Part 34 (2/2)
”Whist, man, whist!” was the rejoinder. ”Oh, fie, shame, John! fie, shame! Nae speaking to-day about warldy recreations.”
But the ruling pa.s.sion proved too strong for the worthy clergyman's scruples of conscience, for just as he was about to enter the inner door of the church, he suddenly wheeled round and returned to the elder, who was now standing at the plate in the lobby, and whispered in his ear, ”But whan's the hoor, John? I'll be sure and be there. Let us sing,
”'That music dear to a curler's ear, And enjoyed by him alone-- The merry c.h.i.n.k of the curling rink, And the boom of the roaring stone.'”
=Relieving His Wife's Anxiety=
A Scotchman became very poor by sickness. His refined and affectionate wife was struggling with him for the support of their children. He took to peddling with a one-horse wagon, as a business that would keep him in the open air and not tax his strength too much. One day, after having been sick at home for two or three weeks, he started out with his cart for a ten-day's trip, leaving his wife very anxious about him on account of his weakness. After going about fifteen miles his horse fell down and died. He got a farmer to hitch his horse to the cart and bring it home.
As they were driving into the yard he saw the anxiety depicted on his wife's countenance, and being tenderly desirous to relieve it, he cried out, ”Maria, its not me that's dead; its the mare!”
=Radically Rude=
Mr. Burgon, in his ”Life of Tyler,” tells the following amusing story: Captain Basil Hall was once traveling in an old-fas.h.i.+oned stage-coach, when he found himself opposite to a good-humored, jolly Dandy-Dinmount looking person, with whom he entered into conversation, and found him most intelligent. Dandie, who was a staunch Loyalist, as well as a stout yeoman, seemed equally pleased with his companion.
”Troth, sir,” he said, ”I am well content to meet one wi' whom I can have a rational conversation, for I have been fairly put out. You see, sir, a Radical fellow came into the coach. It was the only time I ever saw a Radical; an' he begun abusing everything, saying that this wasna a kintra fit to live in. And first he abused the king. Sir, I stood that.
And then he abused the const.i.tution. Sir, I stood that. And then he abused the farmers. Well, sir, I stood it all. But then he took to abusing the yeomanry. Now, sir, you ken I couldna stand _that_, for I am a yeoman mysel'; so I was under the necessity of being a wee bit rude-like till him. So I seized him by the scruff of the neck: 'Do ye see that window, sir? Apologeeze, apologeeze this very minute, or I'll just put your head through the window.' Wi' that he _apologeezed_. 'Now, sir,' I said, 'you'll gang out o' the coach.' And wi' that I opened the door, and shot him out intil the road; and that's all I ever saw o' the Radical.”
=”Gathering Up the Fragments”=
The inveterate snuff-taker, like the dram-drinker, felt severely the being deprived of his accustomed stimulant, as in the following instance: A severe snowstorm in the Highlands which lasted for several weeks, having stopped all communications betwixt neighboring hamlets, the snuff-boxes were soon reduced to their last pinch. Borrowing and begging from all the neighbors within reach were first resorted to, but when these failed they were all alike reduced to the longing which unwillingly-abstinent snuff-takers alone know. The minister of the parish was amongst the unhappy number, the craving was so intense that study was out of the question, and he became quite restless. As a last resource, the beadle was dispatched, through the snow, to a neighboring glen, in the hope getting a supply; but he came back as unsuccessful as he went.
”What's to be dune, John?” was the minister's pathetic inquiry.
John shook his head, as much as to say that he could not tell; but immediately thereafter started up, as if a new idea had occurred to him.
He came back in a few minutes, crying, ”Hae!”
The minister, too eager to be scrutinizing, took a long, deep pinch, and then said, ”Whaur did you get it?”
”I soupit (swept) the poupit,” was John's expressive reply.
The minister's acc.u.mulated superfluous Sabbath snuff now came into good use.
=Sleepy Churchgoers=
The bowls of rum punch which so remarkably characterized the Glasgow dinners of last century, and the early part of the present, it is to be feared, made some of the congregation given to somnolency on the Sundays following. The members of the town council often adopted Sat.u.r.days for such meetings; accordingly, the Rev. Mr. Thorn, an excellent clergyman, took occasion to mark this propensity with some acerbity. A dog had been very troublesome, when the minister at last gave orders to the beadle, ”Take out that dog; he'd wauken a Glasgow magistrate.” [7]
=A Highland Chief and His Doctor=
Dr. Gregory (of immortal mixture memory) used to tell a story of an old Highland chieftain, intended to show how such Celtic potentates were once held to be superior to all the usual considerations which affected ordinary mortals. The doctor, after due examination, had, in his usual decided and blunt manner, p.r.o.nounced the liver of a Highlander to be at fault, and to be the cause of his ill-health. His patient, who could not but consider this as taking a great liberty with a Highland chieftain, roared out, ”And what business is it of yours whether I have a liver or not?”
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