er been before. For when John "Aleck's" mighty voice rolled forth in
its full power, and when his band of trained singers followed, lifting
onward with them the great congregation--for every man, woman, and
child sang with full heart and open throat--the effect was something
altogether wonderful and worth hearing. Each night there was a sermon by
the minister, who, for six months, till his health broke down, had sole
charge of the work. Then the sermon was followed by short addresses or
prayers by the elders, and after that the minister would take the men,
and his wife the women, for closer and more personal dealing.

As the revival deepened it became the custom for others than the elders
to take part, by reading a psalm or other Scripture, without comment, or
by prayer. There was a shrinking from anything like a violent display of
emotion, and from any unveiling of the sacred secrets of the heart, but
Scripture reading or quoting was supposed to express the thoughts, the
hopes, the fears, the gratitude, the devotion, that made the religious
experience of the speaker. This was as far as they considered it safe or
seemly to go.

One of the first, outside the ranks of the elders, to take part in this
way was Macdonald Dubh; then Long John Cameron followed; then Peter
McGregor and others of the men of maturer years. A distinct stage in the
revival was reached when young Aleck McRae rose to read his Scripture.
He was quickly followed by Don, young Findlayson, and others of
that age, and from that time onward the old line that had so clearly
distinguished age from youth in respect to religious duty and privilege,
was obliterated forever. It had been a strange, if not very doubtful,
phenomenon to see a young man "coming forward," or in any way giving
indication of religious feeling. But this would never be again.

It was no small anxiety and grief to Mrs. Murray that Ranald, though he
regularly attended the meetings, seemed to remain unmoved by the tide of
religious feeling that was everywhere surging through the hearts of
the people. The minister advised letting him alone, but Mrs. Murray was
anxiously waiting for the time when Ranald would come to her. That time
came, but not until long months of weary waiting on her part, and of
painful struggle on his, had passed.

From the very first of the great movement his father threw himself into
it with all the earnest intensity of his nature, but at the same time
with a humilit