g through the shabby familiar square, I brushed
against a withered old man tottering down the street under a load of
yarn. It was piled on a wheelbarrow which his feeble hands could not
have raised but for the rope of yarn that supported it from his
shoulders; and though Auld Licht was written on his patient eyes, I did
not immediately recognize Jamie Whamond. Years ago Jamie was a sturdy
weaver and fervent lover whom I had the right to call my friend. Turn
back the century a few decades, and we are together on a moonlight
night, taking a short cut through the fields from the farm of
Craigiebuckle. Buxom were Craigiebuckle's "dochters," and Jamie was
Janet's accepted suitor. It was a muddy road through damp grass, and
we picked our way silently over its ruts and pools. "I'm thinkin',"
Jamie said at last, a little wistfully, "that I micht hae been as weel
wi' Chirsty." Chirsty was Janet's sister, and Jamie had first thought
of her. Craigiebuckle, however, strongly advised him to take Janet
instead, and he consented. Alack! heavy wobs have taken all the grace
from Janet's shoulders this many a year, though she and Jamie go
bravely down the hill together. Unless they pass the allotted span of
life, the "poorshouse" will never know them. As for bonny Chirsty, she
proved a flighty thing, and married a deacon in the Established Church.
The Auld Lichts groaned over her fall, Craigiebuckle hung his head, and
the minister told her sternly to go her way. But a few weeks
afterwards Lang Tammas, the chief elder, was observed talking with her
for an hour in Gowrie's close; and the very next Sabbath Chirsty pushed
her husband in triumph into her father's pew. The minister, though
completely taken by surprise, at once referred to the stranger, in a
prayer of great length, as a brand that might yet be plucked from the
burning. Changing his text, he preached at him; Lang Tammas, the
precentor, and the whole congregation (Chirsty included), sang at him;
and before he exactly realized his position he had become an Auld Licht
for life. Chirsty's triumph was complete when, next week, in broad
daylight, too, the minister's wife called, and (in the presence of
Betsy Munn, who vouches for the truth of the story) graciously asked
her to come up to the manse on Thursday, at 4 p. m., and drink a dish
of tea. Chirsty, who knew her position, of course begged modestly to
be excused; but a coolness arose over the invitation between her