one their duty and
went home. The U. P. bell did not ring at all, and the kirk gates were
not opened. The Free Kirk did bravely, however. The attendance in the
forenoon amounted to seven, including the minister; but in the
afternoon there was a turn-out of upwards of fifty. How much
denominational competition had to do with this, none can say; but the
general opinion was that this muster to afternoon service was a piece
of vainglory. Next Sunday all the kirks were on their mettle, and,
though the snow was drifting the whole day, services were general. It
was felt that after the action of the Free Kirk the Establisheds and
the U. P.'s must show what they too were capable of. So, when the
bells rang at eleven o'clock and two, church-goers began to pour out of
every close. If I remember aright, the victory lay with the U. P.'s by
two women and a boy. Of course the Auld Lichts mustered in as great
force as ever. The other kirks never dreamt of competing with them.
What was regarded as a judgment on the Free Kirk for its boastfulness
of spirit on the preceding Sunday happened during the forenoon. While
the service was taking place a huge clod of snow slipped from the roof
and fell right against the church door. It was some time before the
prisoners could make up their minds to leave by the windows. What the
Auld Lichts would have done in a similar predicament I cannot even
conjecture.

That was the first warning of the thaw. It froze again; there was more
snow; the thaw began in earnest; and then the streets were a sight to
see. There was no traffic to turn the snow to slush, and, where it had
not been piled up in walls a few feet from the houses, it remained in
the narrow ways till it became a lake. It tried to escape through
doorways, when it sank slowly into the floors. Gentle breezes created
a ripple on its surface, and strong winds lifted it into the air and
flung it against the houses. It undermined the heaps of clotted snow
till they tottered like icebergs and fell to pieces. Men made their
way through it on stilts. Had a frost followed, the result would have
been appalling; but there was no more frost that winter. A fortnight
passed before the place looked itself again, and even then congealed
snow stood doggedly in the streets, while the country roads were like
newly ploughed fields after rain. The heat from large fires soon
penetrated through roofs of slate and thatch; and it was quite a commo