h in his youth, and, instead of hurrying hither
and thither, preaching in vacancies, scheming and intriguing, he dwells
all his days among his own people, he himself knows three generations,
and accumulates a store of practical wisdom for the help of his people.
What may be the place of the clergyman in an English parish, and what
associations of sympathy and counsel the rectory may have for the
English farm-labourer, it is not permitted to a northern man to know,
but it is one good thing at least in our poor land that the manse is
another word for guidance and good cheer, so that Jean advises Jock in
their poor little perplexity about a new place to "slip doon an' see
the Doctor," and Jock, although appearing to refuse, does "gie a cry at
the manse," and comes home to the gude-wife mightily comforted.

The manse builders of the ancient days were men of a shrewd eye and
much wisdom. If anywhere the traveller in the north country sees a
house of moderate size peeping from among a clump of trees in the lap
of a hill where the north-easter cannot come and the sun shines full
and warm, then let him be sure that is the manse, with the kirk and
God's acre close beside, and that the fertile little fields around are
the glebe, which the farmers see are ploughed and sown and reaped first
in the parish. Drumtochty Manse lay beneath the main road, so that the
cold wind blowing from the north went over its chimneys, and on the
east it was sheltered by the Tochty woods. Southwards it overlooked
the fields that sloped towards the river, and westwards, through some
ancient trees, one study window had a peep of the west, although it was
not given to the parish manse to lie of an evening in the glory of the
setting sun, as did the Free Kirk. Standing at the gate and looking
down beneath the beeches that stood as sentinels on either side of the
little drive, one caught a pleasant glimpse of the manse garden, with
its close-cut lawn and flower-beds and old summer-house and air of
peace. No one troubled the birds in that place, and they had grown
shameless in their familiarity with dignities--a jackdaw having once
done his best to steal the Doctor's bandana handkerchief and the robins
settling on his hat. Irreverence has limits, and in justice to a
privileged friend it ought to be explained that the Doctor wore on
these occasions an aged wide-awake and carried no gold-headed stick.
His dog used to follow him step by step as he fed the