"Ay, John, ye war a man! Ye never said that last, ye say, John? They lee'd on ye, did they? Weel, I dootna that there was mony a thing pitten doon to ye that was behadden to the makkar. But they never could mak' ye onything but oor ain kindly, thrawn, obstinate auld John, wi' a hand like a bacon ham and a heart like a bairn's. Guid-day to ye, John. There's something on the mantelpiece to pit in the tea-caddy. I'll look in the morn, an' we'll hae oor smoke." VI EUROCLYDON OF THE RED HEAD _There's a leaf in the book of the damask rose That glows with a tender red; From the bud, through the bloom, to the dust it goes, Into rose dust fragrant and dead_. _And this word is inscribed on the petals fine Of that velvety purple page-- "Be true to thy youth while yet it is thine Ere it sink in the mist of age_, "_Ere the bursting bud be grown To a rose nigh overblown, And the wind of the autumn eves Comes blowing and scattering all The damask drift of the dead rose leaves Under the orchard wall_. "_Like late-blown roses the joy-days flit, And soon will the east winds blow; So the love years now must be lived and writ In red on a page of snow_. "_And here the rune of the rose I rede, 'Tis the heart of the rose and me-- O youth, O maid, in your hour of need, Be true to the sacred three-- Be true to the love that is love indeed, To thyself, and thy God, these three!_ "_Ere the bursting bud is grown To a rose nigh overblown, And the wind of the autumn eves Comes blowing and scattering all The damask drift of the dead rose leaves Under the orchard wall_." Euroclydon of the Red Head was the other name of the Reverend Sylvanus Septimus Cobb during his student days--nothing more piratical than that. Sylvanus obtained the most valuable part of his training in the Canadian backwoods. During his student days he combined the theory of theology with the practice of "logging," in proportions which were mutually beneficial, and which greatly aided his success as a minister on his return to the old country. Sylvanus Cobb studied in Edinburgh, lodging with his brother in the story next the sky at the corner of Simon Square, supported by red herrings, oatmeal, and the reminiscence that Carlyle had done the same within eyeshot of his front window fifty years before. "And look at him now!" said Sylvanus Cobb pertinently.