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He's the minister's man, ye ken, an' howks the graves ower by at the parish kirk-yard, for the auld betheral there winna gang ablow three fit deep, and them that haes ill-tongued wives to haud doon disna want ony mistake " "Meg," said her mistress, "do not forget yourself." 'Guid be thankit! he says, 'I had the forethocth to order a stane heavy eneuch to hand them baith doon!"
It, however, did not end here; for the session, knowing that it was profitless to speak to the daft mother and daughter, who had been the instruments, gave orders to Willy Howking, the betheral, not to let them again so far into the kirk; and Willy, having scarcely more sense than them both, thought proper to keep them out next Sunday altogether.
Seventeen bodies were, before ten o'clock, carried to the desolated dwelling of their families; and when old Thomas Pull, the betheral, went to ring the bell for public worship, such was the universal sorrow of the town, that Nanse Donsie, an idiot natural, ran up the street to stop him, crying, in the voice of a pardonable desperation, "Wha, in sic a time, can praise the Lord?"
Man, Maister Teends, I hae kenned the hale root an' stock o' thae Callums frae first to last; I hae dung Greeshy till he couldna stand him that had to be twice fitted for his coffin; an' Wull that was hangit at Dumfries for sheep-stealin'; an' Meg that was servant till yersel aye, an' a bonny piece she was as ye ken yersel'; an' this auld donnert carle that, when he carries up the Bibles, ye can hear the rattlin' o' his banes, till it disturbs the congregation I hae dung them a' heeds ower heels in their best days an' to tell me at the hinner end that ye wad ca' in the betheral to pit oot Elspeth Mowdiewort!
It behoved me on one occasion, however, to break through a rule that age and frailty had imposed upon me, and to go to the wedding of Tibby Banes, the daughter of the betheral, because she had once been a servant in the manse, besides the obligation upon me, from her father's part both in the kirk and kirkyard.
"Nay," he said, "but that is a question for you, Saunders. It is not I that think of marrying her." "The Lord be thankit for that! for gin the minister gaed speerin', what chance wad there be for the betheral?" "Have you spoken to Meg herself yet?" asked Mr. Welsh.
"Alexander Moldieward!" again cried the old "betheral," very loud, to some one on the top of the Dullarg Hill then in an ordinary voice, "come awa', Saunders man, you and your mither, an' dinna keep them waitin' they're no chancy when they're keepit." Saunders and his mother entered.
At the same time, I must own this was a sinful curiosity, and I stifled it to the best of my ability. But it was no more like the true play of Shakespeare the poet, according to their account, than a duddy betheral, set up to fright the sparrows from the peas, is like a living gentleman.
Auld Thomas Howkings, the betheral, fell sick, and died in the course of a week's illness, about the end of November; and the measles coming at that time upon the parish, there was such a smashery of the poor weans as had not been known for an age; insomuch that James Banes, the lad who was Thomas Howkings' helper, rose in open rebellion against the session during his superior's illness; and we were constrained to augment his pay, and to promise him the place if Thomas did not recover, which it was then thought he could not do.
"Fash na yer heid, Saunders, aboot them," said the old betheral at the door; "it's me that's to be grave-digger, but ye shall howk them a' the same in the mornin', an' get the siller, for I'm far ower frail ye can hae them a' by afore nine o'clock, an' the minister disna pu' up his bedroom blind till ten!"