s sent for us; but during the Dandy Doctor period the
school was closed earlier, for if detained until the usual hour the
teacher could not get us to leave the schoolroom. We would rather stay
all night supperless than dare the mysterious doctors supposed to be
lying in wait for us. We had to go up a hill called the Davel Brae
that lay between the schoolhouse and the main street. One evening just
before dark, as we were running up the hill, one of the boys shouted,
"A Dandy Doctor! A Dandy Doctor!" and we all fled pellmell back into
the schoolhouse to the astonishment of Mungo Siddons, the teacher. I
can remember to this day the amused look on the good dominie's face as
he stared and tried to guess what had got into us, until one of the
older boys breathlessly explained that there was an awful big Dandy
Doctor on the Brae and we couldna gang hame. Others corroborated the
dreadful news. "Yes! We saw him, plain as onything, with his lang
black cloak to hide us in, and some of us thought we saw a
sticken-plaister ready in his hand." We were in such a state of fear
and trembling that the teacher saw he wasn't going to get rid of us
without going himself as leader. He went only a short distance,
however, and turned us over to the care of the two biggest scholars,
who led us to the top of the Brae and then left us to scurry home and
dash into the door like pursued squirrels diving into their holes.

Just before school skaled (closed), we all arose and sang the fine
hymn "Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing." In the spring when the
swallows were coming back from their winter homes we sang--

"Welcome, welcome, little stranger,
Welcome from a foreign shore;
Safe escaped from many a danger ..."

and while singing we all swayed in rhythm with the music. "The
Cuckoo," that always told his name in the spring of the year, was
another favorite song, and when there was nothing in particular to
call to mind any special bird or animal, the songs we sang were widely
varied, such as

"The whale, the whale is the beast for me,
Plunging along through the deep, deep sea."

But the best of all was "Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing," though
at that time the most significant part I fear was the first three
words.

With my school lessons father made me learn hymns and Bible verses.
For learning "Rock of Ages" he gave me a penny, and I thus became
suddenly rich. Scotch boys are seldom spoiled with money. We thought
m