cotland. The East throws a narrower and a
nippier breed. In the West they take Burns for their exemplar, and
affect the jovial and robustious--in some cases it is affectation only,
and a mighty poor one at that. They claim to be bigger men and bigger
fools than the Eastern billies. And the Eastern billies are very willing
to yield one half of the contention.

Mrs. Wilson, though Eastie by nature, had the jovial manner that you
find in Kyle; more jovial, indeed, than was common in nippy Barbie,
which, in general character, seems to have been transplanted from some
sand dune looking out upon the German Ocean. She was big of hip and
bosom, with sloe-black hair and eyes, and a ruddy cheek, and when she
flung back her head for the laugh her white teeth flashed splendid on
the world. That laugh of hers became one of the well-known features of
Barbie. "Lo'd-sake!" a startled visitor would cry, "whatna skirl's
tha-at!" "Oh, dinna be alarmed," a native would comfort him, "it's only
Wilson's wife lauchin at the Cross!"

Her manner had a hearty charm. She had a laugh and a joke for every
customer, quick as a wink with her answer; her gibe was in you and out
again before you knew you were wounded. Some, it is true, took exception
to the loudness of her skirl--the Deacon, for instance, who "gave her a
good one" the first time he went in for snuff. But "Tut!" quoth she; "a
mim cat's never gude at the mice," and she lifted him out by the scruff
of his neck, crying, "Run, mousie, or I'll catch ye!" On that day her
popularity in Barbie was assured for ever. But she was as keen on the
penny as a penurious weaver, for all her heartiness and laughing ways.
She combined the commercial merits of the East and West. She could coax
you to the buying like a Cumnock quean, and fleece you in the selling
like the cadgers o' Kincardine. When Wilson was abroad on his affairs he
had no need to be afraid that things were mismanaging at home. During
his first year in Barbie Mrs. Wilson was his sole helper. She had the
brawny arm of a giantess, and could toss a bag of meal like a baby; to
see her twirl a big ham on the counter was to see a thing done as it
should be. When Drucken Wabster came in and was offensive once, "Poo-oor
fellow!" said she (with a wink to a customer), "I declare he's in a high
fever," and she took him kicking to the pump and cooled him.

With a mate like that at the helm every sail of Wilson's craft was
trimmed for prosperity. He