h the toe of his stocking--the minister watching with interest
to see if he could do it without burning the wool--"I hae saved twunty
pounds, and I thocht o' layin' it oot on the improvement o' my mind.
It's a heap o' money, I ken; but, then, my mind needs a feck o'
impruvement--if ye but kenned hoo ignorant I am, ye wadna wonder. Ay,
ay"--taking, as it were, a survey of the whole ground--"my mind will
stand a deal o' impruvement. It's gey rough, whinny grund, and has never
been turned owre. But I was thinkin' Enbra wad gie it a rare bit lift.
What do ye think o' the professors there? I was hearin' some o' them
wasna thocht muckle o'!"

The minister moved a little uneasily in his chair, and settled his
circular collar.

"Well," he said, "they are able men--most of them."

He was a cautious minister.

"Dod, an' I'm gled to hear ye sayin' that. It's a relief to my mind,"
said Simeon Gleg. "I dinna want to fling my twunty pound into the
mill-dam."

"But I understood you to say," went on the minister, "that you intended
to enter the ministry of the Kirk."

"Ou ay, that's nae dout my ettlin'. But that's a lang gate to gang, an'
in the meantime my object in gaun to the college is juist the
cultivation o' my mind."

The wondrous apple-faced ploughboy in the red-sleeved bed-gown looked
thoughtfully at the palms of his horny hands as he reeled off this
sentence. But he had more to say.

"I think Greek and Laitin wull be the best way. Twunty pounds'
worth--seven for fees an' the rest for providin'. But my mither says
she'll gie me a braxy ham or twa, an' a crock o' butter."

"But what do you know?" asked the minister. "Have you begun the
languages?"

Simeon Gleg wrestled a moment with the M.B. waistcoat, and from the
inside of it he extricated two books.

"This," he said, "is Melvin's Laitin Exercises, an' I hae the Rudiments
at hame. I hae been through them twice. An' this is the Academy Greek
Rudiments. O man--I mean, O minister"--he broke out earnestly, "gin ye
wad juist gie the letters a bit rin owre. I dinna ken hoo to mak' them
soond!"

The minister ran over the Greek letters.

The eyes of Simeon Gleg were upturned in heartfelt thankfulness. His
long arms danced convulsively upon his knees. He shot out his
red-knotted fingers till they cracked with delight.

"Man, man, an' that's the soond o' them! It's awsome queer! But, O,
it's bonny, bonny! There's nocht like the Greek and the Laitin!"

Now, there we