owance) early, and I started
for home a day or two in advance of the rest. Wearing my uniform I walked
on to Featherstone, where I got into a train, as I thought, bound for
Keighley. I happened to get into the compartment where Mr Ripley, of
Ripley's dyeworks, Bradford, was riding. We entered into conversation,
and when I told him that I belonged to Keighley, he surprised me by
saying I had got into the wrong train. The train, as I found, went no
further than Bradford, and there was not one forward to Keighley at that
late hour. Mr Ripley, however, took me to the Great Northern Hotel, and
introduced me to the landlady, telling her that I was a young soldier,
and ordering her to provide a bed for me for the night, and to let me
have anything I might ask for in the way of food. Next morning I buckled
myself up for going forward to Keighley. But, thought I, I must not go
home in my regimentals. So I went to a clothier's shop, and exchanged my
uniform for a fashionable suit of brown, and then I looked like a
thorough foreigner. I have hitherto forgot to mention a Scotch cap which
I bought in Edinburgh to serve as a memento of my visit to "Auld Reekie."
Up to now I had not worn the cap, but I now put it on, and continued to
wear it for a long while. "My old Scotch cap" led me to pen the following
verses:--

MY OLD SCOTCH CAP

I met thee first in happy days,
When youthful fire was all ablaze,
When lovely sun spread forth its rays
On bud and sap.
And now with pride I on thee gaze,
My old Scotch cap.

Were ever I ashamed at all,
In church or chapel, feast or ball,
In cottage, park, or famous hall,
O' thee, old chap?
'Mongst rich or poor, or great or small,
My old Scotch cap?

I still remember with a smile
When we sailed from the coast o' Kyle,
And took a boat for Erin's Isle
I took a nap--
Thou wert my pillow all the while,
My brave Scotch cap.

I mind the night we came across
That dreadful common, called the Moss,
'Midst wind and rain, and tempest tossed--
And thunderclap
I did begin to fear thy loss,
My old Scotch cap.

And like Ajax, in ancient days,
When he defied the lightning's rays,
I sought thee, 'midst the glowing blaze,
And found thy trap;
And caught thee in my fond embrace--
My old Scotch cap.

On _terra firma_ or on sea,
Old cap I ken t