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'Ay, but though we're doing well, it's no' the same as if they were a book with your name on it. So the ambitious woman would say with a sigh, and I did my best to turn the Auld Licht sketches into a book with my name on it.
For forty years they have been dying out, but their cold, stiff pews still echo the Psalms of David, and the Auld Licht kirk will remain open so long as it has one member and a minister. The church stands round the corner from the square, with only a large door to distinguish it from the other buildings in the short street.
Joey became a pedlar, and was found dead one raw morning dangling over a high wall within a few miles of Thrums. When climbing the dyke his pack had slipped back, the strap round his neck, and choked him. You could generally tell an Auld Licht in Thrums when you passed him, his dull vacant face wrinkled over a heavy wob.
For a moment it cam into my held that maybe he was walkin' in his sleep, but as he cam towards me I could see the glint o' the licht in his e'en, and his face was a' twistin', like a man that's in sair distress o' mind. On my conscience, it gies me the shakes noo when I think o' his tall figure and his yelley face comin' sae solemn and silent doon the lang, lone passage.
"Weel, a' we can dae noo, Weelum, gin we haena mickle brichtness in oor ain names, is tae keep the licht frae gaein' oot in anither hoose. Write the telegram, man, and Sandy 'ill send it aff frae Kildrummie this verra nicht, and ye 'ill hae yir man the morn." "Yir the man a' coonted ye, Drumsheugh, but ye 'ill grant me ae favor.
A wife was expected to assist at the loom as well as to be cunning in the making of marmalade and the firing of bannocks, and there was consequently some heartburning among the lads for maids of skill and muscle. The Auld Licht, however, who meant marriage seldom loitered in the streets.
"Speyk na like that o' the poopit, Jamie, whaur sae mony holy men hae stede up and spoken the word o' God! It frichts me to hear ye! Ye'll be a burnin and a shinin licht i' that poopit for mony a lang day efter we're deid and hame!" "The mair holy men that hae there witnessed, the less daur ony livin lee stan' there braggin and blazin i' the face o' God and man!
It was as well that these good men walked in a vain show, for, as a matter of fact, their hearers were painfully alive. "Whar did yon wakely body come frae, Burnbrae? it wes licht wark the day. There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed wes eked oot by repeetition. Tae sae naethin' o' bairnly stories." "He lives aboot England, a'm telt, an' dis a feck o' gude in his ain place.
There are few Auld Licht communities in Scotland nowadays perhaps because people are now so well off, for the most devout Auld Lichts were always poor, and their last years were generally a grim struggle with the workhouse. Many a heavy-eyed, back-bent weaver has won his Waterloo in Thrums fighting on his stumps.
It shall be holy to me as the licht; an' I sweir by the Trowth I'll think o' 't but as ye think, an' man nor wuman nor bairn, no even Gibbie himsel', sall ken " The last word broke the spell upon Ginevra. "But, Donal," she said, as quietly as when years ago they talked by the Lorrie side, "would it be right? a secret with you I could not tell to any one? not even if afterwards "
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