“She maun hae been some puir lassie that hadna learnt to think first o’ His wull! She had believt the man whan he promised to merry her, no kennin he was a leear, and no heedin the v’ice inside her that said _ye maunna_; and sae she loot him dee what he likit wi’ her, and mak himsel the father o’ a bairnie that wasna meant for him. Sic leeberties as he took wi’ her, and she ouchtna to hae permittit, made a mither o’ her afore ever she was merried. Sic fules hae an awfu’ time o’ ’t; for fowk hardly ever forgies them, and aye luiks doon upo’ them. Doobtless the rascal ran awa and left her to fen for hersel; naebody would help her; and she had to beg the breid for hersel, and the drap milk for the bairnie; sae that at last she lost hert and left it, jist as Hagar left hers aneath the buss i’ the wilderness afore God shawed her the bonny wall o’ watter.” “I kenna whilk o’ them was the warst—father or mither!” cried Maggie. “Nae mair do I!” said the soutar; “but I doobt the ane that lee’d to the ither, maun hae to be coontit the warst!” “There canna be mony sic men!” said Maggie. “’Deed there’s a heap o’ them no a hair better!” rejoined her father; “but wae’s me for the puir lassie that believes them!” “She kenned what was richt a’ the time, father!” “That’s true, my dauty; but to ken is no aye to un’erstan’; and even to un’erstan’ is no aye to see richt intil’t! No wuman’s safe that hasna the love o’ God, the great Love, in her hert a’ the time! What’s best in her, whan the vera best’s awa, may turn to be her greatest danger. And the higher ye rise ye come into the waur danger, till ance ye’re fairly intil the ae safe place, the hert o’ the Father. There, and there only, ye’re safe!—safe frae earth, frae hell, and frae yer ain hert! A’ the temptations, even sic as ance made the haivenly hosts themsels fa’ frae haiven to hell, canna touch ye there! But whan man or wuman repents and heumbles himsel, there is He to lift them up, and that higher than ever they stede afore!” “Syne they’re no to be despised that fa’!” “Nane despises them, lassie, but them that haena yet learnt the danger they’re in o’ that same fa’ themsels. Mony ane, I’m thinking, is keepit frae fa’in, jist because she’s no far eneuch on to get the guid o’ the shame, but would jist sink farther and farther!” “But Eppie tells me that maist o’ them ’at trips gangs on fa’in, and never wins up again.”