Morning journal and courier., 1893-02-11

wish to record conclusion from ex tended observation in favor of the lowly women of Scotland. We have all read much in books, and in the prints where names are not often enough signed to peoples, to the effect that lowly women of Scotch towns and cities are ail wotully ad- dicted to drink. do not believe it.
 They drink, but neither do all nor even any important percentage indulge in liq uor at all. Those who do often get "cheery," and no doubt they would be better off without it. But I have never seen Scotch woman, high or low, in or out of Scotland, even in the most wretch ed wynds and closes of Edinburgh or Glss- gov, approaching that emphatic condition termed lighting drunk"
 So, too, I am inclined to believe that th- drinking prowess of Scotchmen has been greatly exaggerated. Scotch literature, es- pecislly that portion giving expression to Scotch life and customs of a century ago, is certainly full of the humor and pathos of drunkenness. Perhaps Sootcbmen were drinkers of valor then; but there is not 8 more moderate and we'll ordered people to- day. The old drinking bouts of tae clan chiefs, and, later, of the small nobility and country notables, gre no more From the great St. Andrew feasts down through the countless grades of social festival and cheer to the simple heart lightenings of the fisher folk, beside the wild sea-loohs, who were once almost savage in their thirst for strong drink, guzzling and drunken ness are almost unknown. "Tay"-and oceans of this-''the cup that cheers but not inebriates" has almost universally dis placed the fiery uequebough of old. If Il fondness for liquor fingers in Scotland as clsss peculisrity, it still holds among those "children of the mist" those impet- uous, canny. though ever winsome High landers of the north. In my wanderings among them I have found ons curious characteristic They are born religious disputants. Warm up tue cookies of their hearts with drop of peat whiskey end they are masters of polemios. It is then that they will stoutly assert that Adam spoke Gaelic and that the Bible was origi nslly written in Gaelic. As Highland clergyman of Strathglass once told me: "One glass makes them doctrinal enthusi- asts; two sets them expoundiDg every point upon Justification Adoption and 'Sanoti6cation' in an ecstacy of argumen tative frenzy; and, I sometimes think, with another, they would stop on their way into heaven and hotly engage St. Pe ter himself"
 Many anecdotes are still related in the north of Scotland concerning the drink ing habits of the Highlanders One old shepherd of Glen Affric fell i'll and was cut down by his physician to an allow ance of two ounces of whiskey per day, on pain of death if this should be exceed ed. Wholly ignorant of the exact uanti ty, yet ruminatively whispering over his misfortune, he stealthily called his grand son to his bedside and asked:
 Bobby, dye ken yer tables, noo?"
 "Ay, gran'fay'r, n try me thenr
 "Hoo mickle be twa oonces, nooa'
 1.-Two oonces!-two oonces! Hoot! Sax teen drachms mak tn oonce; sax"
 "Twa times saxteen drams tn dayl" shouted the sick man uproariously. "The Lord be praised for sic oeevil dochterl"
 Another Highlander has been brought to his death-bed from exposure and hard drinking. His fearful family and the min ister stood by his bedside praying for some token of repentance in his lsst moments. The minister noticing @ strange light in his eyes bent over him and eagerly in- quired:
 "Sandy, Sandy, what is the greatest wish of your soul?"
 ''For michty Loch Lommond of whus- keyl'
 The minister was stsgge ed, but almost pitifully continued his entreaty with, "But what is the second9 Oh, mon, mon, re- member eternttyl"
 oh, ay, guid meenister," gasped Sandy faintly; r-Loch-Lommond -o'-whuskey!" EDGAR L. WAkEMAN.