the wee man--i'
the neuk there, at the heid o' oors. He'll sleep there bonny, an'
no ill 'ill come near 'im."

She was obeyed instantly. The heather was pulled, and set together
upright as it grew, only much closer, so that the tops made a dense
surface, and the many stalks, each weak, a strong upbearing whole.
They boxed them in below with a board or two for the purpose, and
bound them together above with a blanket over the top, and a white
sheet over that--a linen sheet it was, and large enough to be
doubled, and receive Gibbie between its folds. Then another blanket
was added, and the bed, a perfect one, was ready. The eldest of the
daughters took Gibbie in her arms, and, tenderly careful over his
hurts, lifted him from the old folks' bed, and placed him in his
own--one more luxurious, for heather makes a still better stratum
for repose than oat-chaff--and Gibbie sank into it with a sigh that
was but a smile grown vocal.

Then Donal, as the youngest, got down the big Bible, and having laid
it before his father, lighted the rush-pith-wick projecting from the
beak of the little iron lamp that hung against the wall, its shape
descended from Roman times. The old man put on his spectacles, took
the book, and found the passage that fell, in continuous process, to
that evening.

Now he was not a very good reader, and, what with blindness and
spectacles, and poor light, would sometimes lose his place. But it
never troubled him, for he always knew the sense of what was coming,
and being no idolater of the letter, used the word that first
suggested itself, and so recovered his place without pausing. It
reminded his sons and daughters of the time when he used to tell
them Bible stories as they crowded about his knees; and sounding
therefore merely like the substitution of a more familiar word to
assist their comprehension, woke no surprise. And even now, the
word supplied, being in the vernacular, was rather to the benefit
than the disadvantage of his hearers. The word of Christ is spirit
and life, and where the heart is aglow, the tongue will follow that
spirit and life fearlessly, and will not err.

On this occasion he was reading of our Lord's cure of the leper; and
having read, "put forth his hand," lost his place, and went straight
on without it, from his memory of the facts.

"He put forth his han'--an' grippit him, and said, Aw wull--be
clean."

After the reading followed a prayer, very solemn and devo