Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 20

Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 20

It is now about twenty years sin' I first raised my voice in the desk o' the kirk o' St Fillan's, in the parish o' that name, and He wha out o' the mouths o' babes and sucklins did ordain praise, hath never thought meet, by means o' ony catarrh, cynanche, quinsy, toothache, or lock-jaw, to close up my mouth, and prevent me frae leadin the congregation in a clear, melodious strain, to the worship o' the Chief Musician. When I was ordained session clerk, schoolmaster, and precentor, I had already passed about thirty years o' my pilgrimage; yet filled wi' Latin and Greek, till my pia mater was absolutely like to burst, I had, notwithstanding, nae trade by the hand. The reason was this. My father, who had been for forty years sexton o' the parish, had seen, wi' an e'e lang practised in searchin for traces o' death in the faces o' parishionersfor the labourer maun live by his hire, and the merchant by his customers, "and thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands"a pleasant leucophlegmatic tinge about the gills o' Jedediah Cameron, my predecessor in the three offices already mentioned. Weel, as the[Pg 2] husbandman in dry weather, when his fields are parched, and his braird thin and weak, watches the clouds that contain rainmair precious to him than the ointment that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's dry beardmy guid father watched the dropsical signs or indications in Jedediah's face, daily and hourly, in the fair and legitimate hope o' gettin the aridity o' my starvin condition quenched and satisfied. He was an argute sexton, and had learned, in his younger days, some smatterin o' Latin, though I never could ascertain that he retained more of the humane lear, than the twa proverbs, "Vita mortalium brevis," "Life is short," which comes originally frae Homer; and "Pecuni obediunt omnia," which comes frae the sixth chapter o' Ecclesiastes"Money answereth all things." ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 37217
Author: Wilson, John Mackay
Release Date: Aug 26, 2011
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Leighton, Alexander, 1800-1874