The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-07-26
Scottish Hospitality Sixty Years Ago

In those days Scotland would have been
rich field for Father Matthews labors
Habits of drunkenness were common alike
to rich and poor. They were associated
with good fellowship, and were teDderly
dealt with, even by the Church. The or
gies of Osbaldistone Hall, graphically de-
scribed in " Rob Roy" found their counter
part in many Scottish manor. The old
bacchanalian rhyme
He who goes to bed, goes to bed sober,
Falls as the leaves do and dies in October:
But he that goes to bed, goes to bed mellow,
Lives long, jolly life and dies an honest fellow.
was quoted, half in earnest, as apology for
the excuses which wealthy and respecta-
BILE hosts, under the guise Of hospitality, lit
orally forced upon their guests, when the
cloth was drawn and the ladies had aban-
doned the dinner table to their riotous
lords and masters. fTt#& - q
have heard my father, more than once,
relate what happened on such an occasion,
when he was one of the actors. He had
been dining with party of eight or ten
gentlemen and few ladies at the luxurious
country-seat of friend, who had shown him
much kindness. When the ladies withdrew,
the host, having caused the butler to set out
on the table two dozen bottles of port,
sherry, and claret, locked the door, put the
key in his pocket, and said to his guests,
Gentleman, no Sinking tonight Not a
man leaves this room till these bottles are
emptied."
No remark was made in reply, and the
wine passed round. My father drank three
glasses, and the utmost limit to which have
ever known him to go, though he habitually
took glass or two of sherry after dinner.
At the fourth round he passed the bottles
without filling. His host remonstrated-at
first in jest, then in halfangry tone
when the recusant persisted 1hereupon
my father, approaching front window,
which opened on the lawn, only few feet
below it, threw up the sash and leaped out,
followed by three or four other guests.
This enraged their host. As the fugi-
tives looked back, they saw him upset the
dinner-table with violent kick. smashing
bottles and glasses, and declaring with an
oath, that if they didn't choose to drink
that wine nobody else should.
The deserters joined the ladies in the
drawing-room but the host did not reap
pear and my father, as leading conspirator,
lost and never regained his friendship
Robert Dale O1cen's .Autobiowaphy, in
Atlantic Monthly"
The STUDENTS TRIcK-A young man of
eighteen or twenty, student in university,
took walk one day with professor, who
was commonly called the students friend,
such was his kindness to the young men
whom it was his Office to instruct While
they were walking together and the profes-
sor was seeking to lead the conversation to
grave subjects, they saw pair of old shoes
lying in their path, which they supposed be-
longed to poor man who was at work close
by, and who had nearly finished his days
work.
The young student turned to the profess
sor, saying, Let us play the man trick
we will hide his shoes and conceal ourselves
behind those bushes, and watch to see his
perpleXity when he can not find them'
My dear friend" answered the professor,
"we must never amuse ourselves at the ex-
pense of the poor. But you are rich, and
you may give yourself much greater
pleasure. Put dollar into each shoe, and
then we will hide ourselves"
The student did so, and then placed him.
self with the professor behind the bushes
close by, through which they could easily
watch the laborer, and see whatever wonder
or Joy he might express.
The poor man soon finished his work, and
came across the field to the path, where he
had left his coat and Shoes While he put
on the coat he slipped one foot into one of
| his shoes but feeling something hard, he
stopped down and found the dollar. Aston
ishment and wonder were seen upon his
countenance; he gazed upon the dollar,
turned around, and looked again, and again
then he looked around him on all sides. but
could see no one. Now he put the money
in his pocket and proceeded to put on the
other shoe, but how great was his astonish-
ment when he found the other dollar! His
feelings overcame him he fell upon his
knees, looked up to heaven and uttered
aloud fervent thanksgiving, in which he
spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his
children without bread, whom this timely
bounty, from some unknown hand, would
save from perishing. The young man stood
there deeply affected and tears filled his
eyes. ...r-. -.. ..-......
Now" said the professor, are you not
much better pleased than if you had played
your intended trick?"
90, dearest SIR" answered the youth,
you have taught me lesson now that |
win never forget. / feel now the truth of
the words which never before understood
1t is better to give than to receive"
FRAGMENTS OF TIME.-In order to achieve
some good work which you have much at
heart, you may not be able to secure an en-
tire week, or even an uninterrupted day
| But try what You can make of the broken
fragments of time. Clean up its golden
dust-those raspings and parings of precious
duration--those leavings of the days and
remnants Of the hours, which may soon
sweep out into the waste of existence And
thus, if you be a miser of moments-if YOU
be frugal. and hoard up odd minutes and
half-hours, and unexpected holidays-your
gleanlngs may exc out a long and useful
life, and you may die at last, richer in exist
ence tn IN multitudes whose time is all their
own. That which some men waste in su-
perfuous slumber, and idle visits, and des.
ultory application, were it all redeemed
would give them wealth of leisure, and en-
able them to execute undertakings for which
they deem less worried life than theirs es-
sentlal. When person says, ] have no
time to pray, no time to read the Bible, no
time to improve my mind, or to do kind
turn to neighbor," he may be saying what
he thinks, but he should not think what he
says; for if he has not got the time already
he may get it By redeeming it, Hamilton.
1t is said that if Maud Muller had her life
to live over again, and should meet the
| Judge in this year of grace 1879. she would