children.
We were driven into the house by a shower, which came on with the evening
darkness, and the people leaving their work paused at the same time. I
was pleased to see them a while after sitting round a blazing fire in the
kitchen, father and son-in-law, master and man, and the mother with her
little child on her knee. When I had been there before tea I had
observed what a contrast there was between the mistress and her kitchen;
she did not differ in appearance from an English country lady; but her
kitchen, roof, walls, and floor of mud, was all black alike; yet now,
with the light of a bright fire upon so many happy countenances, the
whole room made a pretty sight.

We heard the company laughing and talking long after we were in bed;
indeed I believe they never work till they are tired. The children could
not speak a word of English: they were very shy at first; but after I had
caressed the eldest, and given her a red leather purse, with which she
was delighted, she took hold of my hand and hung about me, changing her
side-long looks for pretty smiles. Her mother lamented they were so far
from school, they should be obliged to send the children down into the
Lowlands to be taught reading and English. Callander, the nearest town,
was twenty miles from them, and it was only a small place: they had their
groceries from Glasgow. She said that at Callander was their nearest
church, but sometimes 'got a preaching at the Garrison.' In explaining
herself she informed us that the large building which had puzzled us in
the morning had been built by Government, at the request of one of the
Dukes of Montrose, for the defence of his domains against the attacks of
Rob Roy. I will not answer for the truth of this; perhaps it might have
been built for this purpose, and as a check on the Highlands in general;
certain it is, however, that it was a garrison; soldiers used to be
constantly stationed there, and have only been withdrawn within the last
thirteen or fourteen years. Mrs. Macfarlane attended me to my room; she
said she hoped I should be able to sleep upon blankets, and said they
were 'fresh from the fauld.'

* * * * *

_Saturday_, _August_ 27_th_.--Before I rose, Mrs. Macfarlane came into my
room to see if I wanted anything, and told me she should send the servant
up with a basin of whey, saying, 'We make very good whey in this
country;' indeed, I thought it the best I had ever