mmendation for his great diligence. But he was the most
surprised "helper" in six counties when the minister struck at him
suddenly with his stick, and abruptly ordered him out of the school and
out of his employment.

"I did not bring ye frae Edinburgh to gang sneaking aboot my pairish
sugarin' the bairns an' flairdyin' the auld wives. Get Oot o' my sicht,
an' never let your shadow darken this pairish again, ye sneevlin'
scoondrel!"

Then he turned the children out to the green, letting some of the
laggards feel his stick as they passed. Thus was closed the first
Sabbath-school that was ever held in the village of Whunnyliggate. The
too-enthusiastic "helper" passed away like a dream, and the few folk who
journeyed every Sabbath from Whunnyliggate to the parish kirk by the
side of the Dee Water received the ordinances officially at noon each
Lord's Day, by being exhorted to "begin the public worship of God in
this parish" in the voice which a drill-sergeant uses when he exhorts an
awkward squad. Walter did not bring this event before the authorities at
Drumquhat. He knew that the blow of the minister's oaken staff was a
judgment on him for having had anything to do with an Erastian
Establishment.

After the catechising, the minister prayed. He prayed for the venerable
heads of the household, that they might have wisdom and discretion. He
prayed that in the younger members the fear of the Lord might overcome
the lust of the eye and the pride of life--for the sojourners, that the
God of journeying Israel might be a pillar of fire by night and of cloud
by day before them, and that their pilgrimage way might be plain. He
prayed for the young child, that he might be a Timothy in the
Scriptures, a Samuel in obedience, and that in the future, if so it were
the will of the Most High, he might be both witness and evangelist of
the Gospel.

III

THE MINISTER'S LOON

_Saw ye ae flour in a fair garden,
Where the lilac blossom blooms cheerily;
"Fairest and rarest ever was seen,"
Sing the merle and laverock merrily_.

_Watered o' dew i' the earliest morn,
Lilac blossom blooms cheerily;
Bield aboot wi' a sweet hawthorn,
Where the merle and lark sing merrily_.

_Wha shall pu' this flour o' the flours?
Lilac blossom blooms cheerily;
Wha hae for aye to grace their booers,
Where the merle and lark sing merrily_?

This is the note that came for me this morning. It was the herd of
Hanging Sha