Donald—"Hoot, toot, the stipit body! Could he no bocht it, and no paid for 't."
This explains why the Scotch prisons are relatively empty. Donald is often in the county court, but seldom in the police-court.
A good Scot begins the day with the following prayer:
"O Lord! grant that I may take no one in this day, and that no one may take me in. If Thou canst grant me but one of these favours, O Lord, grant that no one may take me in."
He would be a clever fellow, however, who could take in Donald.
There is no country where compacts are more faithfully kept than in Scotland. When you have the signature of a Scotchman in your pocket, you may make your mind easy; but, if you sign an agreement with him, you may be certain that he runs no risk of repenting of the transaction.
He is rarely at fault in his reckoning; but if, by chance, an error escapes him, it is not he who suffers by it.
I must hasten, however, to say that the honesty of the Scotch in England is proverbial. I have always heard the English say they liked doing business with Scotch firms, because they had the very qualities desirable in a customer: straight-forwardness and solvency.
Donald's honesty is all the more admirable, because he is firmly convinced in his heart, that he will go straight to Paradise whatever he may do. You will confess that there is danger about a Christian who feels sure that many things shall be forgiven him.