The record-union., 1898-11-09
SOME SCOTCH TALES.
just Imported From the Land Of
the Thistle.

Did hear any Scotch stories while
Was gomez" repeated John Johnston
this morning why, yes-some brand
new ones. some old ones reset, several
taken, as the Scotch people often do,
from what is ancient history and Just
as funny in spite of that or because
Of it, And. some heard happen, so to
speak, nyself.''
Mr.. Johnston's summer in Aberdeen
shire has been fruitful Of some very
funny incidents on the railway and off,
and he tells them with that rare Scotch
flavor of accent and intonation about
which one never tires of taking. Some
OF his new stories bring with thsm
the very pictures of the old Scotch
housewives from whom they came.
There is no special part of the
country" said Mr. Johnston, ''in which
the stories originated. They seem to
come from all over Scotland. And they
seem to be appreciated everywhere,
too.
When l crossed the border from
England to Scotland" he said, II list
ened for a. good specimen of the Scot
tish dialect. At this season it is GUS
tomary, even on the finest. day, for
flying showers to pass over the coun-
try, drenching everything, followed in
few minutes by bright sunshine, dry
ing everything up again in a veIy
short time That rain stopped for a
few minutes at Lockerbie, which is
James A. Bryden's native place, when
heard one auld wife saw to anither:
Janet, it's a gay bit shoorie.' 'Ou, ay,'
says Janet, but it's nae what ye wud
ca weetin' rain.
Illustrative of the loyalty Of the
Scottish peasant women for the life
and ways of their fisherfolk, Mr.. John
ston tells this:
During the summer the northeast
coast of Scotland is full of fisherfolk-
men and Women-from the Highlands,
who come. to get work at the great
herring harvests. Some of them are
rather rough, and the residents do not
always speak we'll of them. In riding
on. the train from Auehnagatt to Aber-
deem one morning my friend and l
werespeaking about fisherfolk. We We're
saying nothing derogatory of them,
but an old woman on the car evidently
thought so, for by and by she broke
forth, saying: Indeed, ye forget that
when our Savior had to choose His
apostles He passed by all ither occupa-
tions and chose them from the fisher
folk
''I went to the old United Presby
terian Kirk said Mr.. Johnston, ''at
Savoch, about a mile from our farm,
and 1 was. reminded of a good story
about the minister some sixty years
ago. His name was the Rev. David
Cav, and he was very diminutive,
standing only about five feet two
t. Ial fIn 1for C%r
ping, handsome lass some five or six
inches taller than he, and her name
was Grace Wilson. The Sunday after
the wedding he got a neighboring min
lister to preach for him, so that he
could sit with his bride on the. first
Sunday. The minister was good deal
of a wag, so Mr. Cav made him prom
ise faithfully that he would not allude
in his sermon to himself his bride, or
the fact of the marriage. So he prom
ised that in his sermon he would make
no anusion of that kind whatever: but
Mr.. Caw nearly sank through the floor
when the text-was given out, Ephe-
slams iii 8: Unto me. who am less
than 1.-THE least of all saints, is this
Grace given
Another story Mr.. Johnston tells is
vouched for, he says, by every appre-
ciative Scotsman who tells it, and so
it must be- It is this:
I'm Braemar there lived a good old
Scotch father whose portion of worldly
goods was a fair one, except that they
included a sco1ding, wife. She was
noted all up and down the shire Tor
her sharp tongue and her husband,
best Of all, was prepared to judge for
this One day she died, to all appear
ances. Preparations were made for the
funeral, and, indeed it had progressed
so far as the carrying out of the COT
fin, when in the narrow passage the
well-meaning but awkward pall-bear-
ers jostled against 1t, and it was hit
smartly upon the casing of the door
The. next minute the scolding and only
partly departed wife had come to life
and sat UP in her cerements. What
she said is not recorded, but few
years after that she died again, and
this time they were fairly sure that
they were dealing with the real thing
But when they bore her down the hall
again the bereaved husband called out
in a shriI1 and anxious treble:
''Ca canny! Ca canny! Goo care
fully.) 1t was there that she cam
roun' last timei' '"-Milwaukee Sentinel