The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-13

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utive hours ON the first day of his ar
rival, whereupon all the people in des
pair, perhaps espoused the doctrines OF
the Free church. That was in 1865 and
the beginning of the real religious lite
of the people as it exists to-day
Mackey was wise and never left the is
land to give the people chance to
baclfslide. For nearly thirty years the
good man held up the doctrines of the
Free church with great rigor. Attend
ance at church was compulsory and
sleeping during the sermon was visited
With severe admonition and with eX
communication if the offense was re-
peated. An eye witness tells me of the
fate which befell one of the ladies, who
not only went to sleep, but actually
snored before the cody man was half
through with his Sunday morning de-
liverance. 'Lachlan, duisg a bheam;
cha bhi cadal an infrinn," roared the
man of God from the pulpit on one oc-
casion. The English version of this
threat of Rev. Mackey's was "Lochlan,
wake your wife; she won't sleep much
in hell, / reckon" Lochlan lost no time
in complying with such instructions.
Under Macl1ay's ecclesiastical rule
singing and whistling We're carnal
pleasure forbidden on the "Sawbath"
day. People walked through the gloom
to church, with doWncast heads. To
look right or left was liable to divert
the mind and was exceedingly sinful.
The old clergyman, with his gigantic
plug hat and old clay pipe, was abso-
Lutte
Ten years ago, a terrific windstorm
destroyed all the, crops and most of the
houses of Mackay's ecclesiastical king
dom. A chance sailing smack carried
the news of the islanders plight to the
mainland, and it finally reached Glas-
gov, where the fact that such an is
land existed was only known to anti
quarians and sages. A small vessel
was laden with supplies and sent to ST.
KiIda but, as 1t arrived on Sunday
the stern islanders would not allow it
to land till after midnight on Monday
morning.
newspaper account some months
lafterward intimated that the preacher
got more than his share of supplies. A
copy of the paper reached Mackay a
year later and he nearly had a fit over
the matter. In few days he was talk
en- violently i'll, and the islanders i'm
mediately decreed that it was the Gin
fidel newspaper" which caused the
sickness. All the old women of the
realm gathered at the preacher'se bed
side and amid loud calculations of grief
thrust raw oatmeal mixed with some
stray port wine down the sick mans
throat. The Parliament assembled out
ctr IN, tIa rfp -
about the "ungoldy newspaper" Fin
ally the preacher got well in self-de-
Tense.
A wedding is matter Of great i'm
portance in st. Filda. Three weeks be-
fore, the proposed affair is loudly de-
claimed in church. The next week,
there is a great feast at which tea and
cheese are devoured in great quantities
On the day of the wedding, the bride
and groom, arrayed in Sunday toggery,
sit on the front seat and listen to two
long prayers and a two-hour sermon on
the duties Of husbands and wives"
This is followed by another feast at
which mutton is the principal feature.
The newly-wedded pair invariably take
wedding trip, which consists of a
walk to one Of the neghbors where the |
honeymoon Is spent. Ten years ago a |
welded pair spent their honeymoon at |
their own home matching the roof of |
their house The infraction of the Gus |
tom created a scandal which is the |
talk of the island to this day. Formerly |
no ST. Kilda girl would marry a lad |
who would not climb the mistress
rock" a huge stone on the mountain
CT oh
two females to one male on the island
the girls take the first chance they can
get. 1t is a great relief to the young
men, as the mistress stone" is dan
gerous thing to climb. The wedding
feast is followed by "a wee drappie
OF" which, being interpreted, means
nip of whiskey, a bottle Of which may
be found in every family but which is
seldom sampled. If, perchance there
are not enough chairs at the wedding
feast the ladies stand up. Members of
the parliament must have a seat.
On the bleak rock surrounding the is
land, the fulmar lays her egg. That is,
she lays one. If that Is stolen, she lays
another. IF that is stolen, she lays the
third. If that is stolen she gives up
the job in disgust. The fulmar is a
sort of sea gull-a distant relative of
the albatross. She doesn't smell well.
md is called the skunk of birds" for
ner food is dead whales. The eggs are
4atable when not too ripe. The st. Kill I
Ian, however, is said to be unable to
1ifferentiate between the two species of
Eggs. {
Every autumn, before "fulmar time"
he parliament parcels out the rocks {
equally between each of the sixteen
,rofters, who harvest the annual crop S
If fulmars, birds. eggs and feathers.
lots are cast for the rocks, and each
'rofter attends to his particular dis !
riot. However, when the harvest is
'ver, parliament again sits to divide |
he proceeds equally among all, includ- t
ng the preacher, who gets his share (
Without worl-ex-officio. Ir
Most of the great rocks are associa- {
ed with some legend. On the noun q
ain top is 'Ruaidh Bhail" a great OBJ
cng stone that was once a young
woman. The girl was catching puffins. :
When up jumped a man from wave of i,
he sea- He lit with such violence on :
he mountain side that tho p1ooo ,,,boro | ,