The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1891-08-20
REMEMBERED SIR WALTER SCOTT
Also Knew James IIoEg and Says He
Was lad Shepherd.

The other day it WAS my fortune.
saws writer in the Christian Leader.
To meet worthy man of the old
Scotch school who, had heard. lived
near AbbotSford in his young days.
| asked him If he knew Sir Walter
Scott. Fine man that" ne replied. ''he
used 10 come in often TO my fathers
house, who was plowman on the
farm opposite Abbotsford. He was
fine mau 10 us callants. He had big
siaIhOund and often he gave us a ride
on il and many a penny I've got from
him. But ye would hae thocht he was
Il s1mp in his crackin' among the folks
no at Il the c,ever man folks
thought. He jast went about like an
aud herd
! asked if Sir Walter took up with
the Youngsters. He replied: He
WAS never happier than when he got
u clIIanIs together and we had shoot
inE with springguns; hC aye marked
for Us" | asked if he remembered
any Of Sir Walters family, to which
he replied: No, | just mind O. Sir
Wa!tcr He wasna sac muckle thocht
q taen as he was after he was deid
ttC it4NN s' N.iiif'i illtll TUE NulIIu,.
bat seldom Sir Walter" | said he
must have been writing his books
when YOU mind of him. Yes he
replied. but do yc 40 think he wrote
many lees though they were mixed
with insormatiou?" There was no use
replying to such Il remark as this.
''Sr Naitrr,' lie continued, though
IN inuIens.yc, fine kind o man, was
not much o Il Christian. question if
he almost ever read the bible or went
10 the kirk, though when he cam to
the end he said: Bring me the book
sud when asked what book replied:
There is but one book. ~
CA asking if he remembered the
Eitrick Shepherd. he replied: 'Ye
mean Jamie Hogg. l mind weel O.
him; he used TO come wi bit gig vi
4 white pOwny on visit to Anlra
-. a body wha was kind O. Il poet
like Jamie himself. He stated wi him
for some days, then Andrew went an
stopped wi HOgg, and Sir Walter us,sI
to gang back and forit wi the twu.
| asked what kind Of a man the Ellr.ck
Shepherd was. Though kind Z
clever, he was nae shepherd, for fL..
useless body let a the sheep Ct
scabbed. and though he had his farm
free from the duke O Buccleuch he
made naCthing OF but was ave lcuiu
his bills be overdue" | said he wuul
allow that Hogg wrote some l!le
songs. "Wecl," he replied '.tl:at
sang, When the Kye Comes Hame.' is
his best, and his Brownie o. Bodsbeca'
is raie ouid.n | asked him if U0oU
told Il story well.
He replied: Sir Walter could beat
him clean at storytelling. Hogg
kcepit three big lads, but didna look
after them; then he wad get angry vi
them. and for a that he would sit
doun wi them at nicht and tell them
stories!'
The last time he remembered seeing
Sir Walter was when he laid the fcun-
dation-stone of bridge at Ettrick. He
gave me a graphic account of Sir
Walter being present at games ia which
Selkirk aud Hawick were the rivals. /
Us Salkirk folks gained the day over
the ithers, yet Sir Walter stood up on
his conveyance and wanted to smooth
down the defeat Of the Hawick side. |
'1e'll hae been at Bryburgh?" re-
marked the old bOrderer. | was
obliged to confess that had not been
there. That's where Sir Walter il |
buried and the askines.n | asked, |
What Erskines?' Ralph and Eb-
eneZer, :" he replied. said | had read |
their lives but had not noted that fact. !
There they lie, tho" he replied;
I've Il their writings, the sonnets by |
Ralph as well as Boston; fine writer's
the hail o them" | said when ha
admired them SO much | wondered he |
did not get in among the scceders, who |
had made such Il noble stand. 1T is
not SO easy leaving your kirk" was
the reply; but for Il that the seceders
did reilly waukcn tacm up when they |
were a SQUAD sloerin',n Il.