Part 5 (1/2)

The study at Wellington Terrace is upstairs, and is a large roohted by ts One of these looks across the river, which at this point washes the base of the toalls, to the dingy village of Tweeds and sheds of a busy railway-station and the Northuht out to sea, and when it is open, and soe” on Berwick bar or Spittal sands can be distinctly heard In front, the Tweed pours its waters into the North Sea under the lee of the long pier, which acts as a breakwater and shelters the entrance to the harbour Far away to the right, Holy Island, with the castle-crowned rock of Baht, the Longstone light on the Outer Farne recalls the heroic rescue by Grace Darling of the shi+pwrecked crew of the _Forfarshi+re_

Opposite thisstood the large bookcase in which Dr Cairns's library was housed The books co the library were neither very nuh he was a voracious reader, it must be admitted that Dr Cairns took little pride in his books It was a matter of utter indifference to hiood edition or in a cheap one The voluy, of which he had a fair stock, reinal sober livery, and when any of theether with string or to get his sister to fasten them with paste

One or two treasures he had, such as a first edition of Bacon's _Instauratio Magna_, a first edition of Butler's _analogy_, and a Stephens Greek Testament; also a complete set of the Delphin Classics, handsoe prizes These, with the Benedictine edition of Augustine, folio editions of Athanasius, Chrysostone, and a considerable nuy, formed the most noteworthy elements in his collection He added later a very colish Deists, and the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Renan Side by side with these hat ca of presentation copies of books on all subjects which his anxious conscience persuaded him that he was bound to keep on his shelves, since publishers and authors had been kind enough to send theed to his real library he had read with care Most of them were copiously annotated, and his annotations were, as a rule, characterised by a refreshi+ng trenchancy,--in the case of some, as of Gibbon, tempered with respect; in the case of others, as of FW New on truculence The only other noteworthy objects in the study were two splendid engravings of Raphael's ”Transfiguration” and ”Spasihen), which had been a gift to hireater part of each day was spent in this roo with less sleep than ht have sat over his books at night, he was frequently in his study again long before breakfast After breakfast came fah passionately fond of sacredHe seemed to have always a perfectly definite conception of what the tune ought to be, but he was seldoive this idea an accurate, much less a melodious, expression Yet he never omitted the customary portion of psalallantry, fervour, and enthusias off the tune

His reading of Scripture had no elocutionary pretensions about it; it was quiet, and to a large extent gone through in a s about it made it very impressive One of these was the deep reverence that characterised it, and the other was a note of subdued enthusiash it It was clear to the listener that behind every passage read, whether it was history, psalm, or prophecy, or even the driest detail of ritual, there was visible to hiination and influenced even the tones of his voice And his prayers, quite unstudied as they of course were, brought the whole coht into the presence of the Unseen They were usually full of detail,--he see,--but each petition was absolutely appropriate to the special case hich it dealt, and all were fused into a unity by the spirit of devotion that welled up through all After prayers he went back to his study, and nothing was heard or seen of him for some hours, except when his heavy tread was heard upstairs as he walked backwards and forwards, or when the strains of as meant to be a German choral afted down fro, and, so long as he reure in its streets than his The tall, stalwart forht, not soan apology for its height,--the hair already white, the mild and kindly blue eye, the tall hat ell back on the head, the s-tail coat, the swathes within swathes of broad white neckcloth, the umbrella carried, even in the finest weather, under the arloves in the hands but never on theer stride,--all these come back vividly to those who can remember Berwick in the Sixties and early Seventies of last century His visitations were still carried out with the method and punctuality which had characterised theed to make a brief pause for tea with one of the families visited On these occasions he would frequently be in high spirits, and his hearty and resounding laughter would break out on the sh of his was e se of a chuckle in it Its deep ”Ah! hah! hah!” ca sound froe shouldersbreath of purest enjoy of the lips after the feast was over

Returning to his house, he always entered it by the back door, apparently because he did not wish to put the servant to the trouble of going upstairs to open the front door for him It does not see there was generally so worshi+p and the invariable supper of porridge and hts were seldo in these solitary hours was of course ical, he always kept fresh his interest in the classical studies of his youth He did not depend on his co up his Greek, but went back as often as he could find tiedians Macaulay has defined a Greek scholar as one who can read Plato with his feet on the fender

Dr Cairns could fully satisfy this condition; indeed he went beyond it, for when he went fro a volume of Plato or Aeschylus with him to read in the train One of his nephews, at that ti with hih the _Alcestis_ of Euripides

It hten his young relative into habits of accuracy, or possibly because an outrage coainst a Greek poet was to hi these studies, he altogether laid aside that restraint which he was usually so jealous to maintain over his powers of sarcasm and invective He lay on the study sofa while the lesson was going on, with a Tauchnitz Euripides in his hand; but sometira to his feet and fairly shout rath Only once had he to consult a Greek lexicon for thehe had assigned to it provisionally was the right one A Latin lexicon he did not possess

On Sunday, Wallace Green Church was a goodly sight Forenoon and afternoon, strea by Ravensdowne, Church Street, and Walkergate Lane across the square and into the large building, which was soon filled to overflowing Then ”the Books” were brought in by the stately beadle, and last of all ”the Doctor” came hurriedly in, scrambled aardly up the pulpit stair, and covered his face with his black gloved hands[15] Then he rose, and in slowof which his strong but wandering voice could now and again be distinctly heard above theits tribute of praise The Scripture lessons were read in the same subdued but reverent tones, and the prayers were sie, the e kept under due restraint The opening periods of the serot fairly into his subject he broke loose froument was unfolded, and then th of his intellect, reinforced at every stage by the play of his ilow of a passionate conviction His ”raceful His principal gesture was a jerking of the right arm towards the left shoulder, acco forward of the upper part of the body; and when he came to his peroration, which he usually delivered with his eyes closed and in lowered tones, he would clasp his hands and s seemed to fit in naturally to his style of oratory; there was not the faintest trace of affectation in any of them, and, as a matter of fact, they added to the effectiveness of his preaching

[Footnote 15: In accordance with the old Scottish custo the ”preli the serown in the forenoon, and, as a mark of respect to the deceased, wore over his s-tail coat the huge black silk sash which it was then customary in Berwick to send to the minister on such occasions]

In Wallace Green Dr Cairns was surrounded by a devoted band of office-bearers and others, who carried on very successful Hoanisations of the church in a vigorous and flourishi+ng state He had himself no faculty for business details, and he left these mostly to others; but his influence was felt at every point, and operated in a re up of the spiritual tone of the church's work

With his elders, ere not ard to character and ability, the leaders of the congregation, he was always on the th they usually approxiure of twelve, and Dr Cairns used to ree nust them not merely James and John, Matthew and Thomas, but even Philip and Bartholomew

The Philip here referred to was Dr Philip Whiteside Maclagan, a brother of the present Archbishop of York and of the late Professor Sir Douglas Maclagan Dr Maclagan had been originally an areneral practice in Berwick in succession to his father-in-law, the ee Johnstone It was truly said of hiraces of Luke the beloved physician and Philip the evangelist When occasion offered, he would not only diagnose and prescribe but pray at the bedsides of his patients, and his influence was exerted in behalf of everything that was pure and lovely and of good report in the town of Berwick His delicately chiselled features and fine expression were the true index of a devout and beautiful soul within Dr Cairns and he arht-hand ation

It will readily be believed that Dr Cairns had not been suffered to re efforts being er spheres of labour As a matter of fact, he received in all so the course of his ohile at one period of his life scarcely a year passed without private overtures being ement to them, would have issued in calls These overtures he in every case declined at once; but when congregations, in spite of hi previously consulted hi to a formal call, he never intervened to arrest their action

He had a curious respect for the so Presbyterian procedure, and when it had been set in motion he felt that it was his duty to let it take its course

Once when a call to hied, and which he knew that he could not accept, his sister, who had set her heart on furnishi+ng an empty bedroom in the manse at Berwick, was pereht thereby see that which was not yet before him

Two of the calls he received deserve separate ow, at that tiation in the city All sorts of influences were brought to bear upon hirave doubt as to whether it ht not be his duty to do so But two considerations especially decided him to remain in Berwick One was the state of his health, which was not at that tiood; and the other was the pathetic one, that he wanted to write that book which was never to be written

Nine years later, in 1864, a yet h A new congregation had been forside, one of the southern suburbs of the city, and it was thought that this would offer a sphere of work and of influence worthy of his powers A call was accordingly addressed to him, and it was backed up by representations of an alht

The Free Church leaders, hootiations, urged hined by one hundred and sixty-seven United Presbyterian elders in the city, told him that, in the interests of their Church, it was of the utned by several hundred students at the University, put the matter from their point of view A still :--

”The subscribers, understanding that the Rev Dr Cairns has received a call to the congregation of Morningside, desire to express their earnest and strong conviction that his reion throughout Scotland, and reat intellectual powers, his deep and wide scholarshi+p, his mastery of the literature ofsimplicity and Godly sincerity of his personal character and public teaching, would find an ample field for their full and ist others) by three Judges of the Court of Session, by the Lord Advocate, by the Principal and seven of the Professors of the University, and by such distinguished ministers and citizens as Dr Candlish, Dr Hanna, Dr Lindsay Alexander, Adam Black, Dr John Brown, and Charles Cowan It was a re his name said, ”This is more than ever was done for Dr Chalmers”), and it regation, however, sought to counteract it by an arguly shoell they knew their man They appealed to that strain of anxious conscientiousness in hi that all these ht to consider the to his decision They also undertook to furnish hiical study than had hitherto been at his disposal After a period of hesitation, h on any similar occasion, he decided to remain in Berwick He was regation; partly by a feeling that he could doits minister than would be possible ae; and partly by the hope, which was becoht at last find leisure in Berwick to write his book

But, although he did not becoh and Glasgow, and indeed all over the country

His services were in constant request for the opening of churches and on anniversary occasions He records that in the course of a single year he preached or spoke away from home (of course mostly on week days) soe crowds, on whoed natural eloquence produced a deep impression It has been recorded that on one occasion, while a vast audience to which he had been preaching in an Edinburgh church was dispersing, a hbour in language more enthusiastic than proper: ”He's a deevil o' a preacher!”

With all this burden of work pressing on him, it was a relief when the annual holiday caet away from it But this holiday, too, was usually of a e tracts of country either at home or, more frequently, on the Continent On these tours his keen human interest asserted itself He loved to visit places associated with great historic events, or that suggested to him reminiscences of famous men and women And the actual condition of the people, how they lived, and what they were thinking about, interested him deeply He spoke to everybody he met, in the train, in the steamboat, or in hotels, in fluent if rather ”bookish” Ger French, or, if it was a Roman Catholic priest he had to deal with, in sonorous Latin And, without anything approaching cant or officiousness, he always tried to bring the conversation round to the subject of religion--to the state of religion in the country in which he was travelling, about which he was always anxious to gain first-hand information, and, if possible and he could do it without offence, to the personal views and experiences of those hoive offence in this respect, for there was never anything aggressive or cla in his treatregation usually expected hiive them a lecture on what he had seen, and the MSS of several of these lectures, abounding in graphic description and in shrewd and often hus, have been preserved It ive an extract from one of the as it does a curious phase of Irish social life at that time Dr Cairns and a small party of friends had embarked in a little steaentle in view on both sides

”A fine ancient castle,” he goes on to say, ”surrounded by trees and alaze for some time ere we passed it The owner's naht under review 'Is not Sir ---- a Sunday man?' says one of the company to another 'He is' The distinction was new to ood, perhaps some unusual zeal for Sabbath observance or siments

A 'Sunday man' in the West of Ireland is one who only appears on the Sunday outside his oelling, because on any other day he would be arrested for debt Even on a week day he is safe if he keeps to his own house, where in Ireland, as in England, no writ can force its way