ch the moment a psalm
was given out, and remained behind the door until the singing was
finished, when she returned, with a rustle, to her seat. Run line had
on her the effect of the reading of the Riot Act. Once some men,
capable of anything, held the door from the outside, and the
congregation heard Tibbie rampaging in the passage. Bursting into the
kirk she called the office-bearers to her assistance, whereupon the
minister in miniature raised his voice and demanded the why and
wherefore of the ungodly disturbance. Great was the hubbub, but the
door was fast, and a compromise had to be arrived at. The old lady
consented for once to stand in the passage, but not without pressing
her hands to her ears. You may smile at Tibbie, but ah! I know what
she was at a sick bedside. I have seen her when the hard look had gone
from her eyes, and it would ill become me to smile too.

As with all the churches in Thrums, care had been taken to make the
Auld Licht one much too large. The stair to the "laft" or gallery,
which was originally little more than a ladder, is ready for you as
soon as you enter the doorway, but it is best to sit in the body of the
kirk. The plate for collections is inside the church, so that the
whole congregation can give a guess at what you give. If it is
something very stingy or very liberal, all Thrums knows of it within a
few hours; indeed, this holds good of all the churches, especially
perhaps of the Free one, which has been called the bawbee kirk, because
so many halfpennies find their way into the plate. On Saturday nights
the Thrums shops are besieged for coppers by housewives of all
denominations, who would as soon think of dropping a threepenny bit
into the plate as of giving nothing. Tammy Todd had a curious way of
tipping his penny into the Auld Licht plate while still keeping his
hand to his side. He did it much as a boy fires a marble, and there
was quite a talk in the congregation the first time he missed. A
devout plan was to carry your penny in your hand all the way to church,
but to appear to take it out of your pocket on entering, and some
plumped it down noisily like men paying their way. I believe old
Snecky Hobart, who was a canty stock but obstinate, once dropped a
penny into the plate and took out a halfpenny as change, but the only
untoward thing that happened to the plate was once when the lassie from
the farm of Curly Bog capsized it in passing. Mr. Dishart, who w