wi" my ain natural toils?"
"Aweel," says his brother, "I"se gie ye fair warning, ye had better no"
ca" him up."
The recusant was one Walter Simpson, the Vulcan of the parish. Ralph, indignant at the bare idea of such an illiterate clown chopping divinity with him, determined to pose him at once with a grand leading unanswerable question. Accordingly, after putting some questions to some of the people present, he all at once, with a loud voice, cried out, "Walter Simpson!"
"Here, sir," says Walter, "are ye wanting me?"
"Attention, sir! Now Walter, can you tell me how long Adam stood in a state of innocence?"
"Ay, till he got a wife," instantly cried the blacksmith. "But," added he, "can _you_ tell me hoo lang he stood after?"
"Sit doon, Walter," said the discomfited divine.
=The Speech of a Cannibal=
"Poor-man-of-mutton" is a term applied to a shoulder-of-mutton in Scotland after it has been served as a roast at dinner, and appears as a broiled bone at supper, or at the dinner next day. The Scotch Earl of B----, popularly known as Old Rag, being at an hotel in London, the landlord came in one morning to enumerate the good things in the larder.
"Landlord," said the Earl of B----, "I think I _could_ eat a morsel of poor man." This strange announcement, coupled with the extreme ugliness of his lordship, so terrified Boniface that he fled from the room and tumbled down the stairs. He supposed that the Earl, when at home, was in the habit of eating a joint of a va.s.sal, or tenant, when his appet.i.te was dainty.
=Not "in Chains"=
A Londoner was traveling on one of the Clyde steamers, and as it was pa.s.sing the beautiful town of Largs, then little larger than a village, and unnoticed in his guide-book, he asked a Highland countryman, a fellow pa.s.senger, its name.
"Oh, that"s Largs, sir."
"Is it incorporated?"
"Chwat"s your wull, sir?"
"Is it incorporated?"
"Chwat"s your wull, sir?"
"Dear me! Is it a borough? Has it magistrates?"
"Oh, yess, sir. Largs has a provost and bailies."
Anxious to have the question of incorporation settled, and aware that Scotch civic magistrates are invested with golden chains of office, which they usually wear round their necks, our London friend put his next question thus: "Do the magistrates wear chains?"
The countryman very indignantly replied, "Na, na, sir; the provost and bailies o" Largs aye gang loose."
=A Piper"s Opinion of a Lord--and Himself=
"The stately step of a piper" is a proverb in Scotland, which reminds us of an anecdote of a certain n.o.ble lord, when in attendance upon the Queen at Balmoral, a few years ago. Having been commissioned by a friend to procure a performer on the pipes--he applied to her majesty"s piper--a fine stalwart Highlander; and on being asked what kind of article was required, his lordship said in reply, "Just such another as yourself." The consequential Celt readily exclaimed "There"s plenty o"
lords like yourself, but very few sic pipers as me."
=A Modern Dumb Devil (D.D.)=
Mr. Dunlop happened one day to be present in a Church Court in a neighboring presbytery. A Rev. Dr. was one day asked to pray, and declined.
On the meeting adjourning, Mr. Dunlop stepped up to the doctor, and asked how he did. The doctor never having been introduced, did not reply.
Mr. Dunlop withdrew, and said to a friend, "Eh! but is" na he a queer man, that doctor; he"ll neither speak to G.o.d nor man?"
=A Curiously Unfortunate Coincidence in Psalm Singing=
In the parish church of Fettercairn, a custom existed, and indeed still lingers in some parts of Scotland, of the precentor on communion Sabbath reading out each single line of the psalm before it was sung by the congregation. This practice gave rise to a somewhat unfortunate introduction of a line from the First Psalm. In most churches in Scotland the communion tables are placed in the centre of the church.
After sermon and prayer the seats round these tables are occupied by the communicants while a psalm is being sung. On one communion Sunday, the precentor observed the n.o.ble family of Eglinton approaching the tables, and saw that they were likely to be kept out by those who pressed in before them. Being very zealous for their accommodation, he called out to an individual whom he considered to be the princ.i.p.al obstacle in the pa.s.sage, "Come back, Jock, and let in the n.o.ble family of Eglinton"; and then, turning again to his psalm-book, gave out the line, "Nor stand in sinners" way."
=Living With His Uncle=
A little boy had lived some time with a penurious uncle, who took good care that the child"s health should not be injured by overfeeding. The uncle was one day walking out, the child at his side, when a friend accosted him, accompanied by a greyhound. While the elders were talking, the little fellow, never having seen a dog so slim and slight in texture, clasped the creature round the neck with the impa.s.sioned cry, "Oh, doggie, doggie, and did ye live wi" your uncle, tae, that ye are so thin?" [7]
=Pulpit Familiarity=
A pastor of a small congregation of Dissenters in the west of Scotland, who, in prayer, often employed terms of familiarity towards the great Being whom he invoked, was addressing his pet.i.tion in the season of an apparently doubtful harvest, that He would grant such weather as was necessary for ripening and gathering in the fruits of the ground; when suddenly, he added, "But what need I talk? When I was up at Shotts the other day, everything was as green as leeks."
=A Churl Congratulated=
Hume went to a newspaper office, and laid on the counter an announcement of the death of some friend, together with five shillings, the usual price of such advertis.e.m.e.nts. The clerk, who had a very rough manner, demanded seven shillings and sixpence, the extra charge being for the words: "he was universally beloved and regretted." Hume paid the money, saying, gravely, "Congratulate yourself, sir, that this is an expense which your executors will never be put to."