“Ye ken me, lads,” he began; “we’ve had lots o’ fun in the water afore noo. But we canna be soomin’ a’ the time, and so oor frien’ Maister Gray has arranged to hae an evenin’s fun in the school ilka week, an’ he wants you a’ to come. We’re goin’ to hae some refreshments noo, so ye can juist hae a crack wi’ ane anither till the young ladies hand roon’ the tea.”
At first they were too shy to take advantage of the opportunity to chat, but ere long the hum of conversation mingled with the clatter of cups and plates.
The ice was broken, and we never again permitted it to freeze up. It took a good many weeks to get in touch with the young men, but quiet, persistent effort won the day.
Before the long winter had come to an end we had introduced popular lectures in simple colloquial phraseology; occasional magic-lantern exhibitions were given; and now and then we spent the evenings in parlor games of various kinds.
Some of the young fellows braved the scorn of their neighbors and came to our Sunday evening services; these brought others, and so the work progressed. We had many who fell away and went back to their old loafing ways—their drinking and gambling and worse—but, in spite of many difficulties, our pioneer work began to tell. Before long I had about a dozen in training for confirmation, and very soon after I had been admitted to the diaconate I presented my class to the rector, who approved of the candidates and presented them to the bishop for the “laying on of hands.”
The nucleus of a mission congregation, thus formed, developed under my successors in the curacy into a large and flourishing church. In the meantime I obtained the desire of my heart, that of being sent to the pastorate of one of the old congregations that had lived on and flourished through the persecutions that followed the Jacobite Rising of 1745.
VII. Drumscondie
I DO not suppose that one out of every ten Scotsmen has ever heard of Drumscondie, seeing that it is only a little bit of a place (I call it a village; but the inhabitants thereof dignify it with the appellation of “town”), occupying an obscure corner of what many regard as the most obscure county on the east coast of Scotland. At the present time, it has little about it to attract notice from the busy world around, but this was not always the case. In the days when the stern and masterful Douglases were lords paramount of that part of the country, when——