eyond two closet beds, and its bumpy
earthen floor gave it a cheerless look. The other, which had a single
bed, was floored with wood. It was not badly lit by two very small
windows that faced each other, and, besides several stools, there was a
long form against one of the walls. A bright fire of peat and
coal--nothing in the world makes such a cheerful red fire as this
combination--burned beneath a big kettle ("boiler" they called it), and
there was a "press" or cupboard containing a fair assortment of cooking
utensils. Of these some belonged to the bothy, while others were the
private property of the tenants. A tin "pan" and "pitcher" of water
stood near the door, and the table in the middle of the room was
covered with oilcloth.

Four men and a boy inhabited this bothy, and the rain had driven them
all indoors. In better weather they spend the leisure of the evening
at the game of quoits, which is the standard pastime among Scottish
ploughmen. They fish the neighbouring streams, too, and have
burn-trout for supper several times a week. When I entered, two of
them were sitting by the fire playing draughts, or, as they called it,
"the dam-brod." The dam-brod is the Scottish labourer's billiards; and
he often attains to a remarkable proficiency at the game. Wylie, the
champion draught-player, was once a herd-boy; and wonderful stories are
current in all bothies of the times when his master called him into the
farm-parlour to show his skill. A third man, who seemed the elder by
quite twenty years, was at the window reading a newspaper; and I got no
shock when I saw that it was the _Saturday Review_, which he and a
labourer on an adjoining farm took in weekly between them. There was a
copy of a local newspaper--the _People's Journal_--also lying about,
and some books, including one of Darwin's. These were all the property
of this man, however, who did the reading for the bothy.

They did all the cooking for themselves, living largely on milk. In
the old days, which the senior could remember, porridge was so
universally the morning meal that they called it by that name instead
of breakfast. They still breakfast on porridge, but often take tea
"above it." Generally milk is taken with the porridge; but "porter" or
stout in a bowl is no uncommon substitute. Potatoes at twelve
o'clock--seldom "brose" nowadays--are the staple dinner dish, and the
tinned meats have become very popular. There are bothies where