evening Prayer,--falling in sweet benediction on the
heads of all his children, far away many of them over all the earth, but
all meeting him there at the Throne of Grace.

Our place of worship was the Reformed Presbyterian Church at Dumfries,
under the ministry, during most of these days, of Rev. John McDermid--a
genuine, solemn, lovable Covenanter, who cherished towards my father a
warm respect, that deepened into apostolic affection when the yellow
hair turned snow-white and both of them grew patriarchal in their years.
The Minister, indeed, was translated to a Glasgow charge; but that
rather exalted than suspended their mutual love. Dumfries was four miles
fully from our Torthorwald home; but the tradition is that during all
these forty years my father was only thrice prevented from attending the
worship of God--once by snow, so deep that he was baffled and had to
return; once by ice on the road, so dangerous that he was forced to
crawl back up the Roucan Brae on his hands and knees, after having
descended it so far with many falls; and once by the terrible outbreak
of cholera at Dumfries.

Each of us, from very early days, considered it no penalty, but a great
joy, to go with our father to the church; the four miles were a treat to
our young spirits, the company by the way was a fresh incitement, and
occasionally some of the wonders of city-life rewarded our eager eyes. A
few other pious men and women, of the best Evangelical type, went from
the same parish to one or other favorite Minister at Dumfries; and when
these God-fearing peasants "forgathered" in the way to or from the House
of God, we youngsters had sometimes rare glimpses of what Christian talk
may be and ought to be.

We had, too, special Bible Readings on the Lord's Day evening,--mother
and children and visitors reading in turns, with fresh and interesting
question, answer, and exposition, all tending to impress us with the
infinite grace of a God of love and mercy in the great gift of His dear
Son Jesus, our Saviour. The Shorter Catechism was gone through
regularly, each answering the question asked, till the whole had been
explained, and its foundation in Scripture shown by the proof-texts
adduced. It has been an amazing thing to me, occasionally to meet with
men who blamed this "catechizing" for giving them a distaste to
religion; every one in all our circle thinks and feels exactly the
opposite. It laid the solid rock-foundations of our religious