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'An' if the folk at hame kenned this mair, dinna ye think the emigration wad be thrice what it is, Mr. Robert? Dinna ye think they wad risk the sea an' the strangers, to make a safe future for their bairns? Ay, surely. An' when I think o' the people treading one anither down over the edges o' thae three little islands, while a country as big as Europe stands amaist empty here' Mr.
"Ay," replied Andrew; "but he left it yestreen, to gang to Greystock, or some o' thae west-country haulds. There's an unco stir among them a' e'enow. They are as busy as my bees are God sain them! that I suld even the puir things to the like o' papists. Ye see this is the second swarm, and whiles they will swarm off in the afternoon. The first swarm set off sune in the morning.
"'It will affront no gentleman, replied she 'at least, no honest man to ask him for what is your own. Therefore, ask him for your money. Remember, Nicholas, that the simple man is the beggar's brother. "'O dear, woman! says I, 'ye ken I dinna like to hear thae words.
"For ma ain pairt," Soutar used to declare, "a' canna mak' up my mind, but there's ae thing sure: the Glen wudna like tae see him withoot them; it wud be a shock tae confidence. There's no muckle o' the check left, but ye can aye tell it, and when ye see thae breeks comin' in ye ken that if human pooer can save yir bairn's life it 'ill be dune."
An' yet, mind ye, Smillie seemed to me to be a straight-forret man an' yin that was sincere. Still, ye can never tell; an' twa-three hunner pound's a big temptation to a man." "Ay," said Tam dryly, "we hae been diddled sae often wi' bigmoothed men on the make, that it mak's a body ay suspicious when yin hears thae stories.
I trust the house wunna coup the crane for a' that's come and gane yet; and if it does, I'll never bear sae base a mind as thae corbies in the Gallowgate an I am to lose by ye, I'se ne'er deny I hae won by ye mony a fair pund sterling Sae, an it come to the warst, I'se een lay the head o' the sow to the tail o' the grice."* * Anglice, the head of the sow to the tail of the pig.
The traditions of their native land were tenderly cherished by them all, and many were the stories they related of the old days in Scotland and of the day whereon they looked their last upon the unforgotten heather. One of my first visits was to Mrs. Gavin Toshack, whom I found in a reminiscent mood. "Ay," she said, "we're a' Scotch aboot thae pairts; an' God keep us sae.
She took pepper in the nose, and went affa gude week afore it suld ha'e been; and a gude riddance o' ill rubbish, say I. Mrs Kezia and Miss Sophy, they are at hame, a' richt: and Miss Hatty comes back in a twa-three days, without thae young leddies suld gang till London toun, and gin they do she'll gang wi' 'em." "Father is not married?" I exclaimed. "He's better aff," said Sam, determinedly.
But take your breakfast, Harry, and then lay by your new green coat, and put on your Raploch grey; it's a mair mensfu' and thrifty dress, and a mair seemly sight, than thae dangling slops and ribbands."
"Deed, aye, ma'am, he's weel awa'. He has sic a wark wi' thae laddies an' their bit bairn o' a mither, I'll no say he'd been easy keepit out o' the thick o' the distress, an' it's may be no surprisin', after a' that's come and gane, that he seeks to take siccan a lift of the concern.
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