I heard one of them mention the ‘Caleb Jay,’ and I stayed my steps a moment to hear the reply.
‘Ay,’ said Tom, ‘he was a plucky little beggor iv his way, an’ useful tae, an’ I was often sorry for him, he wes sae tarr’ble ugly! But, ho-way, I’s plenty brass on me, and I’ll treat ye aal tiv anuthor beor!’
GEORDIE ARMSTRONG, ‘THE JESU-YTE’
I.
Geordie Armstrong, after a somewhat stormy past, had become a steady hewer, and a local preacher of some repute. Never a Sunday but he was ‘planned’ to speak at this or that village, and frequently, as he found opportunity, would ‘pit in a bit overtime’ at a ‘class-meeting’ or ‘knife-an’-fork tea,’ when the ‘asking a blessing’ or a returning of thanks might furnish occasion for a ‘bit extemporizin’.’ He was in receipt of excellent wages down the pit; his wordly goods comprised, as he often proclaimed, a ‘bonny, an’ what’s o’ far mair importance, a godly missus, three canny bairns, a cosy hoos, a fine little librairee, an’ a tarr’ble fertile garden.’
As he thought upon the sum of his blessings one Saturday night when, after having ‘weshed hissel’ an’ had his tea,’ he proceeded to light his pipe, he felt he could only properly describe himself as a ‘varitable corn-u-cop-ye-ar ov happiness.’
Yet even then, even in that depth of felicity, an uneasy feeling would intrude: the memory of Scotty would float to the surface of his mind, and the thought of the ‘parlous state’ in which his old ‘marrow’ (mate) stood would ruffle its calm placidity.
This was ‘the little rift within the lute’; here was the caterpillar in the ‘corn-u-cop-ye-ar,’ and, like the Apostle Paul of old, he was fain to accept his trial, in the spirit of true humility, as a judgment upon him for the failings of his past life.
It was not for lack of trying that Scotty refused to come to chapel; indeed, Geordie had so vexed him with his importunity that Scotty had refused to work with him any longer, and was now employed further ‘in-by’ with another mate. But for all that, Geordie felt certain that the cause of failure lay with himself, due probably to his weakness in faith, to lack of some essential or other, and that the blame of Scotty’s not being ‘brought to the Lord’ lay at his door.