this bustle and difficulty, the manner in which they, and
particularly the elder of the girls, performed everything, was perfectly
graceful. We ate a hearty dinner, and had time to get our clothes quite
dry before the arrival of the boat. The girls could not say at what time
it would be at home; on our asking them if the church was far off they
replied, 'Not very far;' and when we asked how far, they said, 'Perhaps
about four or five miles.' I believe a Church of England congregation
would hold themselves excused for non-attendance three parts of the year,
having but half as far to go; but in the lonely parts of Scotland they
make little of a journey of nine or ten miles to a preaching. They have
not perhaps an opportunity of going more than once in a quarter of a
year, and, setting piety aside, have other motives to attend: they hear
the news, public and private, and see their friends and neighbours; for,
though the people who meet at these times may be gathered together from a
circle of twenty miles' diameter, a sort of neighbourly connexion must be
so brought about. There is something exceedingly pleasing to my
imagination in this gathering together of the inhabitants of these
secluded districts--for instance, the borderers of these two large lakes
meeting at the deserted garrison which I have described. The manner of
their travelling is on foot, on horseback, and in boats across the
waters,--young and old, rich and poor, all in their best dress.

If it were not for these Sabbath-day meetings one summer month would be
like another summer month, one winter month like another--detached from
the goings-on of the world, and solitary throughout; from the time of
earliest childhood they will be like landing-places in the memory of a
person who has passed his life in these thinly peopled regions; they must
generally leave distinct impressions, differing from each other so much
as they do in circumstances, in time and place, etc.,--some in the open
fields, upon hills, in houses, under large rocks, in storms, and in fine
weather.

But I have forgotten the fireside of our hut. After long waiting, the
girls, who had been on the look-out, informed us that the boat was
coming. I went to the water-side, and saw a cluster of people on the
opposite shore; but being yet at a distance, they looked more like
soldiers surrounding a carriage than a group of men and women; red and
green were the distinguishable colours. We haste