Litchfield enquirer., 1831-06-02


 tke ScOtt;sh SecessiOn.-The only amuse' 4 ments in which this celebrated man indul. ! ged was playing on the violin. He was sr great a proficient on this instrument, and ! so often beeuiIed his hours with it, that the | people of Dunfermline believed that he
 composed his sermons to its tunes, as a pO-
 ct writes songs to peculiar air. They ale
 so tell the following traditiOnary anecdotC
 connected with the subject. A poor man
 in one of the neighboring parishes, having child to baptise, resolved not to employ his own clergyman, with whom he was al issue on certain points of doctrine, but to have the office performed by some minis ter of whose tenets fame gave better report. With the child in his arms, therefore, and attended by the full complement of old and young women, who usually minister on such occasions, he proceeded to the parish Of, some miles off, (not that ot Mir.
 Erskine,) where he inquired if the clergy man was at home. Ma, said the servant, he's down at the bl look, fishing, bat can soon cry him in.' 'Ye need na give your self the trouble,' replied the man, qni C shocked at this account of tho minister's habifs-' none of your laShin' minister's shall baptise my chiId.' or then, they all trudged some miles An another minister.- On inquiring for the minister, the maid an- swcred, Deed, he's na at home he's been out since sax in the morning at the shooting: ye need na wait neither, for he'll be so made out, (fatigued) when he comes back that he'll not be able to say boo to calf.' Wait, lassie ? cried the man in tone ofindignation. wad wait, ye think, to hauld up my child before minister that gangs out at six in the morning to shoot Gods own creatures? I'll awe down to guide MT. Erskine at Dunfermline, and he'll neither be out fishing or the shooting, ! think The whole baptismal train then set off for Dunfermline, sure that the Fa- ther of the Secession, although not now a placed minister, would at least be engaged in no unclerical sports, to incapscitate him for performing the sacred ordinance in question. On their reaching however, the house of the clergyman, which they did not do till late in the evening, the man in rap- ping at the door anticipated that he would not be at home any more than his brethren, as he heard the strains of fiddle proceed ing from an upper chamber. 'The minis fer will not be at home,' he said with sly smile, to the girl, who came to the door, or your lad (sweetheart) wad na be play ing that gate t'ye on the 6ddle.' 'The minister is at home,' quoth the girl, and that's himself that's playing, honest man. He takes tune at night, before going to bed there's na lad o'mine can play that gate; it wad be something to tell if any O them could.' That the minister, play ing,' cried the man, in degree of aston- ishment and horror, far transcending what he had expressed on either of the former occasions, sif he does this, what may the rest do? Well, fairly give them up al- togitber. have travelled this whole day in search of godly minister, and never man met with more disappointment in a days journey. I'll tell you what, gude wife, he added, turning to the disconso- late party behind, we'll just away back to our own minister, after all! He's not al- togither sound, it's true but let him be what he likes in doctrine, I never found him to fish, shoot, or play on the fiddle, all his days !'-Liverpool Times.
 Excuse for Voting in q Hury.-A gen. tleman at the recent charter election in N. York, had made up his mind to vote for a certain candidate for Alderman; but hap pening to fall into conversation respecting the merits of the two candidates, he receiv. ed such an account of the dishonesty of hi man, that he straightway resolved to vot' for the other. But again falling into con
 versation with men of different views, h' understood his new candidate to be nearl,
 as great rogue as the old one. This wa.
 somewhat of puzzling case but never
 theless. one which, in the mind ofthe voter
 required despatch; for,' said he, if
 wait five minutes longer, my new man will
 be as bad as the old one, and then, shal
 never be able to make up my mind agair
 which shall vote for Accordingly he hastened to the poll, without stepping te speak to any one, and cast in his vote fo, the man who, by the latest accounts, ap. peared to be the lesser rogna of the twn.