Scotland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories
“Wae 's me, wha will care for her grave when we 're far awa an' no a
Baxter left in the Glen? It's no lichtsome to leave the hoose whar we
've livit sae lang, an' the fields ye 've lookit at a' yir days, but it
's sairest tae leave yir dead.” The past with the tender associations
that make a woman's life was tightening its hold on Jean, and when they
looked down on the Glen from the height of Burnbrae, her voice broke
again:
“It's a bonnie sicht, John, an' kindly tae oor eyes; we 'ill never see
anither tae sateesfy oor auld age.”
“A've seen nae ither a' ma days,” said Burnbrae, “an' there can be
nane sae dear tae me noo in this warld; but it can be boucht ower dear,
lass,” and when she looked at him, “wi' oor souls, Jean, wi' oor souls.”
No Drumtochty man felt at ease on Sabbath, or spoke quite like himself
at home, till he had escaped from his blacks and had his tea. Then he
stretched himself with an air of negligence, and started on a survey of
his farm, which allowed of endless meditation, and lasted in summer time
unto the going down of the sun. It was a leisurely progress, in which
time was of no importance, from field to field and into every corner
of each field, and from beast to beast and round every beast to the
completion of as many circles as there were beasts. The rate was about
one and a half miles an hour, excluding halts, and the thumbs were never
removed from the armholes except for experimental observations. No one
forgot that it was Sabbath, and there were things no right-thinking man
would do. Drumsheugh might sample a head of oats in his hand, in sheer
absence of mind, but he would have been ashamed to lift a shaw of
potatoes; and although Hillocks usually settled the price he would ask
for his fat cattle in the midst of these reveries, he always felt their
ribs on a Saturday. When the gudeman came in, he had taken stock with
considerable accuracy, but he was justly horrified to find his wife
asleep, with her head uncomfortably pillowed on the open family Bible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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