doon, though
the place wasna exackly like a kirk a'thegither. But the minister had a
gift o' prayer and o' preaching as weel; and the fowk a' sang as gin't
was pairt o' their business to praise God, for fear he wad tak it frae
them and gie't to the stanes. Whan I cam oot, and was gaein quaietly
back to the public, there cam first ae sober-luikin man up to me, and
he wad hae me hame to my denner; and syne their cam an auld man, and
efter that a man that luikit like a sutor, and ane and a' o' them wad
hae me hame to my denner wi' them--for no airthly rizzon but that I was
a stranger. But ye see I cudna gang 'cause my frien' was waitin' for
his till I gaed back. Efter denner, I speirt at the landlady gin she
cud tell me what they ca'd themsels, the fowk 'at gathered i' that
pairt o' the toon; and says she, 'I dinna ken what they ca'
them--they're nae customers o' mine--but I jist ken this, they're
hard-workin' fowk, kind to ane anither. A'body trusts their word. Gif
ony o' them be sick, the rest luiks efter them till they're better; and
gin ony o' them happens to gang the wrang gait, there's aye three or
four o' them aboot him, till they get him set richt again. 'Weel,' says
I, 'I dinna care what they ca' them; but gin ever I jine ony kirk, that
s' be the kirk.' Sae, efter that, whan ance I had gotten a sure houp, a
rael grun' for believin' that I was ane o' the called and chosen, I
jist jined mysel' to them that sud be like them--for they ca'd them a'
Missionars."

"Is that lang sin syne?"

"Ay, it's twenty year noo."

"I thocht as muckle. I doobt they hae fared like maist o' the new
fashions."

"Hoo that?"

"Grown some auld themsel's. There's a feow signs o' decrepitude, no to
say degeneracy, amo' ye, isna there?"

"I maun alloo that. At the first, things has a kin' o' a swing that
carries them on. But the sons an' the dochters dinna care sae muckle
aboot them as the fathers and mithers. Maybe they haena come throw the
hards like them."

"And syne there'll be ane or twa cruppen in like that chosen vessel o'
grace they ca' Robert Bruce. I'm sure he's eneuch to ruin ye i' the
sicht o' the warl', hooever you and he may fare at heid-quarters, bein'
a' called and chosen thegither."

"For God's sake, dinna think that sic as him gies ony token o' being
ane o' the elec."

"Hoo wan he in than? They say ye're unco' particular. The Elec sud ken
an elec."

"It's the siller, man, that blin's the een o' them that hae to